360pan suite is a plug-in suite for Windows and macOS designed to deliver up to third order ambisonics mixes for immersive audio: audio from all directions, intended for headphone reproduction, that stays where it is even when you turn your head.

You can do all your panning, distancing and even mixing from within the video window of your DAW (Reaper or Pro Tools HD/Ultimate). There is no need to have any plug-in interfaces open while working.


Buy the 360pan suite now

360pan Suite 2 Video Overlay

360pan

360pan 2 AAX plug-in screenshot

Panning and the distancing of sound sources, operated directly from the video window.

360monitor

360monitor 2 AAX plug-in screenshot

Look around and listen to your immersive mix while you are making it, instant preview. Buy the headtracker now

360reverb

360reverb AAX plug-in screenshot

Convolution reverb with ambisonics impulse responses, helps adding depth to your mix.

360limiter

360limiter AAX plug-in screenshot

This true ambisonics limiter enables you to deliver great sounding mixes.

360radar

360radar AAX plug-in screenshot

The radar shows you the location of your audio in your ambisonics mix.

360turner

360turner AAX plug-in screenshot

Rotate or tilt an ambisonics recording so that misalignment and calibration errors of the microphone can be easily corrected.

What is 360pan suite for ?

The 360pan plug-in suite enables you to deliver ambisonics audio, b-format AmbiX audio to be precise.
There are a lot of names for the type video that the 360pan suite can deliver this spatial (or localized, immersive, 3D) audio for:

  • 360° video
  • VR video
  • Virtual Reality video
  • Panoramic video
  • Spherical video

to name the most common.
These type videos require a soundtrack that can turn when the head of the viewer with VR goggles, head-mounted-device (HMD) on, or his phone, is turned.

There are a number of playback platforms for 360 VR videos.

  • Facebook 360
  • Oculus Video
  • YouTube 360
  • SamsungVR
  • Jaunt
  • Vive
  • SteamVR
  • Playstation VR

to name a couple.

All of these chose Ambisonics as the technology that allows for the interactively turning audio mix. This means that audio-post folks need to produce ambisonics mixes. Ambisonics mixes are in a format called b-format, which consist of four channels (for first order, nine channels for second order and sixteen channels for third order). B-format comes in two channel orders: AmbiX or FuMa.
YouTube requires AmbiX b-format ambisonics soundtracks, so this is what 360pan delivers.
Facebook requires 2nd order ambisonics, 360pan suite delivers this.

360pan

360pan enables you to pan mono, stereo or four channel input files into ambisonics, using pucks that move on top of the (Pro Tools HD/Ultimate) video window.

Gain, distance and reverb width, along with the puck itself will show up in the (Pro Tools HD/Ultimate) video window when a panner is inserted and ‘show puck’ and ‘show overlay’ are switched on. The three sliders appear when you click the three slider icon that shows when you hover the mouse over a puck in the video window.

Signal Flow

It is possible to use the 360reverb in a traditional way using sends and busses, however it is designed to be used in a more clever way:

mono or stereo sources are converted up to ambisonics, while giving it a left-right, up-down, and distance position in the ambisonics bus. A panner is inserted on each sound source track to do this. So panners get mono or stereo (or even 4channels) of input and output ambisonics.

Each 360reverb creates a private ambisonics input, kind of a backdoor, only accessible by the 360pan instances. Each 360reverb shows up as a send destination in each 360panner. This ties the 360pan’s to the reverb in such away that you can adjust distance and reverb-width per panned source. This goes for an unlimited amount of sources even if there is only a single 360reverb in your project (which is the most usual setup).

Besides all this the usual main input of the reverb still functions (also simultaneously with the private input).

360pan suite puck faders detail
360pan suite position blur detail

Position blur

Turn position blur up to create sound-objects that should appear bigger than a point-source. The panning position will then be their center, and they will become larger in the mix.

Head-locking audio

If position blur is turned all the way up, the audio is mono and will not move at all when the listener turns his head. You can use this to mix voice-overs or (mono) music that shouldn’t move.
Pan stereo music hard left and hard right and open up position blur halfway to create a head-locked effect in an ambisonics mix, That does not require separate head-locked tracks.

360monitor

360monitor 2 AAX plug-in screenshot

360monitor scoops video frames out of the video window and sends them into a browser style drag-n-pan screen while decoding the ambisonics mix to binaural for headphones, (or 5.0) for speaker playback, so you can look around and listen to your immersive mix while you are making it.

In the picture the mix format selected is 8 channel (8 ch). This 360monitor is therefore on an eight channel bus (7.1). It folds the audio down to 2 channels for headphone listening. It does that in the way described technically in Appendix 2 ‘Ambisonics to binaural conversion’ from the 360pan suite manual.

Tip: 360monitor can be heavy on the CPU when it is visible. This is because it is transporting frames from the Pro Tools HD/Ultimate video window to the 360monitor user interface. The smaller the Pro Tools HD/Ultimate video window, the lighter 360monitor operates.

Head tracking

A low cost bluetooth connected head tracking unit that can be attached to your headphones and can steer the 360monitor. That more closely resembles the way your mix will be listened to by the end-user. Appendix 3 in the 360pan suite manual describes the use and calibration of the head tracker.

Please note that when you source this tracker elsewhere (not from Audio Ease) you have to ensure a battery is included.

Buy the headtracker now

360reverb

360reverb is the first truly omnidirectional convolution reverb. A single instance can can provide pan-following reverb with individually adjustable reverb width for an unlimited amount of sound sources.

The dry/wet balance and the spread controls only function on the main (traditional plug-in) input of the reverb. 360reverb accepts ambisonics input and delivers ambisonics output. There is a separate private input that is selectable in all 360pan plug-in instances.

The dry/wet balance and the spread controls do nothing on the private audio lines each 360pan has to the reverb. The distance and reverb-width parameters for the private inputs are set in the 360pan plug-in (or through the popup faders in the video overlay).

360limiter

360limiter is a first order to third order ambisonics, look ahead, brick wall peak limiter with adaptive automatic release time determination, and added EBU R128 (LUFS) loudness metering.

Your spatial audio mix will sound great compared to other mixes from other professional sources like the Google Spotlight Stories on YouTube.

Live ambisonic recordings often have a large dynamics range, where occasional peaks can prevent the user from gaining without clipping the peaks. When uploaded online (or on any other delivery platform) your mix can sound quiet compared to the rest. This is where the limiter comes into play. The 360limiter can, transparently, attenuate these peaks, enabling the user to gain the program without clipping.

360radar


360radar shows you when there is audio in your ambisonics mix or recording, but more importantly it shows where it is, all right in the video window.

360turner

360pan suite 360turner plug-in

The 360turner together with 360radar allows you to rotate or tilt an ambisonics recording so that misalignment and calibration errors of the microphone can be easily corrected.

Import
converter plug-ins

360fuma to ambix & 360ambix to fuma

The two main flavors in b-format channels are:

  • FuMa
    channel ordering WXYZ with W 3dB lowered compared to AmbiX
  • AmbiX
    channel ordering WYZX

360pan suite, Facebook, Oculus Video, YouTube, SamsungVR and Oculus all use AmbiX b-format.

Currently some technologies use FuMa ordering as their upload requirement. If you will be using the 360pan suite to create audio for:

  • JauntVR VR player
  • Audiokinetic's WWise
  • TSL's Surround Zone
  • HarpexB

Then make sure you insert a 360ambix to fuma in the ambisonics channel that you bounce, in order to get the FuMa channel order (and normalization) that is required.

No export/convert plug-ins required

360pan suite works with standard AmbiX channel ordering and normailization. This means you can directly use the output of any 360pan suite plug-in as AmbiX ambisonics signal. There is no need to use convert or export plug-ins. This also allows to mix any other plug-in that supports AmbiX ambisonics audio.

Specifications

360pan suite currently features the following plug-ins:

  • 360pan
    pan your audio to ambisonics using the easy video overlay.
  • 360monitor
    monitor ambisonics audio and preview 360 video.
  • 360reverb
    first ambisonics convolution reverb
  • 360limiter
    a true ambisonics limiter
  • 360radar
    see your ambisonics audio in the video overlay.
  • 360turner
    easily fix misalignments in ambisonics signals.
  • 360fuma to ambix
    convert first order FuMa ambisonics audio to AmbiX.
  • 360ambix to fuma
    convert first order AmbiX ambisonics audio to FuMa.

All plug-ins are available in first (1OA), second (2OA) and third order (3OA) variants (four, nine or sixteen channels).

The 360pan suite of plug-ins is protected using a single license. An iLok (second or third generation) USB key can be used however this is not required: the license can also be activated on a machine (computer) using the ilok license manager application. A free ilok.com account is required for this.

Minimum requirements

macOS
  • macOS 10.8.5 or up, macOS 14 (Sonoma), 13 (Ventura) and 12 (Monterey) are fully supported.
  • on of these supported DAWs:
    • Pro Tools 12.8.2 HD (or up, incl. Pro Tools Ulitmate)
    • Reaper 5 or up
    • Nuendo 7 or up
    • Cubase 9 or up
  • an iLok.com account (no ilok usb key required)
  • On Apple silicon (M1/M2/M3) macs Open Using Rosetta is required currently. Native support will be added.
Windows
  • Windows 8 or up
  • on of these supported DAWs:
    • Pro Tools 12.8.2 HD (or up, incl. Pro Tools Ulitmate)
      ⚠️ Windows: Pro Tools 2023 & up are not supported
      Currently 360pan suite cannot detect the video window. For now we advice to stay on Pro Tools 2022 for 360pan suite on Windows.
    • Reaper 5 or up
    • Nuendo 7 or up
    • Cubase 9 or up
  • an iLok.com account (no ilok usb key required)

Please note:

  • When using HDX hardware the Hybrid Engine needs to be Enabled for the private (pre-fader) sends from the 360pan plug-in to the 360reverb to work. When the Hybrid Engine is disabled the distance cannot be controlled for a panned source. The 360reverb does work as normal reverb insert/aux effect on HDX systems with disabled Hybrid Engine.
  • 360pan suite 3 requires the ambisonics tracks introduced in Pro Tools HD 12.8.2. This sets the requirement to Pro Tools HD 12.8.2 or up (incl. Pro Tools Ulitmate). If you use an older Pro Tools 12 HD / Pro Tools 11 HD version please use 360pan suite version 2.

Version history

The 360pan suite 3.2.2 for Windows
This update addresses connectivity issues with the HC-06 headtracker.
The video overlay now also works in Pro Tools 2022.
⚠️ Pro Tools 2023 is not supported
Currently 360pan suite cannot detect the video window. For now we advice to stay on Pro Tools 2022 for 360pan suite.
The 360pan suite 3.2.1 for macOS only
This update addresses connectivity issues with the HC-06 headtracker.
This versions also works on Apple Silicon machines (M1) through Rosetta. macOS 12 (Monterey) is fully supported.
The 360pan suite 3.2.0 for macOS only
This update adds support for macOS 10.15 (Catalina).
The 360pan suite 3.1.1 for macOS and Windows changes:
new 360limiter, true ambisonics limiter plug-in added to the suite
new Pro Tools (AAX) support for Windows added
added OpenGL rendering in plug-ins, reducing cpu load dramatically
added option to double the 360monitor's preview video window size
fixed communication problem with latest generation HC-06 head trackers
The 360pan suite 3.0.0 for macOS and Windows changes:
new VST3 support for Windows added
third order (3OA) ambisonics support added
support for the ambisonics tracks in Pro Tools HD 12.8.2 (or up, incl. Pro Tools Ulitmate) added
The 360pan suite 2.0.2 for Mac changes:
new VST3 and AAX plug-ins
The 360pan suite 1.0.2 for Mac changes:
Open VST beta intended for use in Reaper 5
The 360pan suite 1.0.1 for Mac changes:
Added plugins for FuMa to AmbiX and AmbiX to FuMa conversions
Corrected height parameter in 360monitor
Improved w-channel scaling in panner
Puck colors are stored in session now
When opening new panner vertical video offset remains
Several UI improvements
The 360pan suite 1.0.0 for Mac release:
Initial release, AAX, for Mac OS.

Support

Installation and authorization

The 360pan suite of plug-ins is protected using a single license. An iLok (second or third generation) USB key can be used but is not required, the license can also be activated on a machine (computer) using the ilok license manager application. A free ilok.com account is required for this.

There is only a single AAX and VST3 plug-in which, once installed, will manifest itself as a number of plug-ins in Pro Tools HD/Ultimate / Reaper / Nuendo.

On macOS installation is done by unpacking the downloaded zip file, opening the dmg file and dragging the 360pan suite plug-in (.VST3 or .AAXPLUGIN) into the right alias (shortcut) to copy it to your Plug-Ins folder.

On Windows unpack the zip file and then run the installer.exe to install the VST3 and AAX plug-ins.

In the downloaded you will also find the manual and the DAW templates.

360pan suite 3 folder in Mac Finder

Download plug-ins

Request a link to the downloads page with the latest 360pan suite plug-in downloads.

Manual: AAX / VST3

Plug-in format specific documentation for the VST3 and the AAX plug-in.

Example projects

Quick start: download & check out the example session / project for Pro Tools HD/Ultimate and Reaper.

DAW Templates

Wrap your head around the basic DAW setup for ambisonics audio production using one the 360pan suite templates for Pro Tools HD/Ultimate or Reaper.

EULA

The 360pan end user license agreement (eula).

Call for help

+31 30 244 6335

SUPPORT HOURS
MONDAY-FRIDAY 9AM-5PM CET

LOCAL TIME @AudioEase
MONDAY 7:10 AM

Frequently asked questions

Installation

Welcome to Altiverb 7 !

Install iLok software
First please make sure you have installed the latest ilok software from:
www.ilok.com
When you do not have an ilok.com account, please create one for free at ilok.com.

Get the Altiverb 7 license
If you do not have the Altiverb 7 license on your ilok account yet, you can request it here:
www.audioease.com/authorization

Then run the ilok license manager app, log in to your account and choose to activate the Altiverb 7 license to your iLok (2nd generation or up) key. Once you did this you can install and use Altiverb 7 on any Mac or PC you connect this ilok key to.

Request an Altiverb 7 downloads email
To get the latest Altiverb 7 installer, please request a link to the current downloads page at:
www.audioease.com/download

Full install
Check your email, open the downloads page from the link in the email and then proceed to download the latest first time full Altiverb 7 installer (that is the large 7 GB download, not the plug-in updater).

Extract the zip file with the OS default tool (macOS: Archive Utility, Windows: choose Extract All...) and then run the Altiverb 7 installer to install Altiverb 7.
The installer will ask you where to install the impulse responses and what plug-ins to install (or at what locations, on Windows) and it will then proceed to install Altiverb 7 and all impulse responses.

Then open your DAW and you will find Altiverb 7 is available as effect ready to add reverb to your audio.
Update to latest version 7
To update an installed Altiverb 7 to the latest simply request a link to the downloads page and download the latest plug-in updater. The update installer will take care of updating, no need to uninstall or anything.
www.audioease.com/download

Update old 7 to the latest 7
When you are updating a really old Altiverb 7 installation to the latest you can best download the latest first time full Altiverb 7 installer (not the updater) to make sure the impulse responses (IRs) get updated to. The Altiverb 7 impulse responses core library gets updated every few years and if you update from an old Altiverb 7 it is required to re-install the latest complete IR set.

New impulse responses (IRs)
We are continuously looking for, traveling to and recording the nicest acoustics from all around the world. We add new IRs to the Altiverb collection regularly and to install these simply open the IR Browser in Altiverb 7, hit the NEWS button and Altiverb will show you what IRs are available for download. And a single click on the download button is enough to add the IR to your collection.

Upgrade old Altiverb to version 7
You can upgrade an old Altiverb version (version 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6) to version 7. Check your options at:
www.audioease.com/store/#upgrade
Follow this guide to remove Altiverb 7 from your system. Please note you do not need to uninstall when updating Altiverb 7. The installers will take care of this.

Windows
Simply uninstall Altiverb 7 via the add/remove software Control Panel.

macOS
To uninstall Altiverb 7 on Mac OS X please delete the Altiverb 7 plug-ins from here:
Audio Unit:/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/
MAS:/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/MAS/
VST:/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/
AAX:/Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/
RTAS:/Library/Application Support/Digidesign/Plug-Ins/
Then remove the following folders:
/Applications/Audio Ease/Altiverb 7
/Users/Shared/Altiverb

And the Altiverb 7 preferences file:
/Users/name/Library/Preferences/com.audioease.suite.Altiverb7.plist *

* Please note Mac OS X hides the Library folder in your user folder (since 10.7). You can go there by hitting the GO menu item in the menu bar when you have a finder window open. Then hold down the option (alt) key and a link to the User Library will appear.
av7 installer damaged
Here's what you can do when the newly downloaded installer fails to run because the macOS reports the downloaded installer failing verification (or reports it is damaged and cannot be opened).
  1. Make sure you use the macOS default 'Archive Utility' to open the downloaded zip file (other utilities could corrupt the installer app while unpacking the zip file).
  2. Please check if there is a security update available for your macOS and please install this.
  3. Open Safari and check if you can visit https://www.audioease.com.
    When you can visit the website in Safari, then please retry downloading the installer. If the download fails to run, you can try using a different browser. Any of the following: Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, will do.
Perhaps the download is broken, in which case a new download with another browser may work. Otherwise the solution may be to use Terminal, a built-in program on the Mac.
  1. Make sure you use the macOS default 'Archive Utility' to open the downloaded zip file (other utilities could corrupt the installer app while unpacking the zip file).
  2. In case that does not solve it, open Terminal. You can use the Mac search at the top right and start typing Terminal. It will appear, click on it to open the program.
  3. Type “unzip” and a space, then drag/drop the zip file into the Terminal window.
  4. Press Enter and the zip file will be unzipped, storing all files on your computer.
Did you loose track of the screen saver? The plug-in should offer to install it, but you can also download the screen saver and copy it to:/Library/ScreenSavers/

Download Altiverb screensaver
Welcome to Speakerphone 2 !

Install iLok software
First please make sure you have installed the latest ilok software from:
www.ilok.com

Get the Speakerphone 2 license
If you do not have the Speakerphone 2 license on your ilok account yet, you can request it here:
www.audioease.com/authorization

Then run the ilok license manager app, log in to your account and choose to activate the Speakerphone 2 license to your iLok (2nd generation or up) key. Once you did this you can install and use Speakerphone 2 on any Mac or PC you connect this ilok key to.

Request a Speakerphone 2 downloads email
To get the latest Speakerphone 2 installer, please request a link to the current downloads page at:
www.audioease.com/download

Full install
Check your email, open the downloads page from the link in the email and then proceed to download the latest first time full Speakerphone 2 installer (a large 4.5 GB download, not the plug-in updater).

Extract the zip file with the OS default tool (macOS: Archive Utility, Windows: choose Extract All...) and then run the Speakerphone 2 installer to install Speakerphone 2 and all samples. The installer will ask you where to install the samples and what plug-ins to install (or at what locations, on Windows) and it will then proceed to install Speakerphone 2 and all samples.

Then open your DAW and you will find Speakerphone 2 is available as effect ready to worldize (futz!) your audio.
Update to latest version 2
To update an installed Speakerphone to the latest version simply request a link to the downloads page and download the latest plug-in updater. The update installer will take care of updating, no need to uninstall or anything. www.audioease.com/download
Follow this guide to remove Speakerphone 2 from your system. Please note you do not need to uninstall when updating Speakerphone 2. The installers will take care of this.

Windows
Simply uninstall Speakerphone 2 via the add/remove software Control Panel.

macOS
To uninstall ASpeakerphone 2 on Mac OS X please delete the Speakerphone plug-ins from here:
Audio Unit:/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/
MAS:/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/MAS/
VST:/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/
AAX:/Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/
RTAS:/Library/Application Support/Digidesign/Plug-Ins/
Then remove these folders:
/Applications/Audio Ease/Speakerphone
/Library Application Support/Audio Ease/Speakerphone
/Library/Frameworks/SpeakerPhonePublicSupport.framework


And the Speakerphone 2 preferences file:
/Users/name/Library/Preferences/com.audioease.suite.Speakerphone2.plist *

* Please note Mac OS X hides the Library folder in your user folder (since 10.7). You can go there by hitting the GO menu item in the menu bar when you have a finder window open. Then hold down the option (alt) key and a link to the User Library will appear.

License activation

If you have just purchased an Audio Ease product and received a serial number you can register this here:
www.audioease.com/ed

Why register?
When registered you can access the downloads and immediately get licenses to activate the software.

When you have purchased your software directly at audioease.com there is no serial number. In this situation you can get your licenses directly at:
www.audioease.com/authorization
If you have just purchased at audioease.com or registered a serial number you can immediately get an iLok license for your product.

Simply go here: www.audioease.com/authorization
fill in your registered email address and proceed.
In case your iLok key is lost, stolen or broken we will help you out right away, even in case you have not invested in additional insurances or coverage at ilok.com.

Send a message to support@audioease.com and we will provide you with a 30 days expiring backup license so you can continue your work immediately. A spare iLok USB key is required for this, as the software (Altiverb, Speakerphone and Indoor) requires the ilok usb key. This means the software will not work without an ilok usb key with a license on it.

To resolve this situation permanently you may have to acquire another iLok USB key. We can help here too:
We can send you one at a not-for-our-profit-price, which will normally takes 2-6 weekdays in Europe (6-20 weekdays to the rest of the world), available at: audioease.com/store. Depending on your location purchasing locally might be quicker.
Yes, you can sell / transfer your license to another user.

You can transfer a license from your ilok account to someone else's ilok account (the new owner) by using the iLok License Manager (choose Transfer License...).
Please note: while PACE/ iLok fees apply, there are no fees imposed by Audio Ease.

Do please send a message to support@audioease.com with the name, email address and ilok user account info of both you and the new owner.

We will then transfer the software registration at audioease.com to the new owner, so that they will be able to access all downloads and (future) upgrades.
You can use the software with a single license on more then one computer. Simply connect the ilok usb key with the license on it to a computer and you can install and use the software.

However you can use the software only at one computer at a time.

When you need to run the software in two locations (two rooms / two machines) at the same time this requires two licenses. This means purchasing two copies of the software. We do not offer any second license deals or discounts.

General troubleshooting

Altiverb 8 & Indoor 2 are universal (native Apple silicon and Intel)

Speakerphone 2 and 360pan suite 3 work fine using Rosetta 2 on the Apple silicon machines. The performance is great.

We are working on adding native silicon support to all plug-ins.
As soon we have news on this we will share it.

The latest BarbaBatch, Snapper and Make a Test Tone are all universal applications, supporting both Apple silicon & Intel.

Last update: Mar 25, 2024
In case your iLok key is lost, stolen or broken we will help you out right away, even in case you have not invested in additional insurances or coverage at ilok.com.

Send a message to support@audioease.com and we will provide you with a 30 days expiring backup license so you can continue your work immediately when you have a spare ilok key.

To resolve this situation permanently you may have to acquire another iLok key. We can help here too:
We can send you one at a not-for-our-profit-price, which will normally takes 2 to 5 shipping days in Europe (6-20 days to the rest of the world), available at: audioease.com/store. Depending on your location purchasing locally might be quicker.
Pro Tools states it is not a valid 64 bits plug-ins
Most likely the installer or the plug-in got corrupted in transit. Please download the latest updater installer on the computer you want to use it on. Then move the downloaded zip file on the desktop and there choose to extract it using the Mac OS X default Archive Utility app. Once you did this please run the updater installer from the desktop to install the correct aaxplugin and this should cure the problem.
The aax plug-in can get corrupted when transferred on some external (or network) drives. The plug-in won't validate properly then.
Authorization Wire Exception bad channel id "Speakerphone / Altiverb cannot run, because an error occurred. Encrypted Channel Bad Channel ID (or USB error or frame is an invalid size)"

Authorization Wire Exception invalid size

Errors like these can be solved by downloading and installing the latest ilok software from www.ilok.com. Altiverb, Speakerphone, Indoor and 360pan suite require this software.
Windows Authorization Error: Altiverb 7 Regular cannot run because it is corrupted please try reinstalling the product

This error means the graphics card driver on your system is not up to date. Even when Windows states this is up to date, Altiverb 7 can generate this error and you will find there is a newer driver available (and this will solve this error).

Please try to update your graphics card driver.

Find out what graphics card you have in your system (right click on your desktop, choose change screen resolution, hit advanced settings, that would show you the manufacturer"s name and the model).
Then please go to the manufacturer"s website, hit support/drivers and find the latest driver for your graphics card and download and install this.
Restart your computer.
The problem should be gone now.
The plug-in is installed correctly (Altiverb / Speakerphone / Indoor / 360pan suite) and the ilok software is up to date and still the plug-in cannot be found in Cubase (or Nuendo).

Let's clear Clear the Cubase vst preferences to force a re-scan of all vst plug-ins (in case the plug-in is blacklisted)

  • Remove all plist/xml files with VST in the file name from the Cubase preferences folder, check this post where to find the preferences folder.
  • Then restart your computer.
  • After the restart run Cubase. Cubase will now re-scan all plug-ins and it should load the plug-in again.

360pan suite

Currently the 360pan suite cannot detect the video window in Pro Tools 2023 & up on Windows. Until this has been resolved in an update we advice to stay on Pro Tools 2022 for 360pan suite on Windows.
When using HDX hardware the Hybrid Engine needs to be Enabled for the private (pre-fader) sends from the 360pan plug-in to the 360reverb to work.
When the Hybrid Engine is disabled the distance cannot be controlled for a panned source. The 360reverb does work as normal reverb insert/aux effect on HDX systems with disabled Hybrid Engine.
When you use the VST3 360pan suite plug-ins in Reaper you will have to verify two settings in Reaper's preferences are properly set up, else the suite will not function properly.

In Reaper choose Preferences... from the bottom of the Options menu and then first go to:

Reaper preferences - turn off Anticipative FX Processing 1. Audio -> Buffering
and then TURN OFF the Anticipative FX Processing
2. Audio -> Buffering
and then TURN OFF the Live FX multiprocessing
these two options will ensure the 360reverb to function properly (else you will get sync problems)

Reaper preferences - VST-parameter-automation
3. Plug-Ins -> VST
Under VST Compatibility please set the Parameter automation notification to:
Process all notifications
this will ensure automation is written to track when you control the panner pucks from the video overlay (without the panner plug-ins being open).

Reaper preferences - automation-do-not-add-points.png
4. Editing Behavior -> Automation
When recording automation and stopped should be set to: Do not add additional points.
This to ensure you can nudge the time cursor and then drag pucks and write automation this way (like in the tutorial/example project).
5. Reverb last
When creating a bus for 360Reverb, make sure it is last, or right before the monitor.
6. Your Video window can not be Docked, and the video window can not be full screen.
These are not in the settings window. You right-click on your video to undock it if it is embedded in another window.
It could be some or all 360pan suite plug-ins are missing the first time you run Reaper after installing the 360pan suite VST3 plug-in. Reaper then needs a gentle push to see all plug-ins in the suite.

Solution:In Reaper choose Preferences... from the bottom of the Options menu and then open the VST tab in Plug-Ins:
  • Hit the Re-scan... button
  • Choose (from the popup menu) Clear cache and re-scan VST paths for all plug-ins
  • Quit and restart the Reaper app
Reaper preferences - Clear Cache and rescan to make the plug-ins appear

Clearing the cache should solve warnings like this:
In Reaper not all plug-ins available
The video preview in the 360monitor AAX plug-in only functions (on modern systems and recent Pro Tools versions) when the Pro Tools.app is allowed to record the computer screen in the macOS system preferences.
Make sure you set this option to fully benefit from the 360pan suite plug-ins options.

360monitor video preview: Allow Screen Recording for Pro Tools
Quick start: download & check out the example project / session featuring a short 360 video of us running around at Audio Ease, mono panning audio, a true ambisonics (b-format) FX recording, binaural preview and export suggestions.

Open the practice project START and open the workflow video and practice along with the video.

Available for Pro Tools, Reaper and Nuendo at:
www.audioease.com/360/#example
Here we offer a bunch of free "spatial treats" that we use at Audio Ease ourselves on a daily basis. There are no warranties, and almost all of it builds upon either Google's Omnitone or Here we offer a bunch of free "spatial treats" that we use at Audio Ease ourselves on a daily basis. There are no warranties, and almost all of it builds upon either Google's Omnitone or FFMPEG:
www.audioease.com/360/#goodies
True headlocked stereo is not possible in the ambisonics audio format.
Ambisonics audio is a 3D audio sphere and headlocked (fixed) stereo sound does not fit into this.
This is simply impossible.

Headlocked mono is possible, that is the top channel only.

360pan suite offer to mix to the top channel using the position blur control.
More position blur (more mix to top) is more mono, more inhead/headlocked.
When you pan your stereo source hard left and right (-90 and +90) in the ambisonics sphere and you set the position blur to half way (somewhere between 0.40-0.60) you will find there is stereo sensation while you cannot really identify things turning when you look around in the 3D sphere.
If you move the position blur control more towards 1 you will find it will rotate less, but it will also be more mono. That is the trade off.

Altiverb 8

Do you have customer IRs, or did you add your own IRs, impulse responses, to Altiverb 7?
You have to copy these to the new location Altiverb 8 uses to ensure Altiverb 8 also finds these.
The new location is:
/Users/Shared/Audio Ease/Altiverb/Impulse Responses/User Created IRs

You can also verify Altiverb 8 uses this location, in the preferences tab in the plug-in:
Altiverb 8 user irs prefs
Altiverb 8 is backwards compatible with Altiverb 7. when you install the upgrade license replaces your altiverb 7 license, and the Altiverb 8 plug-in will be loaded in your older sessions, sounding identical to Altiverb 7 (and Altiverb 6 and Altiverb 5).

Forward compatibility is limited: sessions made with Altiverb 8 don’t load reliably on systems with altiverb 7 installed because new functions may have been used in the Altiverb 8 session that are lacking in Altiverb 7.


There will be no MAS Altiverb 8 plug-in.
Before you upgrade to Altiverb 8 please save the settings of your MAS Altiverb 7 plug-in instances in your projects as Altiverb presets (irp files). You can do this in the Altiverb IR browser.
These will be converted by the Altiverb 8 installer so you can load your settings into your Altiverb 8 Audio Unit instances when you replace them. In case in a while you need to turn back to an old project where you have not done that we can provide temporary licenses so you can do this still.

You can also use this handy preset converter app to convert old presets to the new one.
Download Preset Converter app
All new parameters in Altiverb 8 are not automatically enabled for automation when you open a session that was started with Altiverb 7. Ensure to enable these if you rely on automation.

Of course when you insert a new Altiverb 8 instance all parameters do get enabled directly (if you have this enabled in the pro tools preferences).
Enable new paramters for automation in Pro Tools

Speakerphone

If you upgraded to Speakerphone 3, do enable to two newly added parameters for automation.
Pro Tools won't do that automatically for you.

Speakerphone 3 move samples
Yes, of course!
Hit the little triangle icon in the top right corner of the Samplebay module in Speakerphone.
Then from the menu that pops up you can open the current Samples folder. Then move this to an external drive and then in the Speakerphone plug-in open the same menu again and use the CHANGE SAMPLES FOLDER option to point Speakerphone to the new location.
Then quit and open your DAW and from then on Speakerphone should use the samples from the external drive.
Speakerphone 3 move samples
There will be no MAS Speakerphone 3 plug-in.
Before you upgrade to Speakerphone 3 please save the settings of your MAS Speakerphone 2 plug-in instances in your projects as Speakerphone presets (spp files). You can do this in the Speakerphone preset browser.
These will be converted by the Speakerphone 3 installer so you can load your settings into your Speakerphone 3 Audio Unit instances when you replace them. In case in a while you need to turn back to an old project where you have not done that we can provide temporary licenses so you can do this still.

You can also use this handy preset converter app to convert old presets to the new one.
Download Preset Converter app
If Speakerphone 2 is gone after you updated Pro Tools to 2023.3 (or later) and you are on a Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/M3 ARM) then you have to open Pro Tools Using Rosetta to get Speakerphone 2 working.

At this moment Speakerphone 2 requires Open Using Rosetta on the Apple silicon (M1/M2/M3) macs. We are working on a new Speakerphone version that will add native support for apple silicon. As soon as we have news on this we will let you know.
For now you need to open Pro Tools using Rosetta in order to use Speakerphone 2.
To ensure Pro Tools opens using Rosetta:
  • open the Finder
  • go to the Applications folder
  • select the Pro Tools app
  • hit get info
  • tick the box to Open Using Rosetta.
Open Pro Tools using Rosetta
Since Pro Tools 2024.6 this AAE-9173 error can occur when a clip is played back through the Speakerphone 2.2.2 AAX Plug-In.
AAE-9173
This problem only occurs on Intel macs with Pro Tools 2024.6 and Speakerphone v2 (not v3!).
You can workaround this problem by:
  • Increasing the H/W Buffer Size in the Pro Tools Playback Enging settings
  • Disabling Dynamic Plug-in Processing in the Pro Tools Playback Engine settings
  • Disabling Optimize Performance at Low Buffer Sizes in the Pro Tools Playback Engine settings
  • Or reverting to an earlier Pro Tools (in Pro Tools 2024.3 this error does not occur).
Pro Tools playback engine settings to prevent the AAE-9173 error
By granting this directory read & write permissions for all users an admin user can enable all users on Windows to use the Speakerphone VST (or AAX) plug-in:
C:\ProgramData\Audio Ease\Speakerphone

Without setting this Speakerphone will crash when a non-admin user tries to use the plug-in.
The challenge/response hard disk authorization is only available in the older (32 bits only) Speakerphone 2.0.5.
You are free to use this one instead of the latest, the 2.0.5 installer is available from the downloads page.

We strongly discourage running this old Speakerphone 2. This version will not be updated anymore. We recommend to use the latest Speakerphone 2.1. This one does require the iLok (2nd generation or up) key yes. Whenever your ilok key breaks or you loose it, we will always help you (supply a new license for a replacement key).
Most likely the Speakerphone 2.1 installer removed the resources from an older Speakerphone 2.0.5 installation however the installer failed to remove the Speakerphone 2.0.5 RTAS plug-in. When Pro Tools 10 now loads the Speakerphone 2 RTAS you get this error message. Then later Pro Tools scans the AAX and decides not to load the RTAS anymore.

Solution:
We need to fix this in the installer of course, but when you delete the Speakerphone.dpm (the RTAS plug-in) from: /Library/Application Support/Digidesign/Plug-Ins/ this error message will be gone.

Altiverb 7

If Altiverb 7 is gone after you updated Pro Tools to 2023.3 (or later) and you are on a Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/M3 ARM) then you have to open Pro Tools Using Rosetta to get Altiverb 7 working.

Altiverb 7 requires Open Using Rosetta on the Apple silicon (M1/M2/M3) macs. Altiverb 8 adds native support for apple silicon. You can check your upgrade options here.
You need to open Pro Tools using Rosetta in order to use Altiverb 7.
To ensure Pro Tools opens using Rosetta:
  • open the Finder
  • go to the Applications folder
  • select the Pro Tools app
  • hit get info
  • tick the box to Open Using Rosetta.
Open Pro Tools using Rosetta
Problem: Non-readable text in the Altiverb 7 user interface.
Solution: Follow this guide to allow Altiverb to access the font again:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/font-book/fb34862/mac

Altiverb uses the system font Arial. Altiverb does not install this, it should be on your macOS by default. If your system does not have the Arial font or the macOS system prevents Altiverb somehow from using it, Altiverb could look like this:
Altiverb 7 font missing or blocked
Problem: Installed or updated Altiverb 7 and now it does not show up in Logic.
Solution: Restart your mac.

Somehow (we are still trying to find out why) the macOS ignores Altiverb 7 until the computer has been restarted. This is why Logic (or Ableton Live, or any other DAW that uses Audio Unit plug-ins) does not show the Altiverb
Altiverb 7 Regular and XL sound exactly the same and come with the same IRs.
There are three differences:

Altiverb 7 Regular supports
  • up to stereo input and output
  • sampling rates up to 96kHz
  • plug-in formats on windows: aax native and vst, on mac: aax native, vst, audio unit, mas and rtas
Altiverb 7 XL supports:
  • up to 5.1 surround in and output
  • sampling rates up to 384 kHz
  • all plug-ins formats Altiverb 7 Regular supports + TDM on Mac OS X

So, in short, if you do not have sessions on 192k and you work in stereo only, Altiverb 7 Regular will do just fine.
If, at a later stage, you would like to upgrade from Regular to XL this is possible. The upgrade cost is just the price difference so you won't loose any money going for Regular first.
Problem: The IR set gets downloaded when you click the download button in the NEWS section in the IR Browser. It starts downloading but then nothing happens, the set does not load or show up.

When this happens the Altiverb plug-in fails to copy/move the downloaded IR set to the Audio Ease IRs folder.
It could be Altiverb is not allowed to write in the Audio Ease IRs folder.

Solution: Try locating the folder in the finder (or explorer), hit get info and then verify your user (and the admin group) can read&write in the folder. If you make changes make sure to also apply to all enclosed items too. If this does not help, try using the default location as IRs folder:
/Users/Shared/Altiverb/IRs

You can change the IR folder location in the preferences tab in the Altiverb plug-in:

Altiverb 7 ir folder location in preferences
Altiverb 7 supports loading your own files as IRs.
Any wav audio file can be used as impulse response.

Simply add your file(s) to your User Created IRs folder, the default location is:


macos user library folder
* Please note the MacOS system hides the Library folder in your user folder. You can still open this folder through the GO menu in the Mac finder. Then hold down the option (alt) key and a link to the User Library will magically appear.

Your third party impulse responses folders, libraries can be loaded through:
/Users/Shared/Altiverb/Third Party libraries

If you have recorded the Altiverb sine sweep to create an IR, then drag your mono or stereo recordings as wave file onto the drag and drop import window in the Altiverb plug-in. You can choose to save your IR into the User Created IRs folder.

Altiverb 7 ir import
There is a little trick you need to pull off to get this to work:
  • open the add fx window in Reaper on the 6 channel track
  • then right click on the Altiverb plug-in and make sure this option is checked:
  • ☑️ inform plug-in when track channel count changes

av7 reaper surround settings

When you then insert Altiverb 7 it should become 6 in 6 out and you will be able to choose the surround IRs in the IR Browser.
Most likely you were working with old older (version 7.0/7.1) IR set before and you recently installed the latest Altiverb 7 plug-in updater. This new Altiverb 7 plug-in however requires the latest core IR set.
To fix this please download the latest first time full Altiverb 7 installer and run this.
Once you installed this you will have all IRs again.

> You can request a link to the latest downloads at:
www.audioease.com/download
Altiverb 7 Windows Authorization Error: Altiverb 7 Regular cannot run because it is corrupted please try reinstalling the product

This error means the graphics card driver on your system is not up to date. Even when Windows states this is up to date, Altiverb 7 can generate this error and you will find there is a newer driver available (and this will solve this error).

Please try to update your graphics card driver.

Find out what graphics card you have in your system (right click on your desktop, choose change screen resolution, hit advanced settings, that would show you the manufacturer’s name and the model).
Then please go to the manufacturer’s website, hit support/drivers and find the latest driver for your graphics card and download and install this.
Restart your computer.
The problem should be gone now.
There is a situation where the Altiverb plug-in can revert to default settings when loading a project in Digital Performer.

This is caused by the fact the Digital Performer (DP) supports three plug-in formats: MAS, AU (audio unit) and VST.

How?
Example: When you save a project with the Altiverb MAS plug-in. And you then change the default plug-in type in DP to AU and re-open this project. DP will load Altiverb, but DP fails to transfer the saved Altiverb MAS plug-in settings to the now Altiverb AU plug-in, and Altiverb then reverts to loading the default settings (which is the Teldex IR).

When this suddenly occurs you are most likely using a different plug-in format then you used before. Try to find out what you used before, force DP to load this Altiverb plug-in from the plug-in settings in the DP preferences and then restart DP and re-open your project. The right settings should load again then.

If you need any help with this let us know. Send us for instance a project file that will not open correctly, then we can quickly help you out.
The macOS Altiverb 7.4.3 installer currently fails to install the screen saver. You can download the screen saver and copy it to:/Library/ScreenSavers/

Screensaver
What is the difference between the mono to stereo and the stereo to stereo options in a stereo out Altiverb ?

Best way to understand this is to go back with me to our sampling session when we recorded to room's acoustics for the IR in Altiverb.

mono to stereo
We put a single speaker in the center of the stage and two mics in the audience.

This results in a mono to stereo IR.
When you playback your audio through this IR in Altiverb, it will sound like your audio comes out of that single speaker from the center of the stage (mono!) picked up with two microphones (stereo!).
This IR gives a stereo reverb, however the input is (mixed to) mono, as there is only a single source on stage.

When you want to process a vocal (mono) or direct recorded electrical guitar or something where the panning is not important the mono to stereo IR will do just fine (pro: costs half of the processing then a stereo-to-stereo IR, so it is more efficient in cpu and memory).

stereo to stereo
back to recording the room
this time we put two speakers on stage, one on the left and one on the right side of the stage and we record again with the two mics in the audience.

When you playback your stereo audio through this IR in Altiverb your stereo signal comes out of these two speakers.
Easy to picture here that your original panning will be maintained using a stereo to stereo IR.

So basically it comes down to this:
is your input stereo or is it panned in stereo ?
use a stereo - stereo IR, else you will loose the stereo information in the reverb (although the reverb is stereo).

Sometimes even when using stereo panned sources a mono to stereo IR can be preferred as you do not want the panning to be reflected in the reverb levels. But this is a mixing decision which depends on taste mostly (and music style) and I dare not to advice on that :-)
We have removed some sets from the Altiverb IR library (mainly user submitted IR sets) that do not meet up to our current standards. The Speakers and Phones set is one of these. You can copy the original set from your Altiverb 6 Impulse Responses folder (if you still have this) to the Third Party IRs folder in the Altiverb 7 Impulse Responses folder.
Then you can then load these IRs again in Altiverb 7.

You can also download the original set from:
http://fokkie.home.xs4all.nl/IR.htm

Snapper

Snapper could act weird on your macOS system. In these ways: Snapper does not (always) appear when selecting audio file or Snapper crashes on quitting the application or preferences are not recalled properly.
Some check box has to be checked in the Mac OS System Preferences to ensure Snapper works properly. Maybe this somehow did not work on your system.

Please try this:
  • first quit Snapper (make sure it is not running)
  • then delete the Snapper preferences file: com.audioease.snapper.plist. This file is the Preferences folder in the User Library. Open the Mac Finder, hit the GO menu, hold down the option (ALT) key and a link to the Library folder will appear. Go to the Preferences folder and delete the file.
  • then please restart your mac (important)
  • now run snapper
  • open the mac os system preferences
  • go to the security and privacy settings panel
  • then to the privacy tab
  • select the accessibility panel on the left
  • open the lock on the bottom left (and fill in your password) to make changes
  • if Snapper is listed here, please select it and hit the - (minus) button to remove it from the list
  • now quit and run snapper and it should be added to the list again
  • make sure the box for Snapper is ☑️ checked. If it IS already checked then please un-check and ☑️ re-check it
  • quit and start Snapper
snapper 2 vital macos system setting in security and privacy panel
Snapper opens when you select any file that contains audio, also video files.
This sometimes is a problem, when you want to use the space bar to quickly preview the video in the finder.
There is a simple hack for this:

Use: SHIFT + SPACE BAR to preview the video

This works, even when Snapper is showing you the audio waveform of your selected video in the finder.
Snapper uses a temp folder to write the drag export files (selections) into when you drag (a selection) out of Snapper. Somehow on your system Snapper is unable to write in this folder.

By default the drag export folder is:
/Users/Shared/Snapper

You can check in the Snapper preferences what you currently use. Open Snapper, go to the preferences, open the export tab, then close to the bottom you should find:

snapper drag export folder preference
Hit the Folder... button to change the location (we recommend this: /Users/Shared/Snapper)
When this is set, quit Snapper, then start Snapper and then check in the Snapper Preferences if this option is still set correctly.
If not, we have to reset some things, see below.**
If the folder is correctly set, then let's open the /Users/Shared folder in the Finder, select the Snapper folder, hit get info and under sharing & permissions ensure your user and the everyone group are set to Read & Write.
Hit the circle with the three dots and hit 'apply to enclosed items'.
Now dragging audio (selections) out of Snapper should work again.

** If the settings in the Snapper preferences do not stick, something's wrong.
This problem is most likely solved by removing the Snapper cache and preferences.

Open the Mac Finder, hit the GO menu, hold down the option (ALT) key and a link to the Library folder will appear. Open the Caches folder and delete these four folders: com.audioease.snapper
com.audioease.snapper.filestate
com.audioease.snapper.view
com.audioease.snapper.waveform

Go to the Preferences folder and delete this file:
com.audioease.snapper.plist

Then restart the mac (this is important, as the macOS caches the prefs).
You can request your Snapper activation code by clicking on the Lost / forgot key code link at:
https://www.audioease.com/snapper/#support
This can be handy when you lost or misplaced the key code to unlock the Snapper demo to the full version.

Store / purchase / upgrade

The iLok USB key available for purchase at audioease.com is the USB A type, not USB C.

iLok USB key USB A packaging
Any piece of old software can be upgraded to the current version at:
https://www.audioease.com/store/#upgrade

The upgrade requires:
  • we still sell this software
  • your old copy has not been upgraded to the latest before
  • you know your registered email address
  • If you live outside the European Union (EU) and not in the United Kingdom (UK) then you do not pay sales tax at audioease.com.
  • If you purchase as a EU/UK business with a valid sales tax registration number (BTW), (you can provide this on the address page) then you do not pay sales tax.
  • If you are from the EU/UK and you do not have a business sales tax number, you pay local sales tax (BTW) on the downloads and Dutch sales tax (BTW, 21%) on the USB keys.
  • If you are located in The Netherlands you always pay sales tax.
Audio Ease does not extend educational discounts.

Free goodies

Here we offer a bunch of free ‘spatial treats’ that we use at Audio Ease ourselves on a daily basis. There are no warranties, and almost all of it builds upon either Google's Omnitone or FFmpeg.

Offline 360 video player
with spatial audio!

Over here

Preview your 360 Video with immersive audio right from your own hard drive or network instantly. No upload, not public, no social media, no trickery, no jump inspector or android required.
Works in Firefox on Mac or Windows. Nudge forward and replay seems broken in Chrome, Safari won’t do a thing at all.

offline player

Go now

Because the video is nice and big it this sometimes preferred over previewing in our 360monitor plug-in.
AND the best part: you don’t need extra’s like jump, or an android phone. This page uses Omnitone, Google’s own 360 web API which means you are listening to the same ambisonics to binaural rendering as the android and desktop clients viewing YouTube use. It being Google’s also means it likes .webm. Of course none of the data compression that is going on might be happening when you actually do upload to YouTube. However this is a lot quicker (and safer!) than uploading.

All local

The files play locally from your (network) drive, after loading the page you can pull internet and it would remain working (just to prove that nothing goes into the internet).

Video webm

Point to a 360 video file. webm is preferred. You can convert to webm using one of the handy droplets

Audio

Optionally the site enables you to side-load a separate 4 channel wav audio file. Simply point to an interleaved First Order Ambisonics AmbiX .wav file (4 channels, WYXZ order), hit play, drag to turn, scroll wheel handles distance (field of view).

As hires webm conversion takes a bit of time, we like to make our webm once, and then, for each mix, we just bounce a wave file from Pro Tools HD/Ultimate and only load this separately.

Check it out here

Mac OS ffmpeg droplets
(including ffmpeg)

Arjen, sadly, has not yet been able to type a single ffmpeg command line right in one try, so Aram built him a few droplets that will perform common tasks on videos.
The result is saved next to the input video. The ffmpeg must remain next to the droplets for them to function.

Download

optimized for Pro Tools video droplet

drop any video to convert to a quarter of the resolution and to DNxHD. This makes Pro Tools happy and spiffy. (we convert samsung gear stitched 360 stuff with this).

webm droplet

drop a video with 4 channel AmbiX audio (like an exported mov from protools) to make a webm version for the offline 360 video Player

Jump inspector droplets

drop a video / audio to get the right file to locally preview on an Android device using Google's Jump Inspector

Crop stereoscopic video droplet

crop a stereoscopic video to the left side only, saves cpu load and screen room.

Do yourself a favor and download this. No fiddling with installing xcode or brew to get ffmpeg installed, no terminal embarrassments, simply drag n drop video files and wait...

And of course you are free to open the apps (droplets) with the Script Editor app to check what's going on and adapt if required by taste.

Manual

Example project workflow videos

Quick start: download & check out the example project / session featuring a short 360 video of us running around at Audio Ease, mono panning audio, a true ambisonics recording, binaural preview and export suggestions.

Open the practice project START and open the workflow video and practice along with the video.

For Nuendo there is a practice project available too, however there is no walkthrough instruction video. Check the Reaper VST workflow video and download the practice project to give it a try:

practice project Nuendo

Two manuals

Yes, two 360pan suite manuals. One for VST3 and usage in Reaper and one for AAX for usage in Pro Tools HD/Ultimate.

DAW Templates

To kickstart your new VR/360 audio post project use one of our templates. All routing/bussing done for you already, import the audio and video and start mixing. First order (1OA), second order (2OA) and third order (3OA) templates are included.

Position blur

Mixing non-turning audio, like Voice Overs, using position blur in 360pan.
The first channel of the ambisonics stream is the W channel, which goes to all virtual speakers in the ambisonics to binaural converter. This means you can place non-turning mono audio there, great for voice overs.

Position blur does this. With position blur all the way open your panning is gone and the audio is mono an everywhere, with the control all the way down the panning is very precise and the audio is a point source. With the blur parameter you can make panning less hard and create clouds of audio. This way you can position stereo input, add blur and create a stereo sensation while the audio does not turn when a users turns around in the VR.

Export 360pan suite audio to YouTube

Follow these steps to upload 360 video with ambisonics audio to YouTube. So that the viewer gets interactive turning audio when looking around in the VR video.

Here's the official YouTube guide at:
https://support.google.com

Here's our recipe:
Mix your audio and place (pan) it using the 360pan suite.
Bounce the resulting quad audio to:
- an interleaved file and ask your video producer to add this to the video
- or bounce directly to the quicktime video, using Pro Tools HD/Ultimate

In both situations bounce as quad (four channel) interleaved wave audio file (not compressed).

Then download the Spatial Media Metadata Injector app

Open your video with the quad ambisonics audio in the Spatial Media Metadata Injector app.
Check the first and last box (Video is spherical and audio is spatial, ambiX)

Spatial Media Metadata Injector app

Inject metadata, upload to YouTube, wait an hour for your 360 video to process. Watch in a modern browser (Chrome works for sure, Firefox and Safari might work too) to verify you get spatial audio (look around with headphones on!).

Export audio for Facebook

Bounce or export a second order ambisonics AmbiX interleaved audio file. (this is the 9 channel output from the Audio Ease 360pan suite).
Use the FB360 encoder app. Under ‘spatial audio’ select your mix and set it to B-format (2nd order ambix). Do not check the 'From Pro Tools' checkbox.
Select your headlocked stereo output and your video and then encode to a Facebook 360 video.

Offline side load in Gear VR
through Samsung VR app

If you have a Samsung GEAR VR and a compatible Android phone you can check/preview your mixes locally on the HMD without uploading (side loading). Follow this guide to get audio that will enable an immersive experience.

There are two approaches, one using a ffmpeg droplet to merge video and audio:

- export four channel AmbiX audio
- combine this with your original video by adding the audio as 4 channel AAC, you can use one of the droplets for this
- inject meta data using Google's Spatial Media Meta Data Injector app
- copy the injected video to your Android device, by using SideSync app for instance. Add it to a folder on the root of your device called "MilkVR".
- put the Android device in the Gear VR, run the Samsung VR app from the default Occulus home
- in the Samsung VR app hit the folder for local files then look under side loading and your video should be there.

Or by using the Facebook encoder app:

- export four channel AmbiX audio
- open the fb360 encode app, set this to export for YouTube video
- drop your video and audio onto the app, set the audio format to first order AmbiX
- encode - copy the encoded video to your Android device, by using the SideSync app for instance. Add it to a folder on the root of your device called "MilkVR".
- put the Android device in the Gear VR, run the Samsung VR app from the default Occulus home
- in the Samsung VR app hit the folder for local files then look under side loading and your video should be there.