Adobe ATMOS Renderer Swaps Output Channels between Side and Surround speakers

Cubase
,
1

I am running an ATMOS project with a bed and several objects. The channel layout for the bed is a 7.1.2 surround format, and the objects are being sent to a 7.1.4 Adobe ATMOS Renderer.

When the multipanner is configured to send to the front channels or the center channel, the ATMOS Renderer (renderer) sends the audio to the expected channels, L F and C.

However, when the multipanner is configured to send to the left side or the right side speakers, the renderer sends the surround left and surround right channels instead. The panning left and right are correct, but the speaker selection are swapped, with the side channels going to surround rear speakers instead.

Also, when the multipanner is configured to send audio to the surround channels L&R, the renderer sends it to the side channels L&R instead.

The renderer swaps these pairs of channels whether the sent channel is configured in bed mode or if it is configured in object mode.

Here are some screenshots of the Multipanner and the Renderer illustrating this issue:

Here, the mono track is being panned to left side, but the output is being sent to surround left instead:

Left Side being sent to Surround Left
Left Side being sent to Surround Left1318×800 211 KB

Here, the same mono track is being panned to left surround, but is being sent to left side speaker instead.

Left Surround being sent to Left Side
Left Surround being sent to Left Side1330×804 221 KB

I have confirmed that the output to my speaker array reflects the wrong channels as well. Please note the the object in the renderer’s object screen are correct, but the outputs in the channel output strip are wrong.

Thanks!!!

2

First off, please edit your title. Pretty sure you mean “Dolby” and not “Adobe”, right? :wink:

Steinberg are marching to a different drum than Dolby when it comes to surround speaker configurations. See the bottom of this support document:

In Cubase, the order of surround channels and side channels follows the specification of Microsoft Inc. To meet the Dolby requirements for side surround channels and surround rear channels, swap the device ports of the surround channels and the side channels.

3

This has been discussed at length in the Nuendo ‘section’ for at least a couple of years. So plenty to read there as well.

4

Thanks @jpgtr ! I can no longer edit the post, so the error will have to remain :slightly_frowning_face:

I appreciate the insight, @MattiasNYC .