At the basis of ReaVolution is the popular (and very affordable) DAW software Reaper, developed by digital audio technology company Cockos, founded in 2004 by programmer Justin Frankel, better known for his work on the original Winamp media player. Reaper is now widely acknowledged as a reliable full-featured DAW with extensive customization possibilities with the merit of being well supported on both Windows and macOS. With its high track and channel count capabilities and support for a wide range of speaker configurations, Reaper is well suited for immersive audio creation.
Spat Revolution is a spatialization and room simulation software tool created by Flux in response to the increasing demand in immersive audio production, particularly for live performance, where a combination of objects and pre-mixed tracks, plus automated mixing and real time control is almost always required. In Spat Revolution any audio signal is treated as a source object, appearing in a virtual room, which can also be assigned to multiple virtual rooms, with different acoustic simulations and multiple different output destinations.
Spat Revolution is designed for real-time processing and supports standard ASIO and Core Audio audio-interfaces, with low latency options, for easy integration with already existing workflows and workstation setups. And the software's powerful object based structure provides the ability to render several different output formats in parallel, including Binaural encoding for headphones monitoring. Remote integration is also included, using control devices, remote control software, trajectory software and digital mixing consoles over network, through the Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol.
The new software ReaVolution integration was created to improve the workflow for immersive sound production with Spat Revolution, where the world of object-based sound needs to be configured to work with track- and channel-based environments within Reaper. As Flux explains, the default configuration of Reaper is something of a blank slate when it comes to working with Immersive sound workflows. ReaVolution provides a starting point for successful customization of Reaper and Spat.
"The ReaVolution package includes macros (scripts), customized toolbars, and system behavior preference enhancements. The goal of ReaVolution is to address some of the most common issues by offering a new set of functions dedicated to Immersive audio production, and to provide a more cohesive starting point for users coming from other DAWs," the company explains.
With ReaVolution users can quickly create source-objects and return routes to and from Spat Rendering, access powerful routing and bussing capabilities, and solve some default configuration problems (file management, auto backup, etc.). The software package also simplifies the audio and MIDI editing workflow and adds source-destination features. It allows users to identify track format as an Immersive audio object type (addressing Reaper track format limitation), and provides support for the same stream formats as Spat Revolution: Channel-based, HOA, Ambisonics, Binaural and Transaural. Finally, the integration provides macros that allow users to quickly manage sending tracks, creating busses, folders, etc.
ReaVolution comes with a set of actions that automates requirements for sending audio from Reaper to Spat Revolution, and works in pairs with the Audio Stream library to support any channel configuration. It uses the Audio Stream library to support any kind of channel arrangement and provide full compatibility with an Immersive sound workflow.
"This library is the core of ReaVolution, designed to provide a way to overcome Reaper’s limitations on track formats. By default, Reaper limits track channels to even numbers. But in the real world, there are numerous audio streams that come in odd channel numbers, mono being the really obvious one," Flux explains. "The library combines a JSFX called "Audio Stream" along with some other scripts. This JSFX is present on every track and is used to store and display the stream type to the user. It supports the same stream formats as Spat Revolution: Channel-based, HOA, Ambisonics, Binaural and Transaural."
ReaVolution is built using Reaper extensions and consists of an additional function library containing approximately 80 new scripts created by Flux team member Jean-Loup Pecqais.
The largest challenge in using tools like Reaper and Flux Spat Revolution is the initial configuration, with a challenging learning curve for beginners . Fortunately, both companies offer extensive guides for users of different levels, and there is a strong community to provide some level of support
www.reaper.fm/
www.flux.audio
