Hi, I'm currently a student taking my third year at a university, having completed two years in Live sound engineering at dBs Music, UK. Due to my final year on a media based course (Live Music) I have no resources or tutors to speak with on ambisonic matters. So any response or pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.
*A little background!* Through researching a joint project I did last term involving ambisonics (our project had to involve sound diffusion, manipulation and innovation so my project partner and I chose to create binaural headphones which mimic us turning our head in real life. To achieve this we used ambisonics in accordance with our arduiono board, accelerometer, magnetometer, MAXmsp, hrtf's and other tools. Two months into our project Smyth Research released the 'Realiser' a major advancement on our meager prototype!) and researching for my original dissertation idea based on ambisonic playback and recording techniques to apply to Live sound rigs I have come across a few papers and forums with discussion and mentioning of the unfairness of Sony et ? in the 1970's, 80's and 90's. *Outline of dissertation question*: *Why did ambisonics not take off between the 1970's-90's?* During these projects I've often wondered why didn't ambisonics take off? Why does Sony still insist on Dolby zillion to one? So this is what I've decided to do for my final year dissertation. I've looked at a few online forums and posts discussing these matters and an obligatory to Michael Gerzon. It would be great to find out from some of the fellow pioneers, and/or have contributed to further investigation as to what their thoughts (and perhaps facts) are on why ambisonics never took off. I've been exploring the possibility of industry mediocrity (or was it just pragmatism?), the common confusion and misunderstanding between quadraphonics and ambisonics, and indeed the flaws found in quadraphonic and other systems completely ignored by the industry. consumer demands and misinformation (to name a few ideas) however I have no evidence to back it up. Any interviews with people concerning this and relevant papers would be incredibly helpful. Or was ambisonics just ahead of its time? Considering the 'digital revolution' hadn't quite kicked off, such as hifi, the gaming industry. Comments and rumour I've heard about Sony and others at the time 'literally making sure Gerzon was not heard...is this really true? However why was it still 'apparently' ignored by executives in the 90's? Was our technology still not advanced enough to advance ambisonics or more a matter of 'the industry' playing safe sticking to 'what they' know sells. Or the other matter of 'well we know we can make more money out of this so we won't release anything new for a few more years...'?? Also, have I missed the point? Are there other areas I could observe? Perhaps if it is just a matter of ambisonics was too ahead of its time would I perhaps be better off writing a dissertation along the lines of 'the development of ambisonics and how now technologies such as Wave Syntheses used in accordance with ambisonics in a few years mean more possibilties never realised (also the use and research today disproving those who have said 'ambisonics is dead')...such as 3D cinema, a way of implementing ambisonic sound in peoples homes...one day?! I must also state one of the reasons I outlined in the beginning that I'm a meer undergraduate student is also to clarify that I'm not a journalist, nor will once my dissertaion has been read and marked probably ever be read again, so any comments or interviews given will be held with the upmost confidence and can be written under an anonymous name or alias if anyone wishes. Even if you can not directly help any pointers to those with the answers would be great! Any links too on the above and information on the standards in the 1970's appreciated too. I look forward to hearing and learning from you all, Cara Gleeson Through researching a joint project I did last term involving ambisonics (our project had to involve sound diffusion, manipulation and innovation so my project partner and I chose to create binaural headphones which mimic us turning our head in real life. To achieve this we used ambisonics in accordance with our arduiono board, accelerometer, magnetometer, MAXmsp and other tools. Two months into our project Smyth Research released the 'Realiser' a major advancement on our meager invention!) and researching for my original dissertation idea based on ambisonic playback and recording techniques to apply to Live sound rigs I have come across a few papers and forums with discussion and mentioning of the unfairness of Sony et ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/private/sursound/attachments/20120330/7ce384ed/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list Sursound@music.vt.edu https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
