Welcome to the Ambisonic Music section of SynthTweaks.com
This is the home of the surround sound section of SynthTweaks.com. It is the landing page for AmbisonicMusic.com. Below, you will find links and information on various surround formats as well as downloads and information on surround mixes of the music I’ve written and recorded. Above all though, this is about Ambisonic audio which is a full 3D format with width, depth AND HEIGHT information. Ambisonics has become the default audio format for 3D VR on YouTube and Facebook.
For those who want to learn more about Ambisonics, there’s quite a lot of information about it on the Blue Ripple website and on Wikipedia.
Regular stereo mixes can be found HERE (the Ambisonic downloads below are free).
__________________________________
Ambisonic mixes (more to come)
Last updated October, 2021
New Album, “Wildest Dreams,” is currently being written and recorded in full, third order Ambisonic format. This album will be a double length journey with PLENTY of dynamic range and a big, spacious soundfield to feast your ears on!!
This album is nearing completion and will be released soon in full third order, 3D Ambisonics as well as 5.1 and stereo.
From the “Introspection” album:
– Run The Race
These are all in 3rd order Ambisonic SN3D format directly compatible with REAPER DAW and the Blue Ripple O3A decoders discussed below. SN3D is the newest Ambisonic format chosen by both YouTube and Facebook VR.
These mixes ARE NOT compatible with the ATK Toolkit for REAPER (which uses the older Ambisonic FuMa format) previously included on this page. Therefore, the links have been removed. They will play but they will not have the correct levels and channel balance and the panning information will be wrong.
If you have previously (prior to 9th April 2017) downloaded the Run the Race Ambisonic mix, it was also encoded with the older FuMa format. Please download the current version above and use it with the newest O3A Blue Ripple decoders rather than the older TOA Blue Ripple decoders.
__________________________________
I will be writing a detailed article on configuring REAPER to play these Ambisonic mixes soon.
I am using REAPER audio DAW to produce these mixes and also to play them. For Ambisonic decoding, I HIGHLY recommend the already mentioned and excellent Blue Ripple Sound O3A decoders. I do not receive payments or endorsements from Blue Ripple Sound. I am simply a very impressed and very happy customer!!
The O3A Core VST pack is free and includes mono, stereo and 5.1 decoders. The free decoders do not decode height information. Their O3A Deocding VST pack (not free but extremely good and well worth the price), includes decoding for just about any speaker configuration you might have. I’m running a 3D cube array with eight Auratone 5C speakers and a subwoofer array from a Village Roadshow cinema. This is all calibrated with Sonarworks Reference 4 Studio Edition calibration software. The O3A Deocding VST pack decoders DO decode height information which can be heard if you have a compatible speaker array (i.e., both horizontal and vertical layout).
My mixes have been created using Blue Ripple Sound products in REAPER.
If you have REAPER installed and have also installed any of the decoders mentioned above, all you need to do is set up your REAPER outputs to match your speaker configuration and put one of the decoders on the master. Then download any of the Ambisonic mixes above and drop them onto REAPER. Hit play and enjoy!
__________________________________
Regular 5.1 surround mixes and information.
The first song to be remixed in 5.1 surround was ‘Ghost Train’ from the ‘Introspection’ album and it is available in lossless FLAC and AC3 (Dolby Digital) formats.
‘O Jerusalem’ has also been remixed in 5.1 surround and it too is available in lossless FLAC and AC3 (Dolby Digital) formats.
To play these tracks in 5.1 surround you’ll obviously need a sound system and player capable of 5.1 audio reproduction. If you are using a PC, you’ll need a 5.1 capable sound card or audio interface and matching 5.1 speaker system. Once Windows is configured to recognise a 5.1 (or 7.1) channel speaker setup (click here for details), these files will play correctly in surround sound using many media players. My personal favourites are:
XM Play with FLAC and AC3 plugins
Foobar 2000 with AC3 plugin (plays FLAC natively)
VLC Player (plays AC3 and FLAC natively)
The Dolby Digital AC3 and FLAC 5.1 surround mixes of O Jerusalem and Ghost Train are HERE.
More tracks from this album will be added to this link as they are remixed and released.
I’ve been looking over the prospects of using SN3D on YouTube (and now, Facebook) videos, but they only support Level 1 Ambisonics.
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6395969
So, that factor has renewed my interest in using the Ambisonic Toolkit for Reaper. (http://www.ambisonictoolkit.net/) since I consider the YouTube or Facebook distribution mechanisms quite optimal for letting people hear this kind of sound unfettered by players. Once seemingly can attach the SN3D sound to any video, not necessarily having to be a 360 video, but I’d need to verify that.
An interesting tutorial on attaching the SN3D audio to the video and adding the metadata can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk-fsuy84oM&t=8s&index=1&list=PLADO0ZcWBBb4hFSEk-KXqZs5MBebw6ZyH
I’ll let you know how my experiments go! Still interested in the Level 3 O3A Core possibilities, but the delivery mechanism (being pretty much Reaper, period) seems like a stumbling block for me there at this time.
Terry (from the Cantabile forum)
My apologies for the loooong delay replying to you Terry. For some reason, I never received notification of your reply. However, I have just completed a site update, complete with a new domain name, and I spotted this in the unapproved posts list.
I have yet to upload an Ambisonic music track to YouTube but I am going to do this for the new album I am currently recording. I’ll have a look at the video you’ve posted here.
If you decide to experiment with the REAPER Ambisonic Toolkit, keep in mind that the channel order is incorrect for YouTube. The ATK uses the FuMa channel order whist YouTube and Facebook use the newer SN3D channel order.
Hopefully my new site tweaks have fixed the notification issues and you receive notification of this reply.
Just downloaded the 03A Core plugins. Totally interested in getting into this when I set up my new studio. I have 5 JBL LSR4328 speakers and 2 Yamaha HS50’s I am hoping to use to do mixes.
It gets addictive Scott! I started off with a regular 5.1 setup for 2D Ambisonics and that pretty quickly escalated to the current cube array I’m using now.
You could use the core suite with the 5.1 decoder for now and use the Yamahas for regular stereo monitoring.
hi Dannii,, is there a reason not to upload a binaural mix?
Hi Sean,
I’m contemplating adding some Binaural mixes but still searching for the best Binaural encoder. Binaural is a difficult thing to get right for everyone because we all have different anatomies and therefore, different HRTF profiles.
It’s really exciting to know that there are musicians and synthgeeks writing awesome music for ambisonics. I’ve always wanted to build some modules designed specifically for object based audio and Ambisonics.
Thanks so much for your tune Run the Race! I have listened to it many times on my 15.1 two layer dome setup at our labs and it’s really well executed. The textures are great, and the spatialization is elegant – a great use of the tools!
Wish you the best and look forward to getting the album!
Thanks for the valuable feedback Sean! I don’t often hear from people who’ve listened to my Ambisonic mixes on full Ambisonic setups so this is great to hear!
I’m planning to do much more with the Ambisonic section of my site so if you ever want to share any of your own creations, I’d be more than happy to post about it here.
I’m working on two new albums right now which will both be finished soon (before the end of the year is my goal) and they are both being mixed in full third order Ambisonics.
Absolutely, really a pleasure! I’m also working on some Ambisonic work, mostly just noise, sketches and lots of 3D recordings at the moment. I have recently got myself setup at my home studio with a 12.1 rig, so am now going to start working on some more directed music. I have been on a bit of a music hiatus for the last few months whilst throwing myself head deep into software and hardware development. Have built a 3D rig that can be easily installed and used with Ambisonics as well as other object based panning techniques.
Would be more than happy to share once I have some stuff ready though. Thanks!
I have to ask: did you mix your sound on headphones or using speakers?
Hi Sean,
Great to hear you’ve set yourself up with a 12.1 system for your home studio. What are you using for speaker decoding?
I’m using a cube array of eight Auratone 5C Cubes and four EV DL15W bass drivers here. I have it all calibrated with Sonarworks Reference 4 and am using Blue Ripple Sound decoders.
I also check my mixes on a pair of Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro headphones also calibrated with Sonarworks and Can Opener.