The latest version of the Merging Technologies Pyramix digital audio workstation incorporates High Order Ambisonics audio spatialisation plug-ins from French technology research institute, b<>com.

A provider of DAWs and the Audio-over-IP converters Horus and Hapi (Ravenna/AES67), Merging approached b<>com, the leading player in the market offering a professional solution suitable for working with the High Order Ambisonics format. In order to incorporate Ambisonic technology, the teams at b<>com developed a software suite that can be incorporated into postproduction workstations. This suite will allow content creators to position sources in a sound environment and apply spatial processing to them (rotation, focusing, masking). These audio plug-ins carry out most of the processing, from capture to output on speakers or headset (binaural).

The High Order Ambisonics (HOA) audio format is ‘scene-based’, as it describes the audio field as a whole (horizontal and vertical planes). The precision of the sound environment depends on the number of components used to describe it. Ambisonics provides flexibility in processing because it is independent of the playback system.

According to Merging Technologies Project & Regional Manager, Maurice Engler: ‘This software suite fits perfectly into the tools we want to make available for producing immersive soundtracks. It was also developed in collaboration with French users of Pyramix, particularly regarding the 3D panner. Our studio customers appreciate having an easy way to work with this exciting new audio format on their professional tools.’

‘The production of audio content in Ambisonic format is a major challenge in the development of immersive content, particularly in virtual reality and 360 video,’ says Jean-Yves Aubié, Manager of the Advanced Media Coding lab at b<>com. ‘With this software suite, we offer an effective, professional-grade solution that can be fully integrated into most audio postproduction workstations on the market.’