‘ab Visualiser HOA’
We’re thrilled to introduce our latest plugin, ‘ab Visualiser HOA’ – an advanced tool designed to enhance how you monitor your Ambisonics mixes and recordings.
‘ab Visualiser HOA’ supports Ambisonics signals from 1st through 7th Order (1OA to 7OA*), compatibility depending on your DAW's support.
‘ab Visualiser HOA’ enables you to monitor the loudness at each dimensional pole and analyze the energy distribution across the acoustic dimensional planes.
Additionally, it provides tools to assess the acoustic weight correlation and offers a comprehensive three-dimensional visualization of the sound within the soundfield.
This plugin was designed to work with Ambisonics signals (1OA through 7OA*, depending on the DAW support).
Depending on the DAW you use, please refer to the end of this guide for punctual comments and tips.
Set-Up
There's nothing special you need to do here! As soon as you insert the plugin in an Ambisonics track, ‘ab Visualiser HOA’ will automatically detect the signal’s order and adapt the visualisation to match the order.
Please mind an Ambisonics signal must run through the visualiser, this plugin is not compatible with mono, stereo or other discrete-channel signals. Make sure you encode them to Ambisonics before running them through the visualiser.
ab Visualiser HOA
As soon as it’s inserted, ab Visualiser HOA contains four core sections that will provide visualisations at different levels.
The core Visualiser offers a dynamic visual representation of sound propagation within the soundfield. Its visualization adapts automatically to signal loudness, eliminating the need for manual adjustments!
The visualiser will display lower signals in a dark green colour, all the way to orange and red for the hottest signals.
At the bottom of the interface, a slider lets you control the density of the visual information displayed:
Lowering the slider will reduce the display to only the loudest acoustic points, which is useful for pinpointing signal peaks.
Raising the slider increases the amount of information shown, resulting in a "busier" display but providing a more comprehensive view of sound distribution.
The Energy Visualizer provides a unique tool for sound visualization, offering a view of energy distribution across dimensional poles.
This tool encompasses three perspectives, each rich in detail:
A 'dummy head' is positioned within the display to demonstrate how sound moves around the listener’s head. This feature helps visualize sound propagation from different perspectives.
Per display, the following graphic information can be taken into consideration:
Rings around the dummy head help you track the loudness of the signal anywhere around the head, the thickest ring being 0dB and subsequently, inner rings represent the loudness with -3dB loudness (all the way to around -24dB)
An outer ring represents the signal at around +3dB loudness (please don’t!)
When sound is passing through the visualiser, a white outline serves as a ‘peak’ meter of the signal around the listener’s head.
Additionally, the Energy Visualizer uses colour to represent sound levels at different elevations within the dimensional pole.
In the first quadrant (viewed from above), a white mesh indicates sound at an elevation of 0 degrees (ear level), while the darkest blue represents the loudness directly above the head.
In the middle quadrant (viewed from behind), the white mesh shows sound at no depth (ear level), and the darkest blue indicates the loudness directly behind the head.
In the right quadrant (viewed from the side), a white mesh shows sound with no lateral shift (azimuth of 0 degrees), and the darkest blue indicates the loudness at the far right side.
A FLIP switch is included for each quadrant, allowing you to rotate the visual display box by 180 degrees. This feature enables you to visualize the sound from the opposite dimensional pole, providing a different perspective on the sound distribution.
The Correlation Visualizer is an invaluable tool for displaying the distribution of sound weight across the three-dimensional soundfield.
This tool helps you understand the directional emphasis of sound, allowing you to precisely track the influence of each dimensional pole in your mix.
It is especially useful when working with Ambisonics microphones, as it aids in positioning the microphones with exact precision to capture the desired sound field effectively. We think of it as an acoustic compass.
In the bottom right of the visualizer interface, a Loudness Visualizer is integrated to provide a more precise visualization of loudness across each dimensional pole. This visualizer encompasses three key features:
Loudness Visualizer: This central feature monitors the ongoing loudness of the dimensional pole.
Peak Visualizer: Positioned in the middle, this visualizer tracks the instantaneous peak loudness of the sound, holding the peak display for several seconds for better tracking.
RMS Visualizer: On the sides, depicted in blue, this tool measures the RMS loudness, providing a continuous assessment of the sound’s intensity across each dimensional pole.
A slider has been added at the bottom of the visualizer to 'zoom in' on the louder areas of the soundfield. This feature is particularly useful for analyzing high-volume signals, allowing for a more detailed examination of their loudness levels.
Remember, Ambisonics is channel-agnostic, thus the Loudness visualiser does not reflect the loudness at any particular channel level, but instead at dimensional pole level.
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If your audio is not Ambisonics, encode it to any Ambisonics order.
If your audio is Ambisonics, insert it in an Ambisonics track (1OA through 7OA).
Insert this plugin.
Remember to add a decoder at the end of your insert chain to be able to properly listen to the signal.
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Make sure your signal is Ambisonics (if it’s not, encode it using ‘ab Encoder’
Insert this plugin.
Make sure you use a decoder at the end of the insert chain (e.g. our ab Decoder) to properly listen to the signal.
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Insert this plugin in an Ambisonics track, and make sure the signal running through it is Ambisonics (encode it to Ambisonics if it’s not)
Remember to select a Decoder (e.g. our ab Decoder) in the panner.
Ambisonics signals are only available in Nuendo / Cubase Pro.
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Make sure your signal is Ambisonics, encode it to Ambisonics if it isn’t.
Remember to set the track width to at least 4 channels. If the track contains 16 channels, this product will work in 3OA format. If the track has 64 channels, this product will work in 7OA format.
Remember to add a decoder at the end of the Inserts chain.
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Make sure the signal you work with is Ambisonics, encode it if it isn’t.
Add this plugin to an Ambisonics track
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Use this plugin in a 9.1.6 track.
Make sure the signal running through it is Ambisonics.
Insert this plugin.
The Panner of your track should always be a Decoder (we suggest ‘ab Decoder HOA).