I think it is useful to cover all the reasons why Ambisonics didn't
'take off' in the past and there is plenty of material here to cover that.
The interesting question is where it goes from here
I am halfway through my MA in Creative Music Practice and my original
research question was "What are the implications of 3D sound for the
composition, production, performance and dissemination of music?". Over
the past couple of years I have been working with my commercial
collaborator, Kieran Tyrrell of Sonalksis, on ideas around production
tools and the point where Ambisonics stands out is as a core
intermediate and archival format. We have a mixing system where the mix
busses and reverb are in 3rd order B-format. This enables any project to
mixed to full 3D with height in a suitably high positional resolution.
The output can be mastered to whatever format you desire from mono
through to a 30 channel icosahedral orthoganal array, VBAP, 10.2... you
name it.
The point being that for any format to succeed it needs content and for
content to be created, there needs to be an audience with suitable kit
to listen on - its the classic catch 22 so we decided to take the
approach that we have. In commercial terms, the probable first market
will be for live events from big product launches matched to immersive
video, big dance club installs and art/theatrical performances. We have
certainly got a lot of interest so far.
Because of the support of the academic community in supplying plugins
(thanks, Bruce) and Max/MST externals (thanks ICST) coupled with the
processing power of today's Macs and PCs. Creating custom systems that
can utilise Ambisonic techniques is really straightforward. The major
cost is in the number of outputs, amplifiers and speakers you need to
playback the results and hence our focus on big, well funded, live events.
Cara - feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions - we
may even be able to collaborate on stuff
Simon Edmonds
**
_______________________________________________
Sursound mailing list
Sursound@music.vt.edu
https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
