Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 1:03:24 EST From: dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Francois Dion) Message-Id: <9301250603.AA26790@brise.ERE.UMontreal.CA> Subject: Franky in 3D To: Ultrasound Daily Digest Well, i think it's time i put my grain of salt on the 3d mania. First of all, even if it is a bit long, i suggest to read it all. And if you dont want to wait for a 3D driver for the GUS, dont forget to read one of my other post in this digest with the subject: Franky in suround. Now, on with the show: There are several systems that are in use to get 3D sounds on recordings and some have been around since the 50s. Now i wont go into the "how it works" of the more recent ones, but i think this will clear up some confusion. The first part is a "hands-on" experiment, the second is informations, including the address and phone of the owner of the technology that is used with the Gravis Ultrasound. Let's get back to the early days of stereo. One record company (i cant seem to remember) was pushing it, while another (again, blank. anyone?) competed. Interestingly enough, technological development was put on stereo, and not on the first 3D system which was called "binaural recording" and it simply consisted of two microphones placed like the ears. You can try it this way: Go to a hat store and buy an extruded foam mannequin head. You'll then need two microphones. Condenser will do, but you will need to power them if you want to use them with the GUS, since it take a dynamic microphone because it does not supply phantom power like some mixer with XLR plugs. I will post a circuit later for Radio-shack condenser mike unit (a small element that cost about 2$) if there is some interest. If you dont want to mess with that, go with a cardiod dynamic element. Note that sensitive enough cardiod will cost you a lot, so think about that. You cut holes in the ears of the head, to insert the microphone units (dont forget to make the wires of the elements go inside the head and out the rear (or wherever). Use glue to fill the crack around the mic. Also, the more the ears look like real ears, the better it will work. If you trim the foam, dont forget to use an hairdryer to soften it (it will be more uniform). That's it. Try recording sounds, and you'll be surprised. I was! I did the experiment with a polystyrene head on which i incrusted two PZM microphones. Now that you understand how 3D recording is nothing like stereo recording, we'll see what is accesible presently. First, the gadget we just built in the previous section exist commercially, and is called "Mikey" and is made by Spherical Sound. It's the only system commercialised where the microphones are placed in a head. Another system is made by Virtual Audio and claims to enhance stereo depth, but is not labeled 3D audio. I dont have much more info on it, but from the description it looks like the same thing as the "mikey". Two other systems use less restraining microphones situation and can also be used on any signal because a DSP simulate a 3D signal from parameters entered on the machine. QSound (no hyphen) was developped in Quebec, and the inventor sold the concept to another company (Archer it seems). It is not that good even with electrostatic headphones, and is pretty bad if you are listening to it thru speakers and you are not in the soft spot. And for trivia: Madonna, Sting, Wilson Phillips and Paula Abdul to name a few have used the QSound on their latest recordings. Another trivia: The Q logo is very very close to Hydro-Quebec logo... QSound cost around 18K$ and is not midi controllable. The other variant with a DSP is Roland RSS (Roland Sound Space). It is a bit better (depending on how it is used) than QSound with headphones, but suffers the same faith as QSound when you are listening with speakers. Just move a bit from the soft spot, and suddenly what was in front left is now back left. RSS was used on Suzanne Cianni _Hotel Luna_ album. RSS cost around 40K$ and is midi controllable. Another system on which i have zero information is called Audio Cybernetics. The last technology is called Focal Point 3D Audio. It was developped by Bo Gehring and first used on the Macintosh computers with a modified Audiomedia (Digidesign). It cost around 1400$ in this configuration. But, Gravis saw that (Focal Point is from Seattle) and it is the system that we will be getting. At a much better price. The system produce the sounds with these parameters: direction, elevation and distance. I am pretty sure that Gravis will have to develop a SYSEX command set. We already need it badly, but with 3D, i will shoot myself if i cant control it thru sysex. Hope i've entertained you... Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' _ _ _ CISM (_) (_) _) FM Montreal , Canada Email: CISM@ERE.UMontreal.CA (_) / . _) 10000 Watts Telephone no: (514) 343-7511 _______________________________________________________________________________ Audio-C-DJ-Fractals-Future-Label-Multimedia-Music-Radio-Rave-Video-VR-Volvo-... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 1:06:29 EST From: dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Francois Dion) Message-Id: <9301250606.AA26886@brise.ERE.UMontreal.CA> Subject: Franky in 3D forgot... To: Ultrasound Daily Digest I forgot: Focal Point(tm) 3D audio 1402 Pine av., #127 Niagara Falls, NY 14301 Voice/fax: 1-416-963-9188 Ciao, -- Francois Dion ' _ _ _ CISM (_) (_) _) FM Montreal , Canada Email: CISM@ERE.UMontreal.CA (_) / . _) 10000 Watts Telephone no: (514) 343-7511 _______________________________________________________________________________ Audio-C-DJ-Fractals-Future-Label-Multimedia-Music-Radio-Rave-Video-VR-Volvo-...