Feature request: option to output as Ambisonics

[Kurville]

Maybe I'm missing something, but for what I understand, there's two possible outputs: ADM file, via export, and channel-based, via monitoring plug-ins. I think it would be useful to have an option to output as Ambisonics.

Objects would encode directly in Ambisonics, HOA would stay as is, and channel-based (Direct Speakers) would be encoded based on their "standard" physical deployment, with options to tweak the channel positions.

Thanks for considering this FR.

[WernerBleisteiner]

Hi D,
I'm not involved inEPS development, but if I get your question right, I assume you indeed miss something.
Creating an ADM via REAPER's "Render" dialogue and with "Format: ADM BW64 File" selected, will always preserve an Ambisonics track, given that it has been defined with EPSs "HOA" plug-in and routed to EAR scene.
Along with EPS you will find a simple sample template named "EPS two objects, two stereo beds plus HOA template" containg the respective elements.
Attached you'll find an enhanced version, where I've added another ambisonics 5th order track (but with out audio, because I haven't a suiable file at hand).
Maybe this helps?
w
P.S. Thanks for your IAMF tutorials elsewhere. Still need to explore them. Did some ADM-to-IAMF test myself already.

EPS two objects, two stereo beds plus HOA-1st-5th.zip

[Kurville]

Hi,

Thanks for your comment, but what I would like is this: output everything as Ambisonics, whatever the sources format (object, HOA, channel-based).

The monitoring plug-ins output everything as channel-based, I would like the equivalent: an ambisonic output, whatever the sources format.

Hopefully, this will make my FR clearer.

Cheers!

[WernerBleisteiner]

Hmm...
I'm afraid to say, that this is not within the main scope of EPS as an authoringtool for ADM files to provide HOA as Monitor output format.
I can also hardly image, what's your use case for this?
In order to listen to HOA (on loudspeaker or headhones) you would again need a renderer, don't you?

Practically, in Reaper, it shouldn't be difficult to split and send the different signals/formats to seperate buses and outputs to achieve what you want. Thinking about what may be up to, I rearranged things a bit (see attached. The RPP needs to be linked to the template provided earlier).
This contains also the exported ADM plus its extracted axml and chna chunks, that describe the file as 5OA (though I could only fill it up with audio in 3OA).

As a background on EPS and ADM (which has not been invented by Dolby, to make that one clear).
The charm of EPS ist that within an authored ADM all types of formats of elements - i.e. channel-based, scene-based and object-based - are described and kept as they are, without having them 'burned" into a specific output format/channel-layout. Initiated by broadcasters, this agnostic approach is what's needed to cope at scale with the advantages of the formats (c-b, s-b, o-b) and ever emerging requirements and constraints of 'output platforms' and services.
Given that broadcasters are now entering the crucial "implementation stage" for ADM/S-ADM in operations,while most of the experts who had worked on ADM, EPS etc. have left broadcaster R&D due to the cutdowns happening, I assume there's little chance to get your specific request implemented in due time.

5OA-ADM-TEST.zip

I'm sorry to say that.

[Kurville]

I can also hardly image, what's your use case for this?

Top of my head, two use cases:

• Ambisonics streamed in Eclipsa Audio
• immersive audio concerts or events that ask for ambisonic masters

On personal level, I don't need it since I directly work in Ambisonics, but I can certainly imagine a musician adopting EAR for production and be able to deliver in ADM, channel-based or scene-based.

For example: https://ambisonics.iem.at/s3dapc/s3dapc2025

[WernerBleisteiner]

Understood. Thanks. Yes, that's possible.

But did you at all have a look at the ADM file, I provided you with?
Wouldn't you consider this 36 track (well only 16 used) an "Ambisonics master"?

The Reaper session itself contains elements in all formats - 2 moving mono objects, 2x 2.0 stereo fix panned at +/-45 and +/- 135 plus one 1OA and another (still empty) 5OA track that all add up to a 5OA master.
All "burned" eventually into 5OA ADM (for what ever reasons one might want to do that) - and proberly identifyable by the ADM metadata in the axml and chna. So, noguessing what these 36 track do represent.

ECLIPSA/IAMF claims to support ADM according to BS.2076-2 (at present we have 2076-3 as standard).
If you have a look at that, ADM goesfar far beyond any IAMF cpabilities so far: multiple audioProgrammes, adaptive leveling and positioning of obejects etc.
"Immersion" or "3DAudio" is just one of the features enabled by ADM (well, not in Dolby's ADM implementation, of course 😉)

As far as I know, at present there's only little (rather say none) possibility to check any IAMF playback in Youtube - if you can upload this at all: No support in a browser or native app, at best if you have a high class 2025 Samsung OLED TV (which limits the audience drastically).

So, if Google/YT/Samsung want to have this kind of content at all, they ought to deliver the tools to do so, shouldn't they?

[Kurville]

As far as I know, at present there's only little (rather say none) possibility to check any IAMF playback in Youtube - if you can upload this at all: No support in a browser or native app, at best if you have a high class 2025 Samsung OLED TV (which limits the audience drastically).

OK. All 2025 Samsung TVs and soundbars support Eclipsa Audio. My students and I have been posting Eclipsa Audio content on YouTube since January. That totals 97 videos so far. Chrome browser will soon support Eclipsa Audio. Android 16 for TVs has Eclipsa Audio support in the YouTube native app. It's also coming to webOS (LG).

Samsung owns AKG, Bowers & Wilkins, Crown, dbx, Denon, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Marantz, Mark Levinson, Polk Audio, Revel, Soundcraft, Studer. It's a pretty safe bet that they will have Eclipsa Audio support in 2026 products where it's appropriate.