[Sursound] Blumlein, HOA, Pinnae xfer function, etc.

[Eric Carmichel]

Hello Dave,
Thanks for the note (re the sound of vision). In addition to my hearing 
research, I’ve been doing a fair amount of music recording. Here in the USA, 
spaced pair miking is quite popular, as is isolating instruments and then 
positioning the instruments via panning in the final mix. I’ve gone the 
direction of ORTF, Blumlein, mid-side, etc. to satisfy my own interest (and 
create my own opinions). I absolutely love the sound I get using the Blumlein 
Stereo technique with ribbon (generally Royer) mics. It really comes across as 
natural and, in the frontal plane, rivals Ambisonic recordings I've made using 
a borrowed Soundfield mic. The only issue I have with the Blumlein stereo 
technique, at least when it comes to recording stimuli for my research, is the 
reversal of sound sources picked up from the rear. If I was recording a jazz 
quartet in front of me (as an example), and not concerned about the direction 
of reflections in the rear plane, this would not
 be a problem. But if I desire to immerse listeners in a restaurant of 3D 
sound, the Blumlein technique isn’t the best. My solution to date: Ambisonics.

I’d use binaural recordings and matching HRTFs to subjects, but the problem 
here is that of fitting headphones over hearing aids or CIs. I guess what I’m 
ultimately after is the equivalent *HRFT* in the soundfield, and one that 
allows free head movement. The sweetspot doesn’t have to be large, as I don’t 
anticipate subjects to be bouncing around (parent consent isn't the only reason 
for not using children). I’m definitely against putting people’s head in a 
restraint (bit bar or whatever) because head movements are a part of natural 
listening.

When I refer to stereo as an illusion, I’m usually referring to the arrival 
time and SPL of two identical sounds emanating from separate (L + R) 
loudspeakers as being equal. The resulting acoustic wave or waves at the 
listener's head aren’t the same as the physical wave originating from a speaker 
located directly ahead of the listener. I’m fairly sure it’s mostly the brain’s 
integration of info, not physical waveform superposition, that gives the 
illusion that the sound is coming from inbetween the L & R speakers. In one of 
my studies that ultimately got published in Noise & Health, the stimulus sounds 
came from individual speakers--I didn't have to worry about wave field 
reconstruction. In that study, pinnae cues certainly turned out to be valuable 
for locating complex sounds: When ILDs and ITDs were maintained, but the pinnae 
obscured, localization errors weren’t ambiguous (judged by response time) but 
nearly always in error (the errors
 were front-back judgments, never lateralization errors).

With regard to your suggesting an anechoic environment with a standardized HOA 
speaker array and direct sounds coming from individual speakers: That’s pretty 
much what I’m shooting for! Oticon appears to be using a HOA system with (I 
believe) 29 speakers. But because I want to use field recordings of restaurants 
or similar venues, I’d need a HOA mic. Anybody out there used the Eigenmic, or 
know where I could get a sample recording made with one? Other suggestions??

I guess the good news is that my research isn’t costing taxpayers money or 
hurting anyone. It’s probably odd that I made hearing research something of a 
hobby: All of the work I do is self-funded and not-for-profit. I always have 
unanswered questions (and the list grows). But once I get things in place and 
do a pilot study, I’ll invite a few prominent researchers over to scrutinize my 
setup. I gave a colloquium some years back, and it mostly ended up with 
professors (and department heads) arguing with each other. But despite that 
ordeal, a few ideas came to fruition, and I ended up getting a research award 
from the American Academy of Audiology. That was a good spring board for what I 
wish to accomplish next.

I really appreciate that people put their time and thought into this list, and 
are patient enough to help someone like me.
Thanks again,
Eric
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Re: [Sursound] Ambisonia?

[etienne deleflie]

Hi Daniel, all,

As you know, thanks to the University of York's generosity -- organised by
Dave M and administered by Oliver Larkin, ambisonia.com is now back online,
serving pages from the UK (instead of far-away Australia). The migration
has been a bit of a mammoth task mainly driven by Marc Lavallée's voluntary
efforts.

the current status is:

- all downloads work
- uploads are not working (we will announce when fixed)
- registrations are turned off (until some cleanup is done)
- wiki works (but is more secured -- now requires logging in to edit)
- Podcasts are yet to be fixed

BTW ... Marc is now the official maintainer. thanks Marc ... and thanks
again Dave and Oli.

Etienne




On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 1:42 AM, Daniel Courville
wrote:

> What's the official state of Ambisonia? I added a torrent yesterday and it
> seems to be working, but I don't recall an official announcement beside
> the one that Dave made in York stating that it would be online soon.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Daniel
>
>
> ___
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-- 
http://etiennedeleflie.net
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Re: [Sursound] Blumlein, HOA, Pinnae xfer function, etc.

[Jörn Nettingsmeier]

On 06/04/2012 09:43 AM, Eric Carmichel wrote:

Anybody out there used the Eigenmic, or
know where I could get a sample recording made with one?


yes, and yes. contact me off-list if you need a sample.
it should be quite useful for "cocktail party" recordings, but it does 
have limitations wrt noise floor and tone color.



Other
suggestions??


depending on the experimental design, it might be ok to create a noise 
backdrop from artificially panned single-point mikes and also to use 
panning for the actual cues. direct to reverb balance will have to be 
done "by ear", though.


best,

jörn

--
Jörn Nettingsmeier
Lortzingstr. 11, 45128 Essen, Tel. +49 177 7937487

Meister für Veranstaltungstechnik (Bühne/Studio)
Tonmeister VDT

http://stackingdwarves.net

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[Sursound] Viola d'amore, Ambisonia, & bittorrent files

[Eric Carmichel]

Hello Everyone,
For the first time since I began exploring Ambisonics (and purchasing a 
TetraMic), I see Ambisonia is up and running. What a great site! Many thanks to 
Marc L, Dave M, Oliver L, Etienne, and all the people who made contributions. I 
have two quick questions:

First, does anybody have Ambisonic recordings of a viola d’amore (e.g. a 
concerto for viola d’amore, harpsichord and strings)? For those who may not be 
familiar, the viola d’amore is a bowed instrument with fourteen strings 
(typical)*--seven playing strings and seven additional resonating (or 
sympathetic) strings that go through the bridge and between the fingerboard and 
neck of the instrument. In Germany, violas d’amore without sympathetic strings 
existed for a short time during the early 18th century (thus a 7-string 
viola??). Origins of the viola d’amore are obscure, but it is likely that it 
evolved from instruments coming from the Mid East, where instruments with 
resonating strings were common. Vivaldi used the tunings of D major, d minor, A 
major, a minor and F major in his eight concerts for the viola d’amore.

*Violas d’amore exist with different combinations of playing strings (4, 5, 6, 
and 7) and sympathetic strings (from 4 up to 14).

My second question is that of bittorrent downloads. I’ve generally avoid these 
because of... well... uncertainty as to the security of my computer and the 
authenticity of downloads. I feel confident that anything coming from Ambisonia 
(and its users) is safe, but does anyone have an opinion regarding the 
requisite software for downloading/converting bittorrent files? Specifically, 
should I purchase software that includes built-in virus protection? I'm 
guessing that, like web browsers, not all software packages are equal.

Thanks to all for your help and insights!
Eric
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Re: [Sursound] Viola d'amore, Ambisonia, & bittorrent files

[Marc Lavallée]

Eric Carmichel  a écrit :

> My second question is that of bittorrent downloads. I’ve generally
> avoid these because of... well... uncertainty as to the security of
> my computer and the authenticity of downloads. I feel confident that
> anything coming from Ambisonia (and its users) is safe, but does
> anyone have an opinion regarding the requisite software for
> downloading/converting bittorrent files? Specifically, should I
> purchase software that includes built-in virus protection? I'm
> guessing that, like web browsers, not all software packages are equal.

Eric, 

I'm not a Windows user, but I think that virus protection should be a
feature of the system, not of the network client software. I recommend
the Transmission bittorrent client, which is cross-platform, although
other client software should work without problem.

I'm new to the world of bittorrent distribution, and I'm not a Windows
security expert, but I believe that the bittorrent protocol is safe
enough. For extra safety, you might want to use a filtering software
like PeerBlock. 

Etienne mentionned that all downloads are working, but it's not yet the
case, I'm still working on it. I'll send updates for time to time.

Daniel Courville submitted a new file yesterday; I had to manually
complete the publication process, which should be automated soon enough.

--
Marc
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Re: [Sursound] Viola d'amore, Ambisonia, & bittorrent files

[Paul Hodges]

--On 04 June 2012 12:49 -0700 Eric Carmichel  wrote:


My second question is that of bittorrent downloads.


If you use the Opera web browser, you don't need to install any other 
software to download torrents, as Opera will do it for you.


If you have other reasons not to download torrents (for instance, until 
very recently, use of torrents was forbidden anywhere on Oxford 
University's network, and there may be other places with such 
restrictions), you can download all my content from Ambisonia, and that of 
a couple of other people, from  using a 
browser.


Paul

--
Paul Hodges


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[Sursound] Seminar: Realtime Sound Spatialization with Wave Field Synthesis (18-20 June, Barcelona)

[Sam Roig]

REALTIME SOUND SPATIALIZATION WITH WAVE FIELD SYNTHESIS
(led by Arthur Sauer and Wouter Snoei)

This 3-day seminar will deal with both musical and technical issues 
surrounding spatial composition and will particuarly focus on composing 
for wave field synthesis systems. The seminar will be taught by Arthur 
Sauer and Wouter Snoei, two of the core members of the The Game Of Life 
Foundation. The foundation's unique mobile wave field synthesis system 
(composed of 192 speakers and 12 subwoofers) will be available on-site 
for participants to experiment and gain hands-on familiarity with space 
as a compositional parameter.


Wave field synthesis is a technique for sound spatialization. It 
produces “artificial” wave fronts synthesized by a large number of 
individually driven speakers. Such wave fronts seem to originate from a 
virtual starting point. Contrary to traditional spatialization 
techniques such as stereo, the localization of virtual sources in WFS 
does not depend on or change with the listener’s position. As opposed to 
most multichannel systems, WFS has no sweet spot and allows for a wider 
optimal listening area.


Language: English

Level: Aimed at musicians, composers, sound and media artists, music 
software developers. Participants will be organized into two groups 
according to their background and experience. The first group will work 
with a graphical GUI interface and requires just basic sound editing 
knowledge. The second group will use the SuperCollider interface to the 
wave field synthesis system and therefore requires previous familiarity 
with this environment.


Tutors: Arthur Sauer and Wouter Snoei.

Dates:
Monday 18.06.2012, 10:00-18:00 (with lunch break)
Tuesday 09.06.2012, 10:00-18:00 (with lunch break)
Wednesday 20.06.2012, 10:00-18:00 (with lunch break)

Location: Fabra i Coats – Fàbrica de Creació. Sant Adrià, 20. Barcelona. 
Metro Sant Andreu.


Price: 160€ (limited places available, includes free entry to evening 
concerts and lectures)


+info: [ 
http://lullcec.org/en/2012/concerts/espacialitzacio-del-so-amb-wave-field-synthesis/ 
]




web: [ http://lullcec.org/ ]
facebook: [ http://facebook.com/lullcec ]
twitter: [ http://twitter.com/lullcec ]
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