Harmonix's new VR project lets you see and interact with music

Rock Band developer Harmonix is making the leap to virtual reality technology with a new VR "music experience" for Samsung Gear VR caled Harmonix Music VR.

The new project uses Harmonix's proprietary Music Analysis Engine to generate audio visualization events based on the tracks you play. The result is a "musically responsive environment," according to the company, which allows users to interact with music.

Harmonix Music VR launches later this year.

Plans to develop a project for Samsung VR came to light earlier this week following a tweet from publicist Nick Chester. Chester said Harmonix is "developing software" for the device, which Samsung announced this week during its press briefing for the IFA 2014 trade show in Berlin. Harmonix's Dawn Rivers, who works on lighting, followed up with a tweet in which she said, "I can't wait for folks to see the crazy project I've been on at Harmonix for Samsung's Gear VR."

Samsung developed the Gear VR headset with Oculus VR. The headset uses the upcoming Galaxy Note 4 as its display. The Note 4, which Samsung also revealed recently, is a phablet with a 5.7-inch quad HD (2560 x 1440) screen and 3 GB of RAM. Its CPU and GPU power the Gear VR via micro USB, and the new Oculus Mobile SDK is the device's software. Both the Note 4 and Gear VR will be available starting this fall.

Harmonix launched Dance Central Spotlight on Xbox One this week, while its next console release is Fantasia: Music Evolved, which will be available Oct. 21 on Xbox One. The studio put out its first mobile game, Record Run, this past spring. A new shoot-'em-up from the studio called A City Sleeps is set for release Oct. 16 on Mac and Windows PC