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Old 07-24-2016, 01:42 PM   #5
cyrano
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Belgium
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ReaDave View Post
Ambisonic panning outside the box using non DSP techniques sounds like a lot of work and I'm not sure how you'd go encoding the Ambisonic information using that technique.
It's simple analog level panning, but in 2D (to start with) and later on in 3D. No DSP needed, imho. I'm planning to use it for mixing in mono sources and for level control while playing back in other rooms than my own.

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What if you did the panning inside REAPER, post encoding and used MIDI controllers to control the Ambisonic panning plugins?
That's what I plan on doing. The mixer would only be an add-on and only needed for playback in other places.

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I'm currently rearranging my speakers into a 3D cube which is a lot easier said than done!! I have seven Auratone 5C cubes and four other small two way speakers at present. Ideally, I'd like another 5C but for the initial experiments, I'm going to see if it is adequate enough to try to EQ two of the other speakers to match the 5Cs as far as possible. I could see phase issues being a potential problem though.
What I've learned so far:

Speakers and mics need to be as identical as possible. On the mic side, this is less of a problem, as the mics are very close to one another. As long as the capsules are identical, you're good to go. On the speaker side, the room influence is a major problem. I haven't tried eq. I'm a bit skeptical about eq, as it doesn't do anything for reflections and I suspect it will even amplify reflections.

Most of the information is in the midrange. So, Auratones might be useful. I've been thinking about making 8 simple broadband speakers, to avoid phase problems. But I can't figure out (in my head) if phase problems would be a big worry. Ah, more experimenting to come. And atm, my listening room is just too hot, with outside temps from 25 to 30 degrees and two sides who are almost entirely glass. That's another problem too...

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I did some initial testing with the cube arrangement VERY loosely arranged with four of the speakers on the floor and the other four at head height and none aligned very well symmetrically. Probably needless to say but the initial listening tests, while interesting, were far from convincing as far as spacial cues go.
I think you need to set the upper four higher. In all my limited testing with 8 speakers, I've put the top ones close to the ceiling and the bottom ones on the floor. And that immediately revealed problem #1: the floor is tiled, the ceiling is wood and hollow. Acoustically very different.

That's why I went back to 2D with four speakers, for the time being. I need to make that work first and find another pair of identical speakers. I think it won't work with different speakers. At least, it didn't work for me, with 6 fairly identical active 2 way speakers and 2 active 3 way speakers. Same brand, same age, but the difference in mids was killing almost all placement info.

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This next test will be with all speakers equidistant from the listening position and with the two unmatched ones EQd as closely as possible. Hopefully that will yield substantially more convincing results.

More to come.....
Yes, please, keep us informed. And thanks for this thread!
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