What Is Passthrough in XR Piano? How Transparency and Visual Clarity Affect Your Playing [Meta Quest 3 Compatible]

For those wondering, “What does your field of view actually look like when wearing an XR headset? Can you see the keyboard normally?”

In this article, we’ll clearly explain how the passthrough feature — the core technology behind XR piano — works, and how transparency and visual clarity affect your playing.

What Is Passthrough?

Passthrough is a feature that captures real-world footage in real time using cameras on the front of a headset and projects it onto the lenses. This lets you see your real keyboard and hands even while wearing the headset.

Since passthrough is based on real-world footage, it’s the approach best suited to an experience like XR piano, where a virtual guide is overlaid on top of a real keyboard. Sigure uses this MR (Mixed Reality) approach.

Types of Passthrough and Their Differences

There are broadly two types of passthrough. Let’s look at which is better suited for XR piano use.

What You See Through the Meta Quest 3 / 3s’s Passthrough

The Meta Quest 3 / 3s’s passthrough is full color and high resolution, letting you clearly see your real keyboard, your hands, and the room around you. The previous model, the Meta Quest 2, only offered monochrome passthrough, which made it hard to distinguish white and black keys, sometimes getting in the way of playing. The Quest 3 / 3s has dramatically improved on this issue.

That said, there’s a slight amount of latency and a small difference in resolution compared to your naked eye. Most people stop noticing this once they’re used to it, though some may feel a bit of unfamiliarity the first time they put it on.

How Passthrough Visual Quality Affects Your Playing

Visibility of your hands and keyboard

The higher the passthrough’s resolution and color accuracy, the easier it is to see your hands and the keyboard. With the Meta Quest 3 / 3s’s full-color passthrough, you can clearly tell apart white and black keys, as well as fully confirm finger positioning. Being able to visually confirm exactly which key you’re pressing makes a huge difference in how reassuring it feels while you play.

How naturally the note guide blends in

The sharper the passthrough footage, the more naturally the virtual note guide blends with your real keyboard. This creates the sensation of “notes falling onto your real keyboard,” strengthening the sense of unity between your playing and the guide.

Effect on eye fatigue

Since camera passthrough is based on real-world light, it tends to put less strain on your eyes compared to pure VR. That said, you may still notice some eye fatigue during long sessions, so we recommend taking a break roughly every 30–45 minutes.

Setting Up Your Environment to Get the Most Out of Passthrough

• Ensure adequate lighting: Make sure there’s enough light to clearly see your hands and the keyboard. If it’s too dark, the quality of the passthrough footage degrades, making the keyboard harder to see.
• Wear the headset correctly: Since the passthrough cameras are tied to the headset’s orientation, a misaligned fit will cause your view to shift. Secure the strap firmly so it doesn’t move while you play.
• Calibrate accurately: To accurately overlay the note guide onto the passthrough footage, be sure to calibrate every time you launch the app.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Try an XR piano experience that takes full advantage of passthrough.

A Message from the Sigure Development Team

“Can you really still see the keyboard with the headset on?” is one of the first questions anyone who hasn’t tried XR piano tends to ask.

The moment of surprise people feel when they actually put it on and look at the keyboard through passthrough — “Oh, I can really see it clearly!” — is something many people experience for themselves.

We hope you’ll experience that view for yourself, even just once.

Tomo

大人からピアノ再開組 / 楽譜が苦手でXRピアノゲーム作りました

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子どもの頃に挫折したピアノを大人になってから再開したとき、最初にぶつかったのが「楽譜が読めない」という壁でした。 「もっと気軽に、楽しく練習できる方法はないか」と考え続けた結果、XRピアノゲーム『Sigure』を作ることになりました。

このブログでは、同じように大人からピアノを始めた方・再開した方に向けて、XR・ARを使った新しい練習スタイルを発信しています。難しい音楽理論よりも「まず1曲弾ける」を大切に。一緒に楽しみながら上達しましょう。