Immersive sound with MOTU devices

[Richard Foss]

At ImmersiveDSP ( http://www.immersivedsp.com), we have recently made available an immersive sound application for MOTU devices. It is called ImmerGo-MOTU and allows for the spatialisation of any inputs to MOTU 24Ao, 828es, 8M and UltraliteAVB devices. These could be USB inputs from a DAW/wav file, analog inputs from voice/instruments or ADAT inputs. The analog outputs play out the spatialised inputs to attached speakers.

ImmerGo allows you to graphically place your speakers, and to position/record the positions of sound sources using your Mac/Windows computer or a mobile device with a capable browser (i.e Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Edge). Immergo's spatialisation algorithms use the speaker positions and 3D source positions to determine signal processing settings within the MOTU device. The signal processing is therefore performed by the MOTU device, rather than the computer. Amongst other things this allows for low latency spatialisation. There can be multiple users, each controlling a different source or audio parameter from a mobile device. It also allows for simple scheduling.

There is an ImmerGo-MOTU demo that is downloadable from the ImmersiveDSP site (together with manual and a demo working folder). This demo has all the functionality of the full system, but only allows for spatialisation of the selected channel. All other channels will be placed at the centre of the room. This can be used to test ImmerGo with your configuration.

Our hope is that this forum can provide suggestions for the continued development of ImmerGo-MOTU.

[Richard Foss]

Something I meant to include in the post - if you download, install, and run the ImmerGo demo, you can also install the free ImmerGo app for your mobile device from the Apple app store or Google play store. This is the graphic ImmerGo control client - it runs in a browser, but its a lot easier to run the app than having to type in a url. On a mobile device you can control the position of a sound source in 2D by moving the source with your finger, and then you can tilt the mobile to get the third dimension. Note - you need an Ethernet connection (MOTU to router or MOTU to computer) for control, and a USB connection for audio. The downloadable manual contains all the details.

[HCMarkus]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We see requests for this type of application periodically...

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=69888

[Richard Foss]

Thank you very much linking me to this topic, much appreciated! ImmerGo-MOTU does have the code for the 16A, but we have not as yet been able to test it. This will be a good opportunity!

I would also like to incorporate the 1248. So if anyone with a 1248 would like to have ImmerGo running on their 1248, please let me know. It would mean running a datastore extraction program. From the output, I would see the appropriate 1248 parameters, modify ImmerGo-MOTU, and send it back for testing. A free license would go with it.

[Richard Foss]

It's great to see, from the number of views, the interest in immersive sound!

We will be continually adding the features of ImmerGo. A recent feature is 'granularity settings'. Rendering multichannel spatialisations to multiple speakers is processor intensive, and one of the reasons for making the MOTU device perform the reverb and matrix mixing component of rendering, is to reduce the load on the computer (which might also be running a DAW with plugins). However, even with this in place, when there are a lot channels being spatialised intensively, there can be some 'lag' in spatial movement. The granularity sliders enable control over the cm movement changes, and speaker dB changes that will effect a change in speaker levels. Moving to slightly coarser levels fixes this lag. These sliders are in the 'Settings' section of ImmerGo, and further information can be obtained from the manual.

Other reasons for utilising the MOTUs for spatialisation processing are:
1. Any of the inputs to the MOTU device (analog and digital) can be spatialised.
2. There is not the cost of an additional processor box.

Further features on the todo list are:
1. Allowing for the selection of additional spatialisation algorithms
2. Allowing for the drawing of spatialisation trajectories.

We have implemented a version of ImmerGo that performs transport control over Digital Performer. The response to MIDI transport control commands is somewhat different from other DAWs we have worked with. Let us know if you need DP control, or indeed any other features.

If anyone has devices outside our current range (UltraAVB, 828es, 8M, 16A, 24Ao) that they would like to use with ImmerGo, please contact me. Note - the 16A spatialisation is implemented, but not as yet tested. If anyone has one and would be willing to test, please let me know (richard@immersivedsp.com)

[HCMarkus]

Richard, if you haven't already done so, reach out to MOTU directly

[Richard Foss]

Thanks for that advice. I have contacted technical support, but my queries relate to messaging protocols, which apparently are beyond the scope of technical support. Technical support said they would refer my queries to the development team, but I have not heard back from them. I have tried contacting members of the management team via LinkedIn messaging, but did not receive a response.

If you know of any contact at MOTU who might assist, and would be willing to share the contact, that would be great!

My particular requests are:
1. To get the datastores for the remaining AVB MOTU devices (I have a program that will extract these).
2. To determine messaging protocols for non-AVB MOTU devices.
3. To understand why there is a somewhat unusual approach to Digital Performer MIDI transport control.

Thanks again!
Richard.