Synthecology: Sound Use of Audio in Teleimmersion
Baum, G. Gotsis, M. Chang, C. Drinkwater, R. St. Clair, D. "Synthecology: Sound Use of Audio in Teleimmersion", The Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality 2006, Bolas, M.T., and Mc Dowall, Editors, Proc. SPIE (2006)
Abstract: This paper examines historical audio applications used to provide real-time immersive sound for CAVE™ environments and discusses their relative strengths and weaknesses. We examine and explain issues of providing spatialized sound immersion in real-time virtual environments, some problems with currently used sound servers, and a set of requirements for an 'ideal' sound server. We present the initial configuration of a new cross-platform sound server solution using open source software and the Open Sound Control (OSC) specification for the creation of real-time spatialized audio with CAVE™ applications, specifically Ygdrasil (Yg) environments. The application, Another Sound Server establishes an application interface (API) using OSC, a logical server layer implemented in python, and an audio engine using SuperCollider . We discuss spatialization implementation and other features. Finally, we document the Synthecology project which premiered at WIRED Nextfest 2005 and was the first virtual environment to use Another Sound Server. We also discuss various techniques that enhance presence in networked virtual environments , as well as possible and planned extensions of Another Sound Server.
