IBC 3D

This year’s IBC is looking more and more like it’s worth the price of admittance, including the airfare to Amsterdam, that goes with it. Even more so with the news that Minnetonka Audio Software will be showcasing the Auro-3D creation software at the show.

The Auro-3D Concept and Audio Formats were designed by the founder and CEO of Galaxy Studios and Auro Technologies, Wilfried Van Baelen, who is participate in the panel discussion at IBC: The immersive sound panel “Immersive Audio from the Big Screen to the Small Screen” on 15 September from 11:30 – 13:00 in the Auditorium.

Auro Technologies, says it was the first ever in history to bring ‘Immersive Sound’ (addition of the third dimension height) with an end-to-end solution for all markets. We’re not sure Dolby would agree with that statement.

Whereas most 3D-sound is based on either an object-related recording/mix (a couple of mics in a dummy head), or channel-based mixing, ‘Immersive Sound’ uses both technologies, with a channel based approach. This gives the user (aka you) a lot more options to work with.

The Auro-3D Creative Tool Suite allows you to add immersive 3D sound to your existing workflow, whilst making the content available through a single file distribution, and played back via existing standards such as DCP in digital cinema, or via Blu-Ray for the home theatre.

The Auro-3D Creative Tools

The Auro-3D Authoring Tools consist of a set of plug-ins which now includes 3D panning and mixing, with support for all Auro-3D® formats and various Surround formats, as well as encoding with the Auro-Codec. A basic Auro-3D session consists of the Auro-Panner, Auro-Bus, Auro-Mixing Engine, and Auro-Return plug-ins. Each plug-in is inserted on its own DAW audio track and connects to the A3DHost processor. The Auro-Panner sends its track’s audio to a selected Auro-Bus, which routes the signals to one or more Auro-Mixing Engines. The Auro-Mixing Engine lets you set Auro-3D and downmix configuration settings, mixes the audio, and then sends it back to the DAW using the Auro-Return plug-ins for monitoring and bouncing of the mix. It also contains the Auro-Codec Encoder to immediately output the encoded deliverable.

This set of plugins can integrate into any existing content-creation workflow, while solving technical limitations present in DAW stations, such as limited bus widths and the lack of 3D panning. All tools allow the creative mind to work within the uncompressed audio domain, and multiple masters (in different formats) that can be mixed at the same time.

When combined with the adaptive Auro-Matic Pro, an upmixing plug-in, a process is initiated that puts the original recording in a 3D environment with acoustical properties that closely match the original recording. Depending on the content, more or less spatial cues can be detected for the 3D extrapolation algorithm, resulting in slightly different experiences. The result can be adjusted to the type of content, as well as to the listeners’ taste. Four presets are provided, each defining a different set of starting parameters for the analysis and emphasizing a different type of the experience.

According to the Auro 3D website, there are plans to release the plugins for further DAWS (VST, etc), along with Windows versions, later this year.

The company also has an Auro-Beautifyer app available for free on iOS (link) which will enhances your MP3 collection into an immersive sound experience. You can learn more about the app, here.

We’ve not tried Beautifyer as yet, but we’ll update this article once we have.

Specs

Auro-3D Authoring Tools

• Enables easy creation of native 3D audio content, in parallel to regular mixes (Mono/Stereo/Surround). Each plug-in implements a distinct functionality and was designed to easily integrate into any existing content-creation workflow
• Simultaneous mixing of multiple masters within the uncompressed audio domain
• Auro-Panner opens up vector based panning of sound sources in a 3D space
• unique A3DHost architecture and Auro-Return plug-ins surmount the eight-channel track limitation of industry standard DAWs
• All Auro-3D formats are backwards compatible with and are correctly played back in any existing non-3D speaker configuration, thanks to the Auro-DMix Control plug-in
• Encoding support for all Auro-3D formats through the Auro-Encoder plug-in
• Available as AAX plug-in on Mac OSX (10.7, 10.8, 10.9), compatible with Avid Pro Tools (10, 11)

Auro-Matic Pro 3D V2

• Up-mixing plug-in based on an intelligent and highly efficient algorithm that uses a variety of early reflection patterns to create a two- or three-dimensional sound field from a one- or two-dimensional source, without affecting the intentional aesthetics of the original mix
• “Center Generator” feature allows extracting information (e.g. dialogue) from left and right Stereo signals to create a distinct Center channel
• Simple and user-friendly interface, tightly integrated with the Auro-3D® Authoring Tools for total user control
• unique A3DHost architecture and Auro-Return plug-ins surmount the eight-channel track limitation of industry standard DAWs
• Available as AAX plug-in on Mac OSX (10.7, 10.8, 10.9), compatible with Avid Pro Tools (10, 11)

Excerpts from Press Release