SpatGRIS
SpatGRIS is a standalone multichannel sound spatializer for different configurations of speakers in 2D or 3D, supporting up to 256 inputs and outputs. Trajectories and positions are received from the ControlGRIS plugin or from any OSC device, letting composers design rich spatial trajectories directly inside their DAW while the actual audio spatialisation itself is made by SpatGRIS and sent to the audio interface. It works across virtually any speaker setup, from 2D layouts such as quad, 5.1 or octophonic rings to 3D layouts including speaker domes, concert halls and theatres, and projects can also be mixed down to stereo using either a binaural head-related transfer function or simple stereo panning. Developed by the Groupe de Recherche en Immersion Spatiale (GRIS) at the Faculty of Music, Université de Montréal, in partnership with the Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT), it's cross-platform and free to download.
tech specs
history
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SpatGRIS comes from GRIS, the Groupe de Recherche en Immersion Spatiale, led by Robert Normandeau, professor of electroacoustic composition at the Université de Montréal since 1999 and holder of the university's first doctorate in electroacoustic composition. Since 2008, the group has been developing spatialisation tools for immersive multi-speaker environments, starting with plugins built for integration into common DAWs before moving on to standalone spatialisation software. SpatGRIS itself began as a merger of two earlier GRIS plugins, OctoGRIS and ZirkOSC, brought together with a wide range of new features. The software has continued to evolve through subsequent major versions, with SpatGRIS3 being replaced by SpatGRIS4 in January 2026, developed in ongoing partnership with the Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT) in Montreal.
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