I'll use this as a shameless excuse to reference my paper "Using a Non-Standard Audio Toolkit to Produce Standard Spatial Audio Mixes" found online (scribd.com is one place). It uses Reaper (can handle up to 64 channels of audio per bus) and WigWare and is for first timers or those who want ambisonics with little fuss.
I'm all for standard plug-ins using VST or AU (other than WigWare, there's Harpex) frameworks that allow for musicians and engineers to use ambisonics easily, quickly and have their work distributed via a 'standard' setup procedure. I teach, and avocate, this form of ambisonic usage - and that's why I wrote up the brief document above. Similarly, I've also published on the use of ambisonic array shapes, that compliments the work of Wiggins and Moore on their ITU 775 conforming decoders, with the ideal array properties for those wishing to transmit or produce using ambisonics using the reaper method. Michael's right, AFAIK, that there hasn't been much modern use of beyond 5 speaker arrangements. I can't think of examples where an odd number of speakers has been used with ambisonic that wasn't to the ITU 775 standard shape. Perhaps someone on here can correct me? Andrew J. Horsburgh, Researcher andrew.horsbu...@uws.ac.uk ________________________________________ From: sursound-boun...@music.vt.edu [sursound-boun...@music.vt.edu] On Behalf Of Michael Chapman [s...@mchapman.com] Sent: 03 October 2012 20:24 To: Eric Carmichel; Surround Sound discussion group Subject: Re: [Sursound] Hybrid Hi-Fi (HyFi?), IRs, etc. > Greetings to All, > I have been reviewing the literature on Auralization in attempts to create > viable stimuli for research. Everybody here has been great. I do have > another question/comment regarding loudspeaker placement. > In nearly all Ambisonic setups, the listener's head lies on a line > connecting two or more speakers. This includes the 4-speaker cube > arrangement. I've noted that having two speakers immediately to the left > and right of the head creates an image that's similar to headphone > listening; in other words, it's akin to lateralization versus localization > effects. Is there any reason not to use an odd number of speakers arranged > in such a way that no two speakers form an imaginary line passing through > the listener's head? You mean you want two speakers to form a real line through ... ... ;-)> But, seriously, I seem to remember matrices for pentagons (?Richard Furse's site). No reason why you shouldnt sit down and work out equations for non-even numbers. In practice as the minimum speaker requirement (pantophony) for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th-order is 4, 6, 8, 10, I don't think non-even has been used much ... > I am considering building a hybrid system based on > Ambisonics and Ambiophonics, and was considering a pentagonal loudspeaker > arrangement. The "Ambiophonic" component would be using dividers (gobos or > flats, as they're called) between speakers so as to reduce early > reflections in an otherwise "standard" living room space. From what I've > read about Ambiophonics, it's an extension of transaural stereo techniques > (e.g. William Gardner's doctoral > thesis) with the addition of a partition. It seems that the advantages > provided by the partition (or partitions in my case) would apply to > Ambisonics. Please bear in mind that I am designing a system for > single-listener research, so the obvious disadvantages of dividers (i.e. > space hogs) isn't an issue. Has anyone had experience using dividers? > I've also been creating research stimuli using avatars (for lipreading), > AT&T Natural Voice text-to-speech (ATT Labs makes high res voices) > software for creating sentences, and IRs recorded with a SoundField mic. > Daniel Courville's website and Bruce Wiggins WigWare are fantastic > resources for any of us attempting sound design via Ambisonics. I also > have a licensed (meaning paid-for) version of Harpex, and this is highly > recommended for those who can afford it. One of my favorite post > production DAWs is Sony Sound Forge 10. I'm often having to convert > numbers of channels (e.g., four B-format channels to 8 processed > channels), and this is very easy to do with Sound Forge. I also use > digidesign Pro Tools and Steinberg Nuendo, but neither of these is as easy > to use as Sound Forge. Please consider the environment and think before you print *************************************************************************************************************** University of the West of Scotland aims to have a transformational influence on the economic, social and cultural development of the West of Scotland and beyond by providing relevant, high quality, inclusive higher education and innovative and useful research. Visit www.uws.ac.uk for more details University of the West of Scotland is a registered Scottish charity. 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