Combining ambisonics and Isadora

Paz

Hello Izzy community,

I am wishing to explore incorporating ambisonic technology with Isadora. Now that Isadora supports VST plugins I'm hoping this can be achieved.

My current experience using ambisonic mics is very limited. However, I now have access to a Sennheiser AMBEO VR mic and I'd like to explore what's possible.

I'm looking for some advice regarding which VST plugin's are recommended for the A - B format transcoding process.

I'd also appreciate any general advice or links to reading material that focuses on using ambisonics within a live performance environment (ideally using Isadora if possible!)

I'm currently using a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 as my audio interface which is providing a suitable means of capturing the microphone signals and sending on to Isadora.

Within Isadora's Scene editor I am using 2 x dearVR Ambi Micro VST plugins. From my limited knowledge of ambisonics the first of these plugins is the decoder and the second is the encoder. In the image below you can see each of the plugins with their associated DAW interface open and the parameters that I've selected.

From what I understand,

The first plugin (the decoder) has it's ambisonics format input set to "A-Format (AMBEO)" and it's output format set to "B-Format (AmbiX)".
The second plugin (the encoder) has it's ambisonics format input set to "B-Format (AmbiX)" and it's output format set to "Binaural (dearVR)" this has been chosen from the drop down menu labeled "Headphones".

When using stereo headphones does this signal flow look correct?

I've also incorporated the dearVR PRO 2 to provide positional information for the audio source - I've attached an image of this too. I am hoping for some feedback as to whether this signal chain looks correct.

Thanks for any help or feedback, it's much appreciated!

Best Simon

Woland

@paz

@Armando Do you have any advice?

dbini

I haven't tried ambisonics in Izzy yet, but had a discussion with a colleague and we decided that it is properly possible. We took part in a residency project in a 19-speaker dome studio in Latvia last year. Dirty Deal Audio organised the project, and it's likely that they will be running more residencies: https://www.dda.lv/

Getting experience in a studio that is designed for ambisonics would be a huge help on your journey. The DDA website also has various resources, including tutorials using Sonobus, which should be applicable to the VSTs running in Isadora.

Paz

@dbini Thank you! This is encouraging. I'll take a look at the Dirty Deal Audio website and their resources.

Best wishes

Simon

sommerdi

Good idea to do this live in IZZY ... i transfer this into max/msp with spat5 for movment.

in the case you are running all input driver in the scarlet on 100% on the same level, then you will have the A-Format. I am recording with the Zoom F6 in A Format

So i my eye you need only one vst plugin to convert in a B-Format ... i going to test this with the F6 ... and output in an Motu ...