O3A Music

Studio Effects

This library contains ambisonic versions of a some classic studio effects. "Stereo" versions often don't really make sense once you have sounds in an ambisonic scene.

For instance, the O3A Chorus plugin allows chorus to be applied to a whole ambisonic scene. And this plugin goes further, allowing the chorus to be applied just to sounds in a particular direction.

The studio effects available are:

• O3A Bitcrusher
• O3A Chorus
• O3A Overdrive
• O3A Ring Modulator

The library also includes O3A Fold. This is a specialised plugin which folds the lower half of an audio scene onto the upper half. This is particularly useful when preparing musical material for Spatial Audio formats that can only place sounds above the listener.

Ambisonic versions of a number of other studio effects are available in other libraries. For instance, the O3A Compressor and a number of equalizers are in the O3A Manipulators pack, and O3A Spatial Delay is in the free O3A Core. You may like to consult our full plugin list.

The Shell Panners

The 'Shell' panners (O3A Shells and O3A Shells Split) provide a novel way to break audio up into a number of streams that can be combined to create linear 6DOF experiences with Rapture3D Universal. These panners are not currently available under AAX.

Effects

O3A Bitcrusher

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

Degrades audio as if it had been passed through a low-resolution digital system.

O3A Chorus

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin applies a chorus effect to an O3A mix.

O3A Fold

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin folds sounds in the lower hemisphere to the upper hemisphere.

O3A Overdrive

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin applies overdrive distortion to an O3A scene, or a target region in it.

O3A Ring Modulator

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin applies a ring modulator to an O3A stream.

Panners

O3A Shells

I/O: 8 in, 56 out

AAX: not supported

This panner places eight sounds in a 3D space that is separated into shells and channels based on distance.

O3A Shells Split

I/O: 8 in, 32 out

AAX: not supported

This panner places eight sounds in a 3D space that is separated into two shells based on distance.

Technical Requirements

Operating System

Supported versions of Microsoft Windows are 10 or 11, 64bit Intel.

Supported versions of Apple macOS are 10.14 to 13.5, 64bit Intel or Apple Silicon.

VST Host

The VST plugins require a VST 2 host with shell plugin support.

These plugins do not work with all VST 2 hosts. One reason for this is that the O3A plugins need large numbers of channels on their input or output busses. Check the individual plugins for the channel counts they need, but all of the O3A plugins need at least 16 channels on each track, and some need more. Also, at the time of writing VST 2 shell plugins are not supported in Nuendo or Cubase.

AAX Host

The AAX plugins require Pro Tools Ultimate or Studio.

Due to channel and stem restrictions, not all plugins are supported in AAX. Please see the plugin descriptions for details.

PC Hardware

Please check your PC meets the following requirements:

• Intel Core i5 CPU or better, or Apple Silicon.
• 200MB of free disk space.

Permissions

You'll need administrator permissions while installing on Windows. The software probably won't install properly using a "restricted" account.

Internet Connection Required

This software requires an Internet Connection for license activation and verification.

Successful license verification isn't required every time you use the software, but it is needed during installation and needs to succeed once every couple of weeks to keep the license fresh.

The license can be "revoked" to remove it from one machine so it can be moved on to another. You should also do this if you're updating your system in case the machine appears to have changed identity.