Ambisonics dome
for MUST project (2024)
Plonk designed and implemented an ambisonics playback setup for the MUST project.
From the website of the MUST project (accessed 2024-05-03):
An experiential approach to elicit and integrate the diverse values of nature.
The MUST Platform synthesises knowledge through integrating research and interaction for all stakeholders. The platform is a mobile audio-visual space, providing an immersive audio and visual experience for representing and giving agency to normally unheard voices, fostering the negotiation of multispecies transitions.
Plonk planned and developed a Reaper-based playback system for nine speakers and one subwoofer arranged in rings around the dome structure.
The sound system for the dome consists of a multi-channel setup with a total of 9 speakers and one subwoofer. We aimed for an equidistant speaker layout to provide a homogeneous sound field, optimised for ambisonics playback.
The playback system is based on a linux machine running Reaper with a custom ambisonics decoder. Project templates were created for the client to allow to dynamically add and adjust content based on the session’s requirements.
