For over thirty years, Amadeus has designed, built, and marketed a wide range of electro-acoustical playback systems and high-end signal processing equipment, becoming a leading supplier of high-end audio solutions and services for theaters, opera houses, concert halls, museums, recording studios, and research centers. All development and product manufacturing are centralized in Amadeus headquarters in France, with field offices and authorized distributors in Europe and Asia.
With Amadeus playing an ever increasing role in the development of solutions for immersive audio installations and performance, in 2017 Gaëtan Byk, CEO at Amadeus, created Holophonix, an extremely advanced real-time immersive audio environment, perfectly optimized for the performing arts field, developed in coordination with leading French research institutions CNRS and IRCAM. In 2023, Holophonix was spun off as a dedicated company, accelerating its roadmap with impressive breakthroughs in hardware and software design and adoption throughout the world.
ISE 2024 will be the first major international tradeshow for Holophonix to showcase the results of its latest developments, and showcase its software, plugins, and hardware processors, which are able to offer a quasi-unlimited number of spatialization buses, each one able to run one of the different sound algorithms available, designed at IRCAM-based STMS Lab, including: Higher-Order Ambisonics (2D, 3D) Vector-Base Intensity Panning (2D, 3D), Vector-Base Amplitude Panning (2D, 3D), Wave Field Synthesis, Angular 2D, k-Nearest Neighbor, Stereo Panning, Stereo AB, Stereo XY, Binaural.
The new Holophonix Ultra hardware processor – now available for order with deliveries starting in Q2 2024 – features a state-of-the-art redesigned chassis machined from aluminum blocks, integrating a powerful and touring-ready hardware configuration tailored for demanding setups. This Holophonix Ultra platform also introduces a new scalable licensing model.
Featuring ultra-low audio latency and offering scalable I/O expandable up to 512 ins and outs, the new Ultra also features low-noise and enhanced internal airflow, redundant power supplies, and a built-in touchscreen on the front panel. This touchscreen provides instant access to crucial monitoring parameters, including IP addresses, network and performance status, and more. Additionally, the processor is designed to be rack-mounted, for the most challenging touring configurations.
The Holophonix teams worked on the sustainability of each piece of the hardware. The rear panel features Neutrik-housed connectors integrated into the aluminum chassis, including two powerCON mains connectors, three etherCON connectors for remote control and Dante connectivity, as well as Display-Port and USB 3.0 connectors for easy access while servicing.
"The new Holophonix Ultra platform is simply the most advanced and powerful spatialization processor ever built at the company, and possibly the most powerful available anywhere today. It includes all that our most advanced and challenging users have been asking for, and needing over the past several years," states Gaetan Byk, founder and CEO of the company.
"The ‘Ultra’ introduces a new scalable licensing model that offers a license-based output count from 16 to 512. Beyond 128 outputs, a free-of-charge hardware upgrade would be necessary, making the Ultra processor ready to process up to 512 physical Dante inputs and outputs," adds Arthus Touzet, Software Engineer at Holophonix.
The new Holophonix 2.2 software update features among other improvements, a brand-new design for the Inspector window for a better workflow, and a new ‘dock’ offering quick access to the main features for Holophonix users. "This new design is more ‘live sound’ oriented, with its new logic and workflow deriving from the live mixing console universe. Again, this new design has been mainly influenced by our users’ requests,” states Clément Vallon, Engineer, and Product Manager at Holophonix
The new Holophonix 2.2 software update also features, among other improvements, the ability to import and export CSV files from the overview window, a new ‘Add’ menus for Sources and Speakers including pre-configured Dolby Atmos layouts, and an improved audio engine.
The Holophonix Audio Engine now also adds the ability to route a source to eight busses, compared to six in previous versions; supports the new Eigenmike 64, and refactored Eigenmike 32 Ambisonics source microphones; adds specific calibration curves for professional monitoring headphones, to help improve localization perception; among many new features.
Holophonix includes its own binaural algorithm, designed to help engineers and producers prepare their production using a conventional pair of headphones, giving them the experience of a full 3D image of their mix, and to design sound object trajectories. The processor also includes around a hundred head-related transfer function (HRTF) available in the SOFA file format.
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www.Holophonix.xyz
