ATMOS/Dolby/ADM Authoring - Workflow/Object Help

Cubase
1

Hello! I’ve recently set up 7.1/Dolby/ATMOS and am running into a few issues I could use some help with.

Firstly, I wanted to treat four string audio tracks as Objects and not routed to a music bed. I was not seeing the tracks in the OBJECT source audio dropdown, and was told the following by Steinberg:

———

Hello,

Great news we had encountered this one time it sounds like from above and it’s just a process is all below will explain:

[We found that I was able to create the object ID’s If we first made a 7.1.2 group track with the atmos renderer as an insert and routed all tracks we wanted to end up as objects to that group. Then if you go to the ADM authoring panel and add a bed first and set the input as the group track you made, it will assign object ID’s for that. Then if you highlight the tracks again, go back to the ADM authoring panel, and choose “create objects from selected tracks”, it should assign the object ID’s for those tracks.]

I completed these steps but am now running into the following issue:

[So I created the 7.1.2 Group track (OBJECTS) and inserted the renderer on it, and am now able to create objects out of my audio tracks by following the steps in the last email.

The problem now is that since there can only be one renderer in total inserted and ADM Setup Assistant still shows I need a Main Mix Channel Configuration renderer
(even if I create one manually).

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If I do this it moves the renderer insert from the newly-created OBJECTS group to the Main Mix Channel created and I lose all signal.

Probably confusion on my end but curious how the above will work as we can only have one instance of the renderer in total.]

This is likely a fundamental misunderstanding of how this works on my end, but what I am trying to do seems relatively simple.

So my questions are:

  1. How can I resolve the issue described above?

  2. How can I create and designate a 7.1.4 Render Mix Track without using the Setup Assistant? When I set one up manually the same exact way, it is never detected as the renderer and I still have to create one with Setup Assistant.

  3. If my usual workflow is:

Audio Tracks → Groups → 2BUS → Stereo Out (now 7.1 or 7.1.4 out) - where should the Dolby Rendering Insert live since there can only be one?

Any help here to get me off the ground would be much appreciated!

2

Here’s a fantastic reference to anything that’s Atmos , great channel and he goes in depth on everything you need for Cubase Atmos rendering . I would post just the one vid but i think you’ll be better of with the full channel
(1) Michael G Wagner - YouTube

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Thanks a lot, I’ve actually watched these over and over as well as joined the Discord to ask there. Getting closer but still having trouble with routing through multiple busses.

4

The way I think about this is that

  • the renderer plugin (insert) will receive signals according to how the “ADM Authoring” window has defined it.

  • the renderer plugin (insert) should be on an output bus or possibly in the monitoring path, not really on a group.

  • the track the renderer is on should be the widest channel configuration you want to work with. So 7.1.4, not 7.1.2.

  • in order to get the correct panning on any given track you need to first define a destination path with the channel width you need. Since the implementation in Cubendo uses sends to get the signal to the renderer you need to set the output first and then you can assign the track as an object or send it to an Atmos bus. This means that if you want all 7.0.4 channels available for an object you need to first set the ‘regular’ output of that track to a 7.1.4 destination and then make it an object.

So in other words the renderer gets signals from the sends, not by being inserted on a track. Think of it more like it’s a bunch of side-chain signals rather than the ‘straight flow top-bottom’ in a track. This is why you don’t need more than one renderer, just the one. You need output buses (or groups) with the desired channel count in order to get the desired panning in source tracks (to bed or as object).

Makes sense?..

5

Thanks. I understand this a lot better now after messing with it the past few days. I’ve determined it’s best to keep the ATMOS stuff out of my main Stereo mixing template for now.

My new approach is to export the groups from the initial mix project (Strings, Bass, Perc, etc), import those into a new “Atmos” project and build my objects there, using the 7.1.4 renderer group as a 2 Bus essentially. So I would have three separate templates; Writing, Mix/Master, and “Atmos.”

The last thing for me to figure out is how to use effect sends as I usually do (ex. Strings → Reverb Send → 2Bus) Obviously the nature of how the side-chaining works changes this a bit so not sure how to add just a delay as a send without messing the signal up.

Thanks again,

Tim

6

I think you should be able to work the way you normally do. When I said “side chain” I meant that just as a thought exercise. The signal goes to the renderer from the last send in the chain in your source track so normal sends should work normally, and you just route the output of your fx tracks the way you see fit.

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