As I understand it, Ambisonic mode processes each audio channel separately with, in some cases, some parameters being affected by the sum of values across all channels (e.g. "link channels" in a compressor).
Say I have a multi-output VSTi with 32 channels. Could I add a plug-in in ambisonics mode to that track (5th order = (5+1)^2 = 36 channels available) and effect each channel separately?
Or would I be expelled for misusing the plug-ins?
The same would apply to plug-ins in Surround mode.
Q: Ambisonics mode - is this a misuse?
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- KVRAF
- 10375 posts since 2 Sep, 2003 from Surrey, UK
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- KVRian
- 1094 posts since 23 Sep, 2006
Yes, that would be fine. I have in the past used Surround mode at times where I needed multiple side chain processes in MXXX and it worked perfectly.
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MeldaProduction MeldaProduction https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=176122 - KVRAF
- 14339 posts since 15 Mar, 2008 from Czech republic
Sure, should work 
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- KVRist
- 446 posts since 27 Jan, 2004 from France
Yes, but it's rather that the term "ambisonic" is not appropriate.
I imagine MeldaProductions thought this was a simple way to put together and display multi-channel setups, but it can lead to errors. Especially for people who would like to use them in ambisonic because most plugins are actually not compatible with this format because they do not treat all channels in the same way, which completely destroys the spatial coding!
On the other hand, apart from a few, they work correctly in normal multichannel, regardless of the number of channels where it is enough to choose the closest minimum configuration.
I imagine MeldaProductions thought this was a simple way to put together and display multi-channel setups, but it can lead to errors. Especially for people who would like to use them in ambisonic because most plugins are actually not compatible with this format because they do not treat all channels in the same way, which completely destroys the spatial coding!
On the other hand, apart from a few, they work correctly in normal multichannel, regardless of the number of channels where it is enough to choose the closest minimum configuration.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 10375 posts since 2 Sep, 2003 from Surrey, UK
OK, I can understand that the plug-ins are more "multi-channel" than "ambisonic". Maybe the term used should be changed?
What I would like to do is select the channel pair that is visualized in the Analyzer graphs, meters, time graphs etc. That could make using the plug-ins in multi-channel mode much easier. And wouldn't this be a natural addition to multi-channel plug-ins? Seeing things helps my ears sort out what's what.
What I would like to do is select the channel pair that is visualized in the Analyzer graphs, meters, time graphs etc. That could make using the plug-ins in multi-channel mode much easier. And wouldn't this be a natural addition to multi-channel plug-ins? Seeing things helps my ears sort out what's what.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 10375 posts since 2 Sep, 2003 from Surrey, UK
PS Is there a simple description of the differences between multi-channel and ambisonics processing?
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 10375 posts since 2 Sep, 2003 from Surrey, UK
Just tried this out, using Surround mode.
Using a multichannel FX (using MDelayMB in this case) - I switched to Surround (7.1) mode to give me 8 channels. Here are the results of a freeze of 3 separate sounds in the instrument plug-in,
-- with the Delay disabled,
-- with the Delay operating in Stereo mode (on channels 1 and 2 only),
-- with the Delay operating in Surround mode (on all 8 channels).
As you can see the delay is frozen into each sound.
Using a multichannel FX (using MDelayMB in this case) - I switched to Surround (7.1) mode to give me 8 channels. Here are the results of a freeze of 3 separate sounds in the instrument plug-in,
-- with the Delay disabled,
-- with the Delay operating in Stereo mode (on channels 1 and 2 only),
-- with the Delay operating in Surround mode (on all 8 channels).
As you can see the delay is frozen into each sound.