3D Audio Playback

Higher Order Ambisonic Playback

Both the "User" and "Advanced" editions of Rapture3D ship with Higher Order Ambisonic (HOA) music playback facilities.

This uses our core 3D Audio technology for exceptional 3D spatial imaging. The "User" edition supports the standard DirectSound Windows speaker layouts, including 5.1 and 7.1, and some special variants such as 3D7.1. There's also HRTF-based headphone support and crosstalk cancelled stereo. Further, the "Advanced" edition adds support for custom layouts and ASIO-based audio hardware for use with more elaborate home theatre speaker layouts, concert halls and so on.

Content

This player is designed for Higher Order Ambisonic (HOA) content. It does not play mono, stereo or 5.1 material!

HOA content is pretty rare at present but we think it's the future! It's very exciting as it makes full use of Rapture3D's 3D Audio technologies.

Rapture3D Ambisonic Player

This features:

  • Decoding of Classic Ambisonic and HOA material from first to third order.
  • Support for audio in a wide range of file formats including AIFF, WXYZ, FMH, WAV and AMB.
  • Playlist support.
  • Graphical real-time visualisation of the soundfield (including a command-line full screen mode for concerts).

Here's a screenshot:

Rapture3D Player Screenshot

Supported Ambisonic Formats

The following B-Format or Furse-Malham (FuMa) encodings are supported:

Channels Order Components
3 0/1 WXY
4 1/1 WXYZ
5 0/2 WXYUV
6 1/2 WXYZUV
7 0/3 WXYUVPQ
8 1/3 WXYZUVPQ
9 2/2 WXYZRSTUV
11 2/3 WXYZRSTUVPQ
16 3/3 WXYZRSTUVKLMNOPQ

A simple tool is provided to convert stereo Ambisonic UHJ material into WXY B-Format. This is also available on our free stuff page.