Ambisonics

Ambisonics is a surround sound system first developed in the 1970s. Its main difference from other surround techniques is that it separates trandmission channels from speaker feeds, the speaker feeds being derived using a decoder situated in the living room. Decoders can be implemented in either hardware or software. Typically more speakers are used than transmission channels, and the more speakers used then the more stable the resulting soundfield. Speakers can be arranged in a number of configurations, regular polygons being the most popular.

Resources on Ambisonics

• There is now a set of Wikipedia articles on Ambisonics.
• Of particular relevance is the ".amb" specification for downloadable B-Format files. However the ".amb" spec has some limitations which it would be useful to overcome.
• This website has many pages on Ambisonics (including at the bottom links to other Ambisonic websites).

Limitations of the ".amb" specification

The ".amb" specification for downloadable B-Format files is based on the WAVE-EX format. There are currently about 75 pieces available in this format for free download. Most of these are full-sphere soundfields. Some of the specifications' limitations are:

1. It is limited to 4 GBytes (2 GBytes if somebody screwed up).
2. It is limited to third-order soundfields and below. While third-order looks like a lot (16 channels), there already exists a prototype mic that can record up to fourth-order.
3. No compression (particularly lossless).
4. No flag to indicate whether the W channel has been -3 dB attenuated or not. With a flag it becomes optional (instead of mandatory).

Malham notation

The order of a B-Format soundfield can be specified using Malham notation. This uses a string of characters, each character being either f (for full-sphere) or h (for horizontal). The first character in the string specifies the type of the first-order components, the second character the type of the second-order components, etc.

Malham notation is not used in the ".amb" specification. Instead the number of channels uniquely defines the soundfield order. Unfortunately this simple and elegant scheme does not work above third-order as ambiguities creep in. A more general file format will have to use something else, such as Malham notation.

Here are some examples of Malham notation:

1. h - first-order horizontal (3 channels)
2. f - first-order full-sphere (4 channels)
3. hh - second-order horizontal (5 channels)
4. fh - second-order horizontal + first-order height (6 channels)
5. fff - third-order full-sphere (16 channels)

Channel conversions

Converting a B-Format file to a mono file is straightforward. Use Mono = W*sqrt(2).

Converting a B-Format file to a stereo file is more difficult. The "proper" way to do this is to convert the W,X,Y channels to two-channel UHJ. Unfortunately this requires the use of 90-degree wide-band phase shifters. In the digital domain these are usually implemented as convolution filters.

Assuming 90-degree phase shifters are unavaiable then the problem is one of choice. Starting from B-Format, it is possible to synthesize any mic response pointing in any direction. Hence, it is possible to synthesize any coincident stereo mic technique. Here are two popular stereo techniques.

Blumlein Mid-Side

Mid = (W*sqrt(2)) + X this is a cardioid response pointing forward
Left = Mid + Y
Right = Mid - Y

Blumlein Crossed Pairs

Left = (X + Y)/sqrt(2)
Right = (X - Y)/sqrt(2)

Which conversion to stereo is better depends on the material and how it was recorded. A good suggestion is to not specify a particular default channel conversion; instead, simply specify that there must be one. If one has to be specified then Blumlein Crossed Pairs is the simpler.