“They just said, wow!” says Koki Sugiyama, Patch’s latest team member - and a veteran of the educational program for the renowned MUTEK Japan media festival. “Once we explained, they were curious to play.” We’re also grateful to Koki both for his perspective and the ability to speak to TGS attendees in native Japanese.
“PatchXR is more than just a game - it’s creation. It can be an educational tool,” Koki reflects. Drawing on that educational background, Koki sees real potential in education. “When you teach or learn modular synthesis with visuals, it’s very easy to understand.”
TGS attracted new musicians - just as we always find showing off Patch in new settings. Toki notes that the team got to meet a professional player who has dubbed himself “XR Drummer” - for his focus on XR. The verdict on Patch? He was impressed, Toki says, by lifelike musical instruments. “You hit objects that react so realistically - [the drummer’s] own system wasn’t as accurate.”
But it wasn’t just the pros. “One surprise was to see how a kid was playing with the free creation mode, getting very fast with the controls,” says Patch’s own Gad Hinkis. The kid was just as interested in the design of PatchWorld as the sounds. At the other end of the spectrum, we were thrilled to meet a veteran game designer with credits at Sega, Bandai, and Nintendo who said he was “blown away” - and reminded it us “it’s all about the passion.” He walked us through memories of past attempts at gamifying music creation – and described Patch’s unique potential now.
“The most exciting thing I got to do was a live performance with Patch for about five hours over four days of the convention,” Gad says. “It really feels like being onstage with a live setup studio from the future. And I got to initiate Koki into performing on PatchWorld - it was amazing to see how good he got in just one or two days.”
Check the live performance with Gad - okay, next time, we get a full club, as he got folks dancing and hyped!
We’re grateful to Swissnex for enabling us to go to Japan and represent Swiss innovation. https://swissnex.org/
But there’s no rest for Patch - more updates are coming, and we’re off to GITEX in Dubai, music business hub Mondo.NYC, and landmark XR event AWE back home in Europe. See you there!
