Until now, every performance in Maestro VR was a single piece. Today, the curtain rises on a full evening.
CONCERT MODE
A real concert is more than one piece. It's a program: several works in a row, in the same hall, with the same orchestra and the same audience. That's exactly what Concert Mode brings to Maestro VR.
Open the new Concert tab from the side bar to get started. 9 ready-made concerts are already waiting for you, from the Renaissance to the 20th century.
Build your program
Go to Create concert and press any piece to add it to the program. A concert can have up to 16 pieces.
The list tells you which pieces fit in your program and why the others don't. Turn on Compatible only to hide the rest, or filter by musical period.
All the pieces share one hall and one orchestra. The game finds the halls where your whole program can be performed and builds the orchestra for the evening automatically.
Give your concert a name, or keep the one the game suggests, like "An Evening of Beethoven".
Edit, duplicate or rename your concerts at any time from My concerts.
Just like a real premiere, you need to rehearse each piece before you can perform it in a concert: the concert page marks the pieces you still have to rehearse. Concerts are played in Normal or Pro mode, with your choice of financing and promotion.
The evening, from start to finish
One loading screen. The hall, the audience and the orchestra are set up once and stay on stage all night. While you conduct, the next piece is prepared in the background.
Applause and silence. The audience applauds after each piece, and stays silent between movements of the same work, as in a real concert hall. You can choose where the applause goes for each piece.
Intermission. Between pieces, the stage stays in view while a short intermission shows what's coming next. When you're ready, give the downbeat and the next piece begins.
The final ovation. Get through the whole evening without a single miss and the hall rises for you.
One concert, one set of results
At the end you get one results screen for the whole concert, and every piece also updates its own medals as if you had played it on its own.
Completing the full concert gives you +10% XP.
Longer programs sell better: tickets earn +7.5% for every piece after the first, up to +30%.
Rent and musicians are paid for what you actually play, piece by piece.
The critics read your program
A new critic, Program Notes, reviews your choice of pieces. A coherent program (one composer or one period) or a varied journey through three or more periods earns you extra reputation. The Concert tab shows you the bonus before you start.
Share your concerts with the community
When you save a concert, turn on Share with the community to publish it on the Steam Workshop.
In the new Community tab, browse concerts from other players by popularity, trending or most recent, search by name, and save your favorites.
Press Download and the concert appears in My concerts, ready to conduct.
Concerts that include pieces made with Maestro Level Editor bring those pieces with them: you don't need to download anything else.
7 new achievements
Opening Night: complete your first concert.
Full Program: complete a concert of 5 or more pieces.
Flawless Evening: complete a whole concert without a single miss.
Shared Program: share a concert with the community.
Guest Conductor: download a concert made by another player.
Season Subscriber: have 5 concerts from other players installed.
Crowd Favorite: get 10 upvotes on one of your shared concerts.
NEW PIECE: IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING — Edvard Grieg
Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 · 1875
Written as incidental music for Ibsen's play Peer Gynt, this is one of the most recognisable melodies ever written. It begins almost in a whisper, with a quiet theme in the low strings and bassoons, and then keeps repeating it, faster and louder, until the whole orchestra explodes.
It's a true test of tempo control: lead the accelerando with a steady hand and keep the orchestra together all the way to the final crash. It's also a perfect closing piece for your first concert.
IMPROVEMENTS
Cymbals that really play: like the mallets in the last update, the suspended cymbal, crash cymbals and tam-tam have new animations. Hits are smoother, the arms prepare before each entry, loud notes get a full crash, and the suspended cymbal and tam-tam have a proper roll. When the percussionist switches instruments, they now walk to the table instead of sliding.
Faster, smoother loading: audio is now prepared in the background, so pieces load faster and with fewer stutters in the headset.
Podium Points: the endurance bar you play with is now called Podium Points, so it doesn't get confused with the new concerts.
MAESTRO LEVEL EDITOR UPDATE
Maestro Level Editor also gets the new cymbal animations, and your pieces can now be part of concerts shared with the community. Full details in the Maestro Level Editor news.
Build your program, take the podium and enjoy the evening. Raise the baton.