surround

Reaper 5 is out today. It’s the compact, tight, powerful music and audio production software whose users would like to know why more of you aren’t talking about it. And they have a point. Reaper 5 is US$60 with a bunch of included free upgrades, or a voluntary $225 for “commercial” use. Even the demo runs a full 60 days with no restrictions. Yet Reaper does a lot of things other DAWs don’t – even some of the priciest out there – in a compact tool that has exhaustive hardware and OS support, plus complete scripting. Now, what Reaper 5 …

How do you improve upon a sound that is already shorthand for noises that melt audiences’ faces off? And how do you revisit sound code decades after the machines that ran it are scrapped? We get a chance to find out, as the man behind the THX “Deep Note” sound talks about its history and reissue. Dr. Andy Moorer, the character I called “the most interesting digital audio engineer in the world,” has already been terrifically open in talking about his sonic invention. He’s got more to say – and the audience is listening. (Sorry, I sort of had to …

New sound experiences demand not only new content, but new terrain – architectural audio, spaces that can take on new meanings. And that’s why 4DSOUND in Amsterdam is such a compelling canvas. 4DSOUND is a unique installation, 256 square meters (2700+ square feet) of floor, divided into an equal grid. On that grid, columns house 48 omnidirectional speakers, as nine sub-speakers rumble beneath the floor. The result is a sonic bath, a three-dimensional audio environment. Ableton Live (with Max for Live) and Liine’s Lemur iPad app work with that system to finely position sound in the new space that’s created. …

This is only Genelec’s first stab at the problem, but the idea’s time has clearly come: help people place speakers correctly by giving them an app on their phone that helps them solve the problem. For pros and consumers alike, it seems a phone could be the perfect device. Speaker maker Genelec has released SpeakerAngleApp for iOS and Android. Features: Angle matching for stereo and surround. Applies generically to all speakers (of course), despite the Genelec name. Rotate each speaker, and you can watch the app display angles and rotate the display. Number boxes and color coding provide feedback for …

Robert Henke’s new album is out this month, and definitely counts among our anticipated albums of 2012. But what has not gotten wide coverage is the visual element of this upcoming performance, which will accompany the surround-sound tour of the show in audiovisual splendor from Slovenia to Portland. (We’ll be catching up with Robert, I expect, in Berlin at Berghain.) Dates below, along with the sound of the new record. Monolake is getting visual support from none other than Holland-based artist Tarik Barri. In the teaser test above, his work glitches and pulses in a percussive, retina-firing opus, like a …

Robert Henke’s new album is out this month, and definitely counts among our anticipated albums of 2012. But what has not gotten wide coverage is the visual element of this upcoming performance, which will accompany the surround-sound tour of the show in audiovisual splendor from Slovenia to Portland. (We’ll be catching up with Robert, I expect, in Berlin at Berghain.) Dates below, along with the sound of the new record. Monolake is getting visual support from none other than Holland-based artist Tarik Barri. In the teaser test above, his work glitches and pulses in a percussive, retina-firing opus, like a …

In DAWs, there are the familiar names – MOTU DP, Pro Tools, SONAR, Ableton Live, Cubase, Apple Logic. All have functionality to recommend them – hence their longevity. But then, there’s one upstart that continues to win over fans: Reaper. Its developers actually advertise that its upgrades are evolutionary, not revolutionary – which may come as a comfort to pro users easily jangled by radical UI changes. But evolutionary as it may be, Reaper 4 has some highlights I think could significantly broaden its appeal. The changelog is utterly, terrifyingly long, so let me pull out some of the big …

From the previous bounds of the proscenium tradition – the flat, rectangular space defined by screens and theaters – audiovisuals increasingly sprawl into surround. One superb example comes to us from Seppo Gruendler of Austria. The project combines multiple “surround” technologies across multiple media. Projection is mapped across screens for wraparound visuals, but sound, too – via ambisonics – extends to 360-degrees. It’s especially nice to see the full-length video embedded at bottom, for a better sense of what they did. The team: Peter Venus, Marian Weger, Cyrille Henry, Winfried Ritsch, Simon Veronegg This project was supported by IEM- Institute …

From the previous bounds of the proscenium tradition – the flat, rectangular space defined by screens and theaters – audiovisuals increasingly sprawl into surround. One superb example comes to us from Seppo Gruendler of Austria. The project combines multiple “surround” technologies across multiple media. Projection is mapped across screens for wraparound visuals, but sound, too – via ambisonics – extends to 360-degrees. It’s especially nice to see the full-length video embedded at bottom, for a better sense of what they did. The team: Peter Venus, Marian Weger, Cyrille Henry, Winfried Ritsch, Simon Veronegg This project was supported by IEM- Institute …

As an addendum to the last story, Ivica Ico Bukvic sends along an example of the [myu] Max/MSP + Unity game engine combination in action. Here’s the surprise: Unity isn’t generating visuals. Instead, Unity simulates ripples created by movement in the space, and builds physical models that are sonified and spatialized by Max/MSP. Speaking of work involving art museums and the combination of Max and Unity, VJ Anomolee notes in comments his own work with the pairing. Lightbent Synth is an in-progress piece with alternative controllers and sensors that produces sound with a novel visual representation (sound’s very quiet in …