The advanced controller options of today are just a taste of the raft of new control methods that the future will bring. Be they revolutionary standalone hubs, or devices to be used in conjunction with virtual reality

So far, we’ve largely talked about multidimensional MIDI control, touchscreen-based interfacing and standalone controllers, yet what it is we’re controlling – our music production environments – remains exactly the same type of screen-based space as it always has been, and a place built with mouse and a keyboard in mind. But what about virtual reality? In the colourful world of VR, our approaches change completely, from both how we use our hands to interact with music, and by how we perceive the software itself.

ControlRoom is one such example (still in development). Based around a VR environment, it allows you to synchronise your DAW with a virtual environment, placing you in a new music‐focused world, and allowing your body to be the conduit for expressive automation. With ControlRoom, any MIDI-enabled parameter can be locked to an expression. There’s also a virtual mixing console within this polygonal space, to give you the feeling of working in a ‘real’ studio. Though currently available as an early access beta, this type of hyper-3D simulation of a mouldable, responsive studio is likely to become all too familiar as VRs and metaverses trickle more into our everyday lives.