Room

In SPAT Revolution, spatialization of virtual sources takes place inside Rooms. To enter a room and open its graphic editor environment, double-click on a room module in the Setup graph or select a room tab from the Navigation bar.

When we enter a Room, we will see the 3D view and all the connected sources. Options related to the 3D view display are located in the top menu. On the left side panel of the room editor, you get a list representation of each source. We can click on an empty part of the source lane, and the source parameters Source Parameters editor for that virtual source will appear.

Mutes, solos, and phase inversions are manageable for all sources and for the entire room output from this index list. A solo clear button is available at the top of the source list. Clicking on it will reset all the solo of all rooms.

Two particular items labeled as REVERB and OUTPUT appear fixed at the bottom of the left panel. By clicking on these, we then enter into two more parameter editors: one relating to the Artificial reverberation Artificial Reverberation and one relating to the room output configuration and Listener Position Listener Position editor.

When you have more than one room in your project, then the SOURCES switch at the top left of a Room editor can be handy, as it will show all sources from all Rooms in the same editor - allowing edition, mix, solo and mute management of all sources from one Room view.

Room Graphic Engine

Along with the audio modeling engine, one of SPAT’s key features is its ability to model a high-definition graphical representation of the virtual space inside each room. We can intuitively interact and move sources and “camera view” directly with our mouse. Move a source by grabbing its “emitter” object, or in the case of a grouped source, grab any one of the emitters that belong to the group. Alternatively, sources can be positioned by manipulating their coordinate-related source parameter controls.

Source manipulation from the 3D view:

  • One click to select.
  • Drag to move them.

The camera angle can also be manipulated:

  • The mouse wheel controls the zoom factor.
  • cmd/ctrl+drag will rotate the scene.
  • shift+drag will move the scene.

Note

A split-screen Top-Front view is also available in the top bar menu. See the corresponding section below.

Selecting a source also displays its name over its 3D representation. At the top of the room, there is an option to display the names of all the sources or all the speakers.

Room top menu

This menu allows changing what elements and how they are displayed in the 3D view.

Presence Infos:

Display the presence factor as a green vector. The brighter it is, the more present the source is. When off, the green vector is no longer drawn.

Real Pos. Infos:

In some particular cases, the position of the source in the DSP may differ from the one you set up. When on, the DSP position is also displayed.

Note

To understand better what these two first options do, consult the “Understanding the mixing zones Understanding the mixing zones” section.

Source Infos:

Display the name of the source even if it is not selected.

Speaker Infos:

Display the name of the speakers.

Auto-hide sources

Automatically hide sources depending on their input level.

Scale:

Make the elements bigger or smaller to adjust ease of sight.

Shininess:

Change the shininess aspect of the graphical elements.

Lightness:

Change the brightness of the graphical elements.

Nebula Alpha:

Change the transparency of the Nebula spectral analyzer.

Note

When set to 0%, Nebula does not take any resources.

Consult the “Nebula Spatial Spectrogram Nebula Spatial Spectrogram” section for more information.

Nebula Quality:

Configure the quality factor of the Nebula.

Note

Changing this factor will significantly change the performance.

Nebula Scale:

Allows to scale the Nebula “behind” the speakers.

Speaker Alpha:

Change the transparency of the speakers.

Listener Alpha:

Change the transparency of the listener’s head.

Zone Alpha:

Change the transparency of the efficiency zone.

Grid type:

Toggle between polar or cartesian grids.

Display Output:

Allows to display the Nebula of a different setup module connected to this room. It can be helpful if you want to see the decoding of an ambisonic stream inside an ambisonic room, for example.

Background color:

Change the background color.

View:

Choose if the 3D view is seen from:

  • The top
  • The front
  • Or a split view: top and front

Display output drop-down

Located on top of the 3D view, the “display output” drop-down allows choosing which point of the signal path to display.

For example, working in an HOA room creates a 3D view without a speaker. This is because of the very nature of how ambisonic work. But it also means you cannot use Nebula in that room. This is where this “display output” feature becomes handy. Instead of showing the actual HOA scene, it is possible to look at the sound scene at the transcoding stage to see what happens with Nebula on the speaker array.

Room output parameters

Output list

This panel lists all the speakers used in the room (when set to channel-based). It allows quick access to the speaker arrangement editor and the compute function. Each output has a test button that sends the signal from the signal generator directly to the routed speaker. The signal generator type and level are set in the Preferences page Application preferences.

Listener

This panel gives access to the listening point. We can change its position using the X, Y, Z parameters, and its rotations using Yaw, Pitch, Roll.

Protection Zone

This panel controls the behavior and size of the protection zone. By default, it is set to a diameter of four meters. Please check out the section named Understanding the mixing zone Understanding the mixing zones if you want more information about the protection zone. Note that the protection zone is attached to the listener position.

  • Source fit speakers elevation
  • Source over listener head
  • Width

Efficiency Zone

This panel contains options related to the efficiency zone.

Scaling

Distance

This parameter scales all the distance automation (OSC, plugins data, and snapshots) by a manual factor. This factor is adapted automatically when editing the arrangement of the room.

Tracking

This parameter changes the scale of RTTrPM protocol data.

Background Image

This panel allows you to import a background image in SPAT Revolution and to position it in the 3D view.

Warning

Make sure to have no special character in the path or file name.