Tag: 3D sound

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Plugin Update (October 2024)

I’m really happy to announce another update of the aX Plugins. There are some bigger and smaller updates to all plugins. These updates add new features, make the plugins faster and easier to use and refresh the interface.

You can download the updated versions from your account.

aXPanner – New Feature!

Following user requests, aXPanner now has a new resizable pop-out window that you can use to overlay on 360 videos or images. It also gathers all instances of the plugin in one place so you can get an overview of where all the other tracks in the project have been panned.

Each marker displays the name of the plugin’s track, so you always know what you’re working on. It also takes the colour your set the track in your DAW and uses that for the marker to make things even clearer and more convenient. You can also manually select the marker colour yourself, for extra customisation.

A screenshot of aXPanner with the new pop-out window open. The azimuth and elevation of all four tracks in the project can be controlled from one window.

aXCompressor and aXGate – Better Visualisation

aXCompressor and aXGate now have new gain-reduction meters. As well as just looking a bit nicer, they now show the input and output levels of the signals so you can get a really clear idea of just how much gain reduction you’re applying.

aXCompressor - Tenth order Ambisonics compressor plugin

All Plugins – Pro Tools Automation Shortcut

This was another user requested feature and is a quality-of-life improvement for Pro Tools users: All plugins now support the Ctrl+Win+Click (Windows) and Ctrl+Cmd+Click (Mac) shortcut to open the automation lane automatically.

To use it you have to do one of two things:

  • Enable each parameter individually using the following shortcuts while clicking the parameter you want to automate: Ctrl+Win+Alt+Click (Windows) or Ctrl+Cmd+Alt+Click. This brings up a pop-up that lets you enable the parameter. Now you can bring up the automation lane using Ctrl+Win+Click (Windows) or Ctrl+Cmd+Click (Mac)
  • (Preferred) Enable “Plug-in Control Default to Auto-Enabled” in Preferences > Mixing in Pro Tools. Any new plugins you insert will have automation controls already enabled.

All Plugins – GUI Refresh

All of the plugins have had a light GUI refresh to make them a little sleeker and more modern looking. It’s subtle but I think makes a big improvement. Can you spot the changes?

What Do You Want To See?

Do you have any features you’d like to see in a future version of the plugins? Some small thing that would make your life easier? A cool feature that would make working with them even more fun? If so, get in touch with me and I’ll do my best to make sure it happens!

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Now Supporting Tenth-Order Ambisonics

It has been six years since I released the first version of the a7, a3 and a1 plugin suites, for (up-to) seventh-, third- and first-order processing respectively. The time has absolutely flown by. I’d like to thank everyone who has used my plugins, shared their amazing creative projects with me, and provided feedback that continues to make the plugins better. There is plenty more to come in the future!

Today, however, I am happy to announce another big update, as the a7 suite evolves to become the aX suite.

aX isn’t just a new name. The new update of aX plugins are able to process up-to tenth-order Ambisonics! Going forward, I aim to have the aX version of the plugins support the highest order in each DAW for maximum spatial resolution.

As a re-introduction bonus, the aX tenth-order version of the plugins is on sale with a 30% discount until 11th February 2024!

Tenth-order is a lot. Why go above seventh-order?

The amount of error in binaural decoders of different orders as a function of frequency. Tenth-order has the lowest error across more of the spectrum.

In many cases seventh-order will be enough. Often, even third-order could be enough. It all depends on your signal flow and maybe the final order you are targeting (though I’d argue it’s always best to work with the highest order possible).

The main benefit of tenth-order processing is for binaural processing or for very large loudspeaker layouts. For some Ambisonics-to-loudspeaker decoders higher orders can also be beneficial when working with smaller irregular layouts. That’s something I hope to come back to in a later post.

However, most people can’t fit a giant loudspeaker layout (or even 7.1.4) in their living room that leaves binaural as a way to experience immersive audio. How we perceive binaural decoding depends mainly on three things: the HRTF we are using, the order of the ambisonic signal, and the method used to create the decoding filters. Let’s focus on the impact of the order to see what going up to tenth-order gets us.

The graph shows the amount of error in the binaurally decoded signal as a function of frequency. For the first-order (1OA) decoder the error starts to rise even below 1000 Hz. Third-order gets us above 1000 Hz and you can usually hear a huge difference by going from 1OA to 3OA. For tenth-order, the error doesn’t rise significantly until nearly 4000 Hz. This means that if you are using a custom .SOFA HRTF in aXMonitor then you are going to get holophonic scene reproduction over even more of the spectrum.

That’s a great reason to use the maximum order possible when listening binaurally!

How can I work with tenth-order Ambisonics?

The recent Reaper 7 update expanded the number of channels-per-track to a whopping 128. Tenth-order Ambisonics needs 121 channels, as opposed to seventh-order which needs 64. All you need to do is load the plugins on a track and set the number of channels to at least 121. It’s exactly the same process you would have used for seventh-order. Other than that, using the aX plugins hasn’t changed.

I work with Pro Tools/Cubase/Nuendo (any DAW except Reaper). Can I use tenth-order?

No, unfortunately not. Even though the aX plugins support tenth-order internally, the DAW they loaded in has to have enough channels-per-track to support it. Pro Tools Ultimate has seventh-order ambisonic buses so you can continue to use the new aX suite just like you did the a7 suite.

I bought the a7 suite. Do I have to pay for the new aX versions?

No! The a7 plugins have evolved into the aX plugins, they are not a completely new product. It means that once you update your plugins you will have access to tenth-order ambisonic processing when using Reaper 7.

I bought the a1/a3 suite and would like to upgrade to the aX suite. Do I have to pay full price?

No! If you have already bought any of the a1 or a3 plugins or bundles then you can benefit from the upgrade policy. Just get in touch and I will send you a discount code that removes the cost of the product you have already bought from the purchase of the equivalent aX plugin/bundle.

I don’t need tenth-order… Lower orders are enough for me.

Absolutely! There are plenty of cases where lower order processing is more than enough. If you’re recording with an ambisonic microphone, for example, then you are limited to the order of your microphone. Don’t worry, the a1 and a3 suites are still available at a lower price than the aX plugins.

From panning-to-playback for first-order Ambisonics

125.00€ excl. VAT

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From panning-to-playback for up to third-order Ambisonics

275.00€ excl. VAT

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From panning-to-playback for up to tenth-order Ambisonics

450.00€ excl. VAT

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Tonnerre et Cavalcade: Spatial Audio in a Garden

The Château de Fontainebleau is hosting an outdoor contemporary art exhibition and I had the honour and pleasure of contributing to one of the installations.

The installation is called Tonnerre et Cavalcade and was conceived by sound artist Sébastien Jouan. It is a 15 minute multichannel composition that augments the natural sound field and is linked to the physical surroundings (such as a lightning-struck tree!). It is the only sound installation out of the many pieces being hosted!

I worked on the spatialisation of the piece along with various other elements of technical support, working with Sébastien to create a sense of immersion and a spatial narrative.

Grandeur Nature is currently open to visitors and runs until 17th September. Visit the Grandeur Nature page for more information on how to visit.

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Urbanozoo – Street Art and Spatial Audio

This month the Incursions Sauvages (Wild Incursions) exhibition opened at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (Museum of Hunting and Nature) in Paris. This exhibition, which runs from 11th April to 12th September 2022, includes the work of seven street artists whose visual works blur the line between nature and city, bringing animals right into the museum. These are worth seeing on their own but Incursions Sauvages has the added bonus of incorporating an immersive audio artwork!

I had the great opportunity to work with acoustician and sound artist Sébastien Jouan on the Ambisonic sound installation. Urbanozoo!, by Sébastien, was composed the piece to echo the images in two of the visual artworks (by war! and Jussie TwoSeven) with which it shares a space. Urbanozoo! uses urban and wild sounds to create a unique narrative in which the urban sonic environment is drowned under the sound of a stampede and the cries of animals.

My part in the project was to spatialise Sébastien’s composition, as well as to take care of the technical playback side. For the spatialisation, Sébastien and I worked together to place and balance the sounds so that they told the story of his composition and matched the visuals of the street art. The audio was mixed in first-order Ambisonics for playback over a square of loudspeaker. In addition to the artistic work, we had the technical challenge of ensuring that audio was wireless, since we could not run cables along the floor.

The final result stands on its own but the experience is heightened when listening in the museum, surrounded by the works of war! and JussieTwoSeven. If you are in Paris, I highly recommend that you visit the museum to hear Urbanozoo! for yourself.

You can read more about it on the museum’s website (in English and French).

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Recreating Notre Dame’s Acoustics

Earlier in the year I was part of a team carrying out a preliminary study on a system that can be used to place musicians in virtual spaces in order to study the impact of acoustics on performance. This was part of the Experimental Virtual Archaeological-Acoustics (EVAA) research umbrella project led by Brian FG Katz at Sorbonne University, Paris.

The study used a bespoke plugin I developed that allows for the directivity of the source to be modelled, including its orientation in real-time. This lets the musician perform and interact in as realistic way as possible with the acoustic space. We had several singers who had experience singing in Notre Dame de Paris before the fire of 2019, placed them in a virtual Notre Dame and asked them to sing so we could have feedback on the quality of the reproduction (from mic-ing, DSP and loudspeaker/headphone playback). It was quite something to have private performances of wonderful singers in “Notre Dame”.

The study was run with Nolan Eley, Sarabeth Mullins and Brian FG Katz. You can read the paper (open access) here. There’s also a nice video presentation of the work by Nolan available on YouTube.

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aX Ambisonics AAX Release + Sale

There is plenty to get through in this post. There is some big news, so let’s get right to it!

AAX Release – aX Plugins in ProTools

A lot of people have asked for the aX Ambisonics Plugins to be available in AAX format so I’m very happy to release them. At this point they are as a public beta (you can download the demo versions to test on your system) but they have been stable for private beta testers.

Please note that the plugins run on the Ambisonic buses available in Pro Tools Ultimate (formerly HD). Unfortunately, you cannot use them with the standard version of Pro Tools at this point.

Also note that the seventh order a7 Plugins will run in Pro Tools but are limited to third order processing by Pro Tools bus structure. If you work exclusively with Pro Tools, and don’t need VST versions, then you can save money by picking up the a3 Plugins – you won’t benefit from the a7 versions.

Bundle Discounts

You can now buy the full set of 7 plugins in one click as a bundle for a discounted price of 30% less when compared to buying them all individually. You can get them from the online shop here.

Sale Pricing

Until 31st July 2018 there will be at least a 20% discount on all plugin prices. The aXPanner and aXMonitor will continue with the 50% discount. Check out the shop for more details.

Academic Discount

If you plan on using the plugins for academic or educational purposes then the you can get in touch for a discount code for substantial extra discounts.

New Activation System

In order to provide offline activation, and perhaps a subscription payment option, the plugin activation system has been changed. If you are an existing customer you will need to enter the new activation number to the plugins after installing the new updates. This should be available in your account. I will also email out all of the updated serial numbers to ensure everyone gets them. If they are not listed in your account or you need the update before I have a chance to email you, please get in touch

Bug fixes

All formats of the aX Plugins have had a number of improvements to stability and performance under the hood. This won’t change how you use them but should improve the overall experience.

Aside from these performance enhancements, a bug was fixed in the macOS version of the aXMonitor that stopped custom HRTFs loading after they had been processed.

Coming Soon…

I am working on a few new plugins that will be out in the next few months. Some will be simple (and free), while another is shaping up to be something really interesting. Check back here to keep up to date!

In the meantime, if you want to support further development you can purchase the existing plugins at the web shop. Thank you for your support.

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aXMonitor Update: Personalised Binaural with SOFA Support

The aXMonitor plugins are today updated to version 1.3.2. If you have already bought one of the aXMonitor plugins, you can download the update from your account.  You should remove any old versions of the plugin from your system to avoid any conflicts.

Today’s update is all about getting more flexibility and personalisation for binaural rendering of Ambisoinics. This is probably the most requested feature update for any of my plugins, so I am very happy to be able to announce the new feature:

  • Load an HRTF stored in a .SOFA file for custom binaural rendering.

This allows you to produce binaural rendering for up to seventh order Ambisonics with whatever HRTF you want, providing you with the flexibility you need to produce the highest quality spatial audio content possible.

If you aren’t sure why so many people want personal HRTF support, keep reading.

Advantages of Personalised Binaural

Binaural 3D audio can be vastly improved by listening with a personalised HRTF (head related transfer function). It’s the auditory equivalent of wearing someone else’s glasses vs wearing your own. Sure, you can see most of what is going on with someone else’s glass, but you lose detail and precision. Wear your own and everything comes into focus!

With that in mind, the aXMonitor plugins have been updated to allow you to load a custom HRTF that is stored in a .SOFA file. Now you can use your own individual HRTF (if you have it) or one that you know works well for you. Once an HRTF has been loaded it will be available across to all instances of the plugin in other projects.

What is a .SOFA file?

A .SOFA file contains a lot of information about a measured HRTF (though it can be used for other things as well). You can read more about them here.

Where to get custom HRTFs

You can find a curated list of .SOFA databases here. The best thing to do is to try a few of them until you find one that gives you an accurate perception of the sound source directions. Pay particular attention to the elevation and front-back confusions, since these are what personalised HRTFs help most with.

If you want an HRTF that fits your head/ears exactly then your options are bit more limited. Either you can find somewhere, usually an academic research institute, that has an anechoic chamber and the appropriate equipment. Then you put some microphones in your ears and sit still for 20-120 minutes (depending on their system). Once it’s done, you have your HRTF!

But if you don’t fancy going to all of that trouble, there are some options for getting a personalised HRTF more easily. A method by 3D Sound Labs requires only a small number of photographs and they claim good results. Finnish company IDA also offers a similar service.

Get the aXMonitor

So if you like the sound of customised binaural rendering then you can purchase the aXMonitor from my online shop. Doing so will help support independent development of tools for spatial audio.


a1Monitor


a3Monitor


a7Monitor

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50% Discount on aXPanner and aXMonitor

Today I’m having April sale and putting a 50% discount on my Ambisonic panning and decoding plugins for Windows (VST) and MacOS (VST/AU): aXPanner and aXMonitor. This offer runs until the 30th April 2018.

The aXPanner converts mono and stereo signals to YouTube360 compatible AmbiX-format Ambisonics. The aXMonitor decodes these Ambisonic signals to two-channel stereo and binaural (3D audio over headphones) formats to allow easy monitoring. Together they form the essential signal chain for spatial audio and are a great way to get started with Ambisonics.

You can check out my short tutorial on getting started with a basic Ambisonics chain here.

The aXPanner and aXMonitor available for three levels of spatial resolution: first, third and seventh order Ambisonics. Higher orders increases the spatial fidelity of the sound scene.

This 50% discount can be combined with additional 20% bundle discounts for additional savings.

You can read more details about them in my web store :

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o1Panner Updates to a1Panner

The o1Panner is dead. Long live a1Panner!

My first plugin release was a free first order encoder called the o1Panner. Today it gets an update to version 1.0.1 and a new name. Here is a list of the updates:

  • name change from o1Panner to a1Panner to match the naming convention of the rest of the aX Ambisonic Plugins.
  • Unifies the colour scheme with the rest of the a1 Ambisonic Plugins.
  • Removes the JUCE splash screen on first open of the plugin during a session.
  • Now available as an AudioUnit on Mac.
  • 32 bit Windows version available.
  • Mac VST and AU are now Universal Binary.

So, no changes to the features, just added flexibility to where you can use it.

To get the update, go to your Account page and download from the download link available there.

And no changes to the price – it’s still free!


Download a1Panner

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aXMonitor Update: Google Resonance Audio HRTFs

Today the aXMonitor plugins get their first major update to version 1.2.2. There are two major updates and one minor updates. Let’s start with the major updates:

  • The HRTFs used for binaural 3D sound have been regenerated using Google’s own Resonance Audio toolkit for VR audio. These are the same HRTFs used by Google in YouTube 360. The code released by Google is only up to 5th order, but was actually quite simple to extend to 7th order.
  • A gain control has been added to boost or cut the overall level for convenience.

The minor update is a fix to make sure the plugin reports the correct latency to the host when using the Binaural or UHJ Super Stereo (FIR) methods.

Google have just open sourced their Resonance Audio SDK, including all sorts of tools for spatial audio rendering. This update to ensures that you can aXMonitor ensures that you can mix your content on HRTFs that will be widely used across the industry.

The aXMonitor is available in 3 versions, providing up to first, third and seventh order Ambisonics-to-binaural decoding.

So if you’d like to start mixing your VR/AR/MR audio content just head over to my store. With your support, I can continue to update the aX Ambisonics Plugins to bring you the tools you want and need.


a1Monitor


a3Monitor


a7Monitor