Spatial audio solutions to be revealed at GDC17 will set new standards for audio in AR/VR/MR and interactive media content
Montreal, Canada – February 21, 2017 – Audiokinetic Inc., the leading global provider of cross-platform audio solutions for the interactive media and gaming industries unveils spatial audio features from its anticipated Wwise 2017.1 release at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
From its early beginnings, Audiokinetic has been a leading player in the development and advancement of spatial audio, offering solutions from ambisonics, Convolution Reverb, and other mixer plug-ins, to supporting third-party binaural technologies. Today, while spatial audio is quickly becoming central to the success of any AR/VR/MR project and interactive media projects at large, Audiokinetic is proud to continue introducing pioneering spatial audio technologies that empower the audio community.
During GDC17, the Audiokinetic team will be demoing for the very first time a selection of spatial audio features that are part of a new family of products called Wwise Spatial Audio™. This toolset will include built-in features, as well as in-house and third-party plug-ins, specialized in virtual acoustics with geometry-informed reverberation. Features will be incrementally released with 2017.1 and beyond. Audiokinetic has always taken a collaborative and practical approach, and the Wwise Spatial Audio toolset will follow the same logic.
With its quickly evolving and comprehensive pipeline towards an all-encompassing yet flexible spatial audio workflow, the unique Audiokinetic approach to spatial audio empowers sound designers and interactive audio professionals by inspiring and enabling artistic aesthetics, as opposed to limiting results on pre-calculated algorithms.
We’re excited to share what our team has been working so hard on, and we are looking forward to getting the community’s feedback at GDC17!
Highlights from the Audiokinetic demo line-up for GDC17
(Moscone Center, South Hall-booth 524)
Wwise Audio Lab™
Wwise Audio Lab (WAL) is a game-like, 3D multi-room environment where audio teams will be able to test and optimize their spatial audio projects with A-B comparisons in VR and on-screen. The Audiokinetic team will be utilizing this environment to demo its own spatial audio product line, Wwise Spatial Audio. The Wwise Audio Lab is designed to showcase various technologies simulating acoustics and spatial audio phenomena.
Wwise Spatial Audio™
3D busses
3D busses are built into the framework of the audio engine. They provide the ability to directly submix groups of sounds and/or reverb, anywhere in the signal flow, and position these submixes in the 3D world. This makes them a key component in implementing spatial audio, such as dynamic room effects and portals, in Wwise.
Wwise Reflect™
Wwise Reflect is a plug-in that renders geometry-informed dynamic early reflections, based on proximity to walls, floor, and ceiling. Reflective surfaces simulate sound absorption by applying filters to delayed sources, and diffusors are attributed per room to bridge the early reflections with the late reverberation.
Oriented Environmental Effects
Ambisonics support in our renowned Convolution Reverb plug-in enables the use of oriented ambisonic impulse responses in-game. With oriented reverbs, Wwise offers scalable solutions as alternative or complementary options to Wwise Reflect. Reverbs with directional content may be dynamically oriented with respect to the game environments that they simulate, thanks to the 3D bus framework.
Ambisonics Sources Implementation and Mixing
The full ambisonics pipeline, from audio files to the run-time positional mix, allows one to implement ambiences with orientation that is consistent with the 3D world, using built-in spatial rotation in the Wwise engine.
Game Engine Integration (UNREAL 4)
Setting up and defining space at the game engine level is now made easy using acoustic profiles of materials (acoustic textures), spot reflectors, shoebox-driven reflections, ray-cast driven reflections, portal simulations, and more.
Wwise Authoring API
The new Wwise Authoring API allows the comprehensive integration of Wwise into any engine, tool, or application. It is usable from any Internet-capable language, operating system, or environment.
Partners
Audiokinetic is proud to partner with industry-leading audio developers Auro Technologies and Steinberg. Our partners will be demoing their technologies at the Audiokinetic booth. More details on our partners.
About Audiokinetic
Audiokinetic sets new standards in audio production for interactive media and games. The company’s middleware solutions, including the award-winning Wwise® and SoundSeed®, empower sound designers and audio programmers with a cost effective, comprehensive authoring tool and audio engine for creating innovative interactive experiences. Audiokinetic is headquartered in Montréal, QC, Canada and has a subsidiary in Tokyo, Japan, and Product Experts in China and Europe. www.audiokinetic.com
About Wwise
Wwise® is the most comprehensive audio middleware solution. It features an optimized run-time sound engine and an audio authoring application for creating and managing interactive audio content. Working with Wwise increases productivity and creativity while saving developers time and money across the audio production of any application.
For more information, please contact:
Nathalie Bouchard
+1-514-499-9100, ext: 235
nbouchard@audiokinetic.com