DAW based VR audio content production?

Nuendo
#13

As for VR I’m guessing gaming will be the first field to benefit commercially from it, and it’s also the field in which there’s still a fair amount of revenue to be made and a fair amount of content control (i.e. less copyright infringement compared to music/film/tv). So I think services will still be needed there. If the porn industry follows then that too will possibly push production towards VR.

For more ‘pedestrian’ VR I agree that a lot of people won’t bother with it, but on the other hand I think the bigger issue technically and especially practically is the visual experience. We block out the rest of the world when we put on those VR headsets or glasses, but we don’t actually have to do that with audio. If audio is delivered using regular headsets then the technology is already there. So there’s at least the potential for audio to grow somewhat independently of video, assuming we have the imagination to come up with something useful.

Anyway, I think there’s business in it for engineers, just not for a lot of us, yet. And there’s of course also the question of how much of this will be traditional engineering and how much will be simply creating assets which are then automatically placed/mixed using algorithms.

As for Atmos/Auro3D I slightly disagree though. I have to say that the formats are pretty nice when done right. I think the bigger issue is really aesthetic restraints on the directors. Listening to something like Star Trek “Into Darkness” in Atmos + converted-to-3D was pretty meaningless in my opinion. Both visually and aurally. The mix was just so extremely busy that the enveloping sensation was lost. Gravity on the other hand was completely different. With a more dynamic mix I think Star Trek could have benefited from it as well, but who knows, the movie was pretty much wall-to-wall action anyway so perhaps it wouldn’t have fit the film.

At any rate, I think as we become more comfortable with working with it we’ll see more and better use of it. Some people still argue that stereo is sufficient, yet to me the difference between it and 5.1 is huge once you’re A/B-ing, and I also feel 7.1 is superior to 5.1… and if done well Atmos to 7.1 (I’ve unfortunately never heard Auro 3D).

#14

I’m assuming everyone commenting has experienced Oculus Rift in person? I don’t see how that level of immersion is going away. I think it’s gonna be big, long term.

#15

I concur totally. i think it’ll make it big in video games, documentaries…
Then artistic exhibitions, tourism, theme parks will be more in the realm of Augmented reality. But the two will merge at some point in the future IMO.
I am glad to see Steinberg pioneering in this arena.

#16

Unfortunately this is exactly how I see it. :confused:

#17

Me too. I think VR or AR is going to be huge. But it’s always a question of subsets. A huge number of people have a TV or computer by now in their homes. A subset of those has an HD TV (these days many more, but I’m sure there are still people with old CRTs or flat screens but SD resolution in the world, not everybody is first world), and of those, only a subset has 4K HDTV. That’s the same in gaming. Many people have computers, only a small subset has gaming machines or does gaming on a computer, and of those, only a tiny subset buys peripherals to game in VR or watch a video in VR. So the market will be very small for a long time I think. There will be those super high end demo projects, probably Red Bull and the porn industry will jump on it, but it’s nothing compared to just regular mixing work for TV and cinema.

Also, for games, my opinion is that, because games are interactive, it’s the audio engine that has to do the heavy lifting. Sound designers will continue to provide normal mono or stereo sounds as they always did and the sound engine within a game then has to translate that stuff for VR headphones. Not a lot will change.

For movies, where the position is fixed but the view can be rotated with a headset, there’s probably more work needed to mix that. So there will be more work in movies than games. But again. Tiny subsets. That’s at least my opinion with my current knowledge of things.

#18

Meanwhile, Behringer are working on Augmented Reality for their forthcoming synth, the Deepmind 12.
https://youtu.be/-9MTlsA-wi4

Nothing to do with OZO, but interesting nonetheless in regards to this discussion. At some point, we’ll have immersive sound and AR/VR wtih user interaction.

Now, will it give us jobs ?

#19

The “problem” for us is, that VR unlike movies is a machine mixed format where the computer will do it’s post production on the fly as it happens.

#20

Nailed it.

#21

Do you mean for your studio’s business? because if this is Steinberg’s view I think I will have to move on. If you mean your own business, ignoring this might be foolish.
VR Will Be A $38 Billion Industry By 2026
Wild figures, pulled out of thin air, but, the commitment to this technology is real, all the big hitters are pouring money into it, and that’s what decides whether this should be viewed seriously or not, calling it hype is shortsighted.
How Microsoft wants to dominate virtual reality
Intel Acquires Voke VR Startup As It Moves Into Immersive Sports
Imax Completes Round Of Virtual Reality Funding
Facebook’s CTO on why he’s betting big on AI, VR
Why The Next Decade For Gaming Will Be Anything But Casual
etc. etc.

#22

virtual/augmented reality products will be designed, produced, and project managed by humans. VR audio assets will have to be produced by humans. Immersive audio environments will have to be created by humans. Convincing audio spatialisation requires mixing and auditioning by humans. More roles, potentially, means more jobs.

#23

I’ve been working in the games industry for over 20 years, and VR is an interesting proposition; but it is true that it is still early days; I think we’re at the stage of ‘format wars’ where after a while, the dominant player will emerge with a couple of other platforms surrounding it; that’s how its often been with consoles as well.
But the technology, though it is improving leaps and bounds is still in its infancy.
I’ve had the chance to try out the Oculus, Morhpheus and Vive and the potential is fantastic; I just wasn’t sure whether the hardware was quite up to it yet (still all fairly low-res).
The other issue is that it requires a shift in game design, that (from people I’ve worked with) will take some time to master; how to best deal with the new interactivity, nausea, movement.
Everybody’s trying to come up with the game or app that will be a platform seller, and I’m not sure it’s there yet, but we’ll see…

What I’m interested in to know is what people feel they need in their tool set.
Some of the game audio will be spatialized in real-time, and so creation-wise would be done (imho) in the usual way.
Other stuff will be ‘pre-baked’ with hrtf processing or, as Tronic suggests, Ambisonics.
But what are the other features that people need?

#24

We have quite recently started working on high profile VR projects at Yellow Cab. One of the big ones was an Assassins Creed VR trailer for Ubisoft.
Quite frustrating for the moment as it’s a mess player-wise with a few different formats available, and Nuendo not being up to par bus-wise to handle higher order Ambisonic which is (for now) the best way of getting a decent result down the line when converting to binaural.
We are actively investigating solutions, but for AC we turned to mixing in Pyramix, which is a whole world of pain in itself.

#25

@Yellowcab - just wondering why Pyramix instead of Reaper?

#26

Pretty sure at NAB 2017 we will see a lot of substantive progress and product reveals in VR Audio and Video. There was some at NAB 2016 but the audio piece had not been cracked at that point, at least in terms of immersive audio that follows your movements in a VR environment.

#27

Because we had a very experienced Pyramix operator available, whereas with Reaper we would have had to stumble through the dark quite a bit before we got the result we wanted.

#28

Ok, thanks :slight_smile:

#29

Just seen, this announcement looks like an interesting development…
http://www.kvraudio.com/news/flux-announces-ircam-spat-revolution---3d-audio-software-tool-36026

#30

Will be keeping an eye out for that for sure. Thanks :slight_smile:

#31

Europe’s virtual reality sector has grown to nearly 300 companies…

When will we see Steinberg in the ‘3D Tools - Audio’ group?

#32

What about the new dearVR plugin? Doesn’t this mean most of the work of getting Cubase into the VR space is already done? (Just need a wider bus for SOA/TOA export.)