Networked audio system for accessible spatial sound setups
Ananas: A Networked Audio System for Distributed Spatial Audio Applications
Sound
Summary
Spatial audio lets you hear sounds as if they come from different directions, but setting it up is usually expensive and complicated. The authors created Ananas, a system that uses cheap microcontrollers and precise network timing to make spatial audio easier and cheaper to use. It works with familiar audio software and can handle complex sound techniques like wave field synthesis. This could help more people create immersive sound experiences without big costs or technical hurdles.
What this means in practice
- •For audio engineers: Build scalable and modular spatial audio installations with low-cost hardware synchronized precisely over networks.
- •For event production teams: Deploy immersive sound experiences for live events using networked, affordable microcontroller devices controlled from common audio software.$Commercial implications: Enables selling modular spatial audio installation services for events with lower hardware costs and streamlined control.
Authors
Thomas Rushton, Romain Michon, Tanguy Risset
Abstract
Spatial audio has an accessibility problem. Largescale spatial and immersive audio installations remain costly and exclusive, with high barriers to entry. We propose ''Ananas,'' a networked audio system consisting of network protocols, control software and microcontroller firmware, with the aim of rendering spatial audio applications accessible to a broad cohort of potential users. Based on a network of low-cost microcontroller development boards programmed in the Faust programming language, synchronised to nanosecond order via IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol, and controlled by approachable, digital audio workstation-based tooling, Ananas represents an opportunity to disrupt and democratise the spatial audio landscape. In this paper we demonstrate Ananas's protocols for audio and control data transmission and device discovery, its methods for media clock and presentation time recovery, and its applications to wave field synthesis and higher order ambisonics in a modular, scalable form.