Hi Len This is very interesting information. I’ve have just ordered a mixpre 6 so I’m ready for 1’ st order ambisonics But my aim is using ambisonics in exhibition set ups so people can walk around in spaces/full circles ca. 10 meters in diameter
I have no experience with ambisonics and not at all in “live” settings but regarding your info it seems like only a 2’ end order ambisonics recording will be usefull? If usefull at all..? If usefull; Can you recommend Zoom F8n (or “just” F8) as a recorder with Octomic? Or any other 8 ch recorder around the same price range? The main point is low noise pre’s - no fancy stuff. Re. Price: the list price is 1999 USD for Octomic and you mention that it is just a little above Sennheiser Ambeo (which i can buy in Europe incl. tax AND shipping for 1920 USD at Thomann) Is your price ex. Tax and shipping? I live in Denmark. Med venlig hilsen/Best regards Søren Bendixen Composer & Producer soerenbendixen.com > Den 12. aug. 2018 kl. 20.37 skrev Len Moskowitz <lenmoskow...@optonline.net>: > > When selecting an ambisonic microphone, I'll suggest a few things you should > look and listen for. > > > All of the older Soundfield microphones (all other than the SPS200) used > hardware to apply their calibrations. Each microphone was individually > measured and a calibration correction was built into the hardware processor. > > > As the microphones aged, they fell out of calibration. To restore their > performance, you had to send the microphone and the processor back to > Soundfield for re-calibration. This was expensive, and ideally had to be done > every two or three years. When Soundfield went through multiple changes of > owndership, the knowledge to re-calibrate (and even to initially calibrate) > was lost. > > > > With the introduction of our TetraMic in late 2006, the hardware was no > longer needed. We calibrated each and every TetraMic individually and > provided a calibration file that was applied with an A- to B-format encoder > plugin. > > > Soundfield later came out with their SPS200. Instead of providing individual > calibration files for each SPS200, they initially matched all the capsules at > the factory to the same standard, and then provided a single generic > calibration correction that they expected would work for all SPS200s. It > turns out that as the capsules on the SPS200s aged, a single generic > calibration file couldn't possibly work for all of them. And they never > offered a re-calibration service. Eventually, based on what we've measured, > they lost the ability to even match the capsules correctly initially at the > factory - eachone is very different than the next. > > > > The result of using a single generic calibration correction file is that they > can't correct for a lot of things. One of them is divergence at low > frequencies. So what they did was to cut off the SPS200's low frequency > response at around 90 Hz. The Sennheiser Ambeo takes the same approach, and > it also has a 90 Hz low frequency cutoff. The new Rode mic (as of yet > unreleased) seems to follow the same approach. > > > > And of course, as the capsules age, even if they were well-matched from the > factory (which SPS200s are not now, but Ambeos seem to be), after two or > three years, they will not be. > > > Neither Soundfield (now owned by Rode) nor Sennheiser offers re-calibration > services. > > > > SPS200 and Ambeo are first-order tetrahedral array microphones. > > > TetraMic is Core Sound's first-order microphone. It is probably the > best-selling first-order microphone in the world. Each one is individually > calibrated. Re-calibration is recommended every two to three years. Low > frequency response goes down to below 30 Hz. (We've calibrated them on > special order down to 10 Hz.) It's calibration is tuned to sound like a DPA > 4003. > > > > First-order tetrahedral arrays are good for some things, but they're weak at > others. If properly calibrated, its pickup patterns are better than pretty > much any mono mic. But its listening sweet spot is only about the size of a > human head. Outside of that you'll start to hear some loss of localization > cues. Its localization cues are not particularly strong, which is why the VR > industry tends to use them for ambience, but supplements them with spot mics > for stronger localization cues. > > > > Second-order ambisonic mics have a much, much larger sweet spot, and much, > much stronger localization cues. They can synthesize second-order pickup > patterns that have much more directional selectivity, rejecting much more > sound from unwanted directions. That let's you get at least twice as far from > the sound source as a mono mic without losing directional selectivity. (Mono > mics are limited to first-order pickup patterns; they can't do second-order > patterns.) > > > > Our OctoMic is the only second-order mic being offered commercially. It's > priced only a little higher than an Ambeo. We suggest that you have a look > and a listen. > > > > > > Len Moskowitz (mosko...@core-sound.com) > Core Sound LLC > www.core-sound.com > Home of OctoMic and TetraMic > _______________________________________________ > Sursound mailing list > Sursound@music.vt.edu > https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound - unsubscribe here, edit > account or options, view archives and so on. _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list Sursound@music.vt.edu https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound - unsubscribe here, edit account or options, view archives and so on.
