I compiled the real-time frequency analyzing tools jaaa, japa 0.6.0 and Jnoise by Fons for Mac OS X (>= 10.6) as easy-to-install package.
japa-0.6.0-installer.pkg
jaaa-0.6.0-installer.pkg
For generating a test signal (white or pink noise) you can use
jnoise-0.6.0.zip
.
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The Music Innovation Studies Centre Vilnius (MiSC) [1] in cooperation with the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) Graz [2] received the award for the best art exhibit at the Information and Communication Technology fare from the European Commission in Vilnius.
The team from MiSC set up a sound sphere with 15 loudspeakers around and above the stage area.
Demonstrations about the Ambisonics spatialization technology and compositions by Gerriet K. Sharm
a [3] and Jurgis Jarašius on stage as well as the Eigenmike® beamforming in combination with the 360deg “extended view” [4] camera by Marian Weger and Peter Venus convinced the audience.
Links:
bernardinai.lt article
[1] http://misc.lmta.lt
[2] http://iem.kug.ac.at
[3] http://www.gksh.net
[4] http://extendedview.mur.at
Here is a short tutorial about an inexpensive headtracking solution which you can use to improve the binaural listening experience with the ambix Ambisonic tools. The calibration software is currently Windows only, but the Pd patch is naturally cross-platform.
It uses the headtracker described here by Dennis Frie: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1677559
Parts: arduino nano, GY-85 sensor board.
A Pure Data patch provided by me receives the serial data from the Arduino based headtracker and sends OSC messages to the host of your choice. In this case I will describe the use within the digital audio workstation Reaper.
For the impatient, here is the Pure Data patch (use with Pd-extended):
pd-patch-headtracker-osc-sender
1) First you have to get the Arduino and Sensor Board, some soldering and upload the firmware according to the instructions here.
Use the provided Windows software to calibrate the tracker – for me the Axis Method works best. You might have to repeat the calibration from time to time.
2) Now you can use the Pd Patch I provide to communicate with the tracker. Use Pd-Extended to open it!
Download:
pd-patch-headtracker-osc-sender
This patch will translate the serial data from the Arduino board to OSC messages.
3) Open up the Reaper preferences and add an OSC control surface. Important: Receive on port 8000 and Allow binding messages to REAPER actions and FX learn.
4) Add the ambix_rotator plug-in before ambix_binaural and use the OSC tracking data to control the parameters of ambix_rotator:
Click the Track Envelopes/Automation Button of th
e Track with ambix_rotator to open up the Automation controls. Now click the Learn… Button next to the parameter Yaw.
Now you have to send a OSC message from the Pd patch to attach the correct message to Yaw, Pitch and Roll. Therefore don’t activate tracking yet (as it sends out all three messages 
at once and thus does not allow to use the Learn functionality)
Instead click the buttons below OSC_LEARN in the Pd-patch to trigger single OSC messages.
5) You may have to change the serial port in Pd. First click the button list_dev to get a list of you serial devices. Enter the serial port id in the number box open_port.
Now you can activate head tracking and enjoy a stable binaural surround image. Use reset_orientation to define your zero degree direction.
I compiled the latest versions of Fons Adriaensens’ Ambisonics Decoder ambdec-0.5.1 (PDF manual) and his Microphone-Processor to convert TetraMic recordings to B-Format tetraproc-0.8.2 (PDF paper) for Mac OS X.
I packed them in easy-to-use installer packages which should run under Mac OS X >=10.6 (Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion):
Note about ambdec: The manual is outdated! The configuration window is gone. Use a Texteditor to edit .ambdec files!
ambdec-0.5.1-installer.pkg
tetraproc-0.8.2-installer.pkg
Make sure you have JackOSX (http://www.jackosx.com) and X11 (http://xquartz.macosforge.org) installed.
Troubleshooting: Sometimes the installer does not set the file permissions for graphic files correct, try to check if the folder /usr/local/share/ambdec is read/writeable for the user. You can start ambdec from Terminal and check for error messages (just type ambdec in Terminal and hit Return).
Additionally I compiled and packed the LADSPA Ambisonics Plug-In Set (AMB-plugins-0.8.1) for 32/64 bit on Mac 
OS X >= 10.6 to use within Ardour.
AMB-plugins-0.8.1-LADSPA-osx.zip
Homepage of the Software Author Fons Adriaensen and his (mostly Linux) tools:
http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org
table top is a live performance by Matthias Kronlachner created for the loudspeaker sphere in the Astronomical Observatory tower of Vilnius University.
The performance was recorded on November 22nd, 2013 and December 3rd, 2013.
The original format of the piece is 5th order 3D Ambisonics, but you can listen to a binaural mixdown here: (please listen with high quality headphones!)
table-top-4 (November 22nd, 2013)
table-top-6 (December 3rd, 2013)
The binaural mixdown was done with the ambix Ambisonics Plug-Ins and the 24 binaural loudspeaker impulse responses are taken from the IEM Cube. Therefore you are virtually placed in the IEM Cube during listening to this piece with headphones.
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Saturday, September 21st the second edition of muzika fontanams will be shown in Druskininkai, Lithuania.
I will present my live performance “spread!”, for 8 channel live electronics, lights and fountain.
For preparation have a look at the last performance: http://vimeo.com/66677493
Pieces for 8 channel sound, and a fountain with 141 led lights and 10 water pumps will also be presented by
Marius Čivilis, Tadas Dailyda, Jurgis Jarašius, Ignas Juzokas, Mykolas Natalevičius, Lukrecija Petkutė, Domas Ruškys, Marius Salynas and Dainius Veršulis.
As addition to the Ambisonics Decoder, Microphone Processor and LADSPA Plug-Ins I compiled and packed the convolution software jconvolver 0.9.2 as easy-to-use installer for Mac OS X >=10.6.
This Jack client is a very flexible real-time convolution engine, including configurations for applying Multichannel Ambisonics reverb.
jconvolver-0.9.2-installer.pkg
You can find some additional Ambisonic reverb impulse responses here:
http://www.openairlib.net
http://people.bath.ac.uk/masrwd/sspaces/sciencespaces.html
http://space-net.org.uk
The Jack Reverb Plug-In with Ambisonics mode zita-rev-1-0.2.1 is available here:
All developements by Fons Adriaensen:
http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org
Get more information about Ambisonics and Ardour in an article by Jörn Nettingsmeier.
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A very crucial and maybe often underestimated point for working with (volume) faders, especially in live electronics application is their curve/behavior. Which range does it cover? How fast does “it” get “loud”. What is the behavior around the +0 dB mark?
I sampled the midi volume fader behavior from several of the most popular Digital Audio Workstations. The difference is quite obvious as you can see in the graph to the right.
I made a Pure Data abstraction as replacement for the frequently used [fadtorms] or [dbtorms]. In connection with the .txt sample files it can be used to scale your midi fader input.
Get the abstraction including sample files and Matlab plots here: