I’m in a physical 7.1.4 studio. The angles and distances respect the official Dolby Atmos equidistant scheme.
As you know, the sides in the Dolby Atmos schematics are roughly at 8 and 4 o’clock, not 9 and 3 o’clock.
But the panning system has to consider this. In Atmos thinking, it doesn’t give the result according to the monitors, but according to a 3D space (or let’s say 2D here for simplicity’s sake, so forget the heights, we’re in 7.1, and even 7.0.0 if we forget the Lfe).
Now, if I place a sound, with the VST multipaanner, at 3 o’clock, I hear it at 4 o’clock. In fact, it comes out of the right side monitor. Yet it should create a ghost point between the right front and right side monitors to give a sound at 3 o’clock. But it doesn’t.
Any explanation? It’s really annoying, because the positioning of the sounds, and therefore all the front-side-rear panning, is wrong. It moves backwards too quickly for what is indicated with the multipanner VST.