ICST Ambisonics Plugins
A set of externals for MaxMSP for Ambisonics surround sound processing and source-control in three dimensions. These externals are the result of research and practise using Ambisonics since 2000 and have been tested and used in numerous concerts, compositions and installations. Support extends up to 11th-order Ambisonics, generating a B-format signal of up to 144 components, ordered using the published Ambisonic Channel Number (ACN) scheme and offering both N3D and SN3D normalisation weightings. A dedicated distance attenuation algorithm, built into the ambiencode~ and ambipanning~ objects, gives fine control over source behaviour both inside and outside the unit circle, and as an extension for the MaxMSP audio environment, the toolset also powers spatial audio workflows in Ableton Live. The externals are distributed under the Revised BSD Licence, and can additionally communicate bidirectionally over OSC with the companion ICST Ambisonics Plugins built for REAPER, letting motion data pass freely between Max and a DAW-based workflow.
tech specs
history
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The ICST Ambisonics Tools were developed by Jan C. Schacher and colleagues at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) at the Zurich University of the Arts, with development stretching from around 2000 through to a formally recorded research project running from March 2003 to July 2021. The earliest public release of the first two externals used spatialisation formulas provided directly by Dave Malham, one of the original figures in Ambisonic theory, and the tools were subsequently used in a steady stream of concerts and installations, including swarm-simulation pieces performed at Zurich's Walcheturm Gallery in 2009. Schacher documented the project's first decade in a 2010 paper, "Seven Years of ICST Ambisonics Tools for MaxMSP," tracing its evolution through several major versions, including v2.0 in April 2011 and v2.2 in May 2012, and the toolset has continued to be maintained and extended since, more recently gaining companion REAPER plugins and OSC-based interoperability with Max.
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