Thanks for the reply Geoff.
Of course I am lacking in basic knowledge - that's why I asked the question.

I had hoped someone here might know what the other disc formats were I keep reading about on the Ambisonic forum.
Guess I'll just have to ask there.

Yes, I do use ac3 from DVDA . Gives me 5.1 but I guess that's it eh.

Pity Vegas doesn't handle A or B format natively.

Oh, and ImgBurn works in the cases where DVDA produces coasters. ImgBurn is a nice piece of software. Somewhat enigmatic though.

Pity Vegas doesn't handle A or B format natively.

Wow! I have not heard a discussion on Ambisonics in a VERY long time.

Googling Ambisonics produced a very long list of information and sites that have details and discussions.

Wikipeidia had a good discussion on Ambisonics. It also provided many links to sources and details on Ambisonics and currently available technologies. The best plug-ins appear to be Mac based only.

Ambisonic's is about a 'capture' of spacial audio not a mixing to a surround like AC3 or DTS is. (Though some of the tools appear to be about "mixing" to an Ambisonic "surround" model. ) Most of today's surround meida is merely a mix to "speakers". Ambisonic is about capturing and then delivering a reproduction of what we hear or consider as 3D.

Ambisonic is not about "channels" in a mix or speaker arrangment. It is about encoding information that our "ears" and 'brains" are tricked into hearing as 3D. In fact it is suppose to scale automatically to the number or speakers available. The more speakers, the better the illusion as you approach the real environment of the orginal sound.

So, Ambisonics are 'trick" to put you into a 3D audio space, just like 3D movies use tricks to have things appear 3D visually.

(If I have this wrong, please do not rant on me. I do not pretend to be an expert on Ambisonics.)

There have been many attempts to do this - even comerically.

If you are old - like me - there were Quad recordings made that were attempts to provide a 3D enviroment and not merely double stereo. (Stereo is an illusion of space or sound imaging.)

Maddona released an CD (LP?) that was 'encoded" in such a way as to 'trick' the listener into a 3D audio experiance. It required some decoding technology that was avaialble. It actually worked really well. It was actually cool how well it worked. I don't know if this was a direct use of Ambisonics or not.

The UHJ format appears to be the most widely delivered format that even with out a decoder, can 'widen' the stereo illusion.

The G-Format appears to be the most promising from a comercial aspect. However, it is merely a translation of the B Format to a widely know and expected comsumer speaker configuration. It is not dynamic scalable from what I read.

I could find no other hosts that support this natively.

There appears to be a Windows Media player codec that will permit you to decode certain encoded audio.

Vegas, CDA, DVDA, Forge and Ambisonic:

Generally no. Vegas does not provide tools to author or deliver Amisonic content. In theory it should not have to as it is more about the capture and then encoding (rendering) to a format that can contain the Ambisonic 'information'.

All that Vegas would need was a plug-in or file rendering codec from a third party and you would be able to encode and deliver.

You should check out this site for some VST plug-ins that might help you out.

No promises as to whether these will work in Vegas, but you should have a go.

I'd be interested to know your desire for such authoring. Do you have a client or is this just an interest of yours?


WRT your DVDA problem:
1. Have you contacted our customer support about your problems? (These forums are for peer to peer support and are NOT intended to provide technical support directly from Sony.)
2. Could you elaborate on exactly what you are trying to do when you produce coasters?

Peter

Thanks for the all the info Peter,

Oh dear, time for specifics :-)
I have a new Ambisonic mic currently waiting for some phantom power adaptors so I can't use it for a few days.

I thought I could get a head start on any possible options for final format apart from ac3.
However it appears dvd using ac3 is the one choice. Whatever.

I have a standalone piece of software that does a nice job of producing any number of channels with my recorded sound in any number of postions (rotated or whatever).
Also a vst plugin that I have not had a chance to test yet in Vegas.
(too busy just figuring out the standalone software). (and having fun :)

Biggest problem with Vegas is it only takes the first 5 channels when I import my files so I have to produce files missing one or other of the 5.1 (6) available from the 4 channels of A format I am recording. Of course I could produce far more channels from the 4 A format but I only have a cheap and nasty 5.1 playback rig, so no point in more.

Yes, I too am old, or maybe I just feel old when some young woman offers to carry my groceries out of the supermarket :-)

I Umm, was not technically correct in saying DVDA was producing coasters.
2 (I think 2) of my projects will not produce playable discs using rerecordable dvd's but then when I record with ImgBurn from the files DVDA produces, these same disks play fine.
One possible reason appears to be that DVDA (Pro 5.0b) does not do a complete erase prior to burn while ImgBurn does.
I haven't taken the time to tell anyone because I know the workaround.

By the way the tiny bit of stuff I have recorded so far appears to produce lovely 5.1 (Actually 4.1 - I drop the centre channel) in Vegas.

Bill

If you're interested in ambisonics then you might find Richard Dobson's utilities useful adjunct to what you can do in Vegas.

Mark

Biggest problem with Vegas is it only takes the first 5 channels when I import my files...

What format are these files in?

Peter

48Kc/s 16bit wav (5 channel for Vegas)

48Kc/s 16bit wav (5 channel for Vegas)

How many channels do they have?

What were they authored with?

Peter

The programme is called VVMic.
It converts from the A format of the microphone to a bunch of things including 5.1; and actually anything you want to set up.
I do not know what the limits of the number of channels VVMic will produce, a lot anyway.

The standard template for 5.1 in VVMic is 6 channels (5+1). But because Vegas will only "see" the first 5, I drop 1 channel so Vegas sees everything I give it.
I drop the centre so I get 4.1 - FL, FR, RL, RR and LFE.
That way I can put commentary in the centre channel. Serendipity!
I could also create mono files, but that would just make life a little more awkward in Vegas, having to group them all together, plus there's the opportunity to get them out of synch with each other on the timeline prior to grouping.

Bill

If VVMic can render a simple n channel wave file - not 5.1 marked - Vegas should be able to load it.

Do you have Forge 9? If so, does it correctly load the files you created?

Peter

CD: None - there is no surround format for CD.

Well that isn't strictly correct. You can always encode a Dolby Surround, also known as Dolby Prologic, signal as LtRt stereo and produce an audio CD that will decode in surround, LCRS at least.

Now they might not be as good as the current crop of digital surround formats but it still is surround.

Neyrinck Audio offer a range of standalone and plugin encoders for DTS and Dolby, though Vegas has it's own Dolby Digital Encoder so I wouldn't be buying Neyrinck's version.

Thanks for the info on surround for cd.
I just returned "Out of Africa" to the library. That was how the audio was encoded, although that was on dvd.

Now as to SF9 - yes it opens the 6 channel VVMic files just fine. But Vegas drops the last (6th) channel which, in the case of the standard 5.1 template in VVMic, is the Right Rear.

There are no options to create any other type of n channel file (other than n mono), only wav.

I want to look at the audio files that you are having problems with.

Is there someplace I can download files authored by VVMic?

Peter