To ensure the highest quality of ZYLIA equipment, every piece of ZYLIA ZM-1 array is professionally measured at the assembly line to detect any sensitivity differences, which may occur between individual MEMS microphones. Those data are constantly monitored and analyzed for the benefit of all audio recording enthusiast. Based on captured measurement data Zylia specialists developed the automatic gain correction in the set of new ZYLIA drivers. It means a significant upgrade in the quality of the 360-degree sound scene recordings.   

To be more detailed, this great new feature, allows to lower the sensitivity differences between individual microphones in ZYLIA ZM-1 from +/- 1 decibel down to +/- 0.1 dB! This results in higher performance of sound source separation algorithms applied in ZYLIA Studio and ZYLIA Studio PRO.  It will also increase the quality of HOA signals (Higher Order Ambisonics) in ZYLIA Ambisonics Converter. From the user’s point of view, it means especially:

• better (flat) frequency response,
• higher spatial resolution,
• more accurate sound source separation,
• less spill between separated tracks.

Introduced changes will be appreciated especially by professional sound engineers and audio researchers.


Additionally, a new ZYLIA ZM-1 driver for macOS:

• prevents automatic system sleep during recording and when the laptop lid is closed;
• allows installing the same version of ZYLIA ZM-1 driver again;
• improves audio data streaming between ZYLIA ZM-1 device and ZYLIA ZM-1 driver;
• gives ZYLIA Control Panel possibility to generate a package with support data.

Additionally, a new ZYLIA ZM-1 driver for Windows:

• gives support for recording in Pro Tools.

We are happy to announce the new release of ZYLIA Studio v. 1.8.0
​Get to know all the changes.

New release of ZYLIA Studio PRO and ZYLIA Ambisonics Converter Plugins are developed to address the needs of audio enthusiasts. The new plug-ins accommodate specific characteristics of Pro Tools and enable use of the DAW with the innovative ZYLIA ZM-1 microphone. 

Main changes:

• ZYLIA Studio PRO v. 1.4.0

• Improved DSP algorithms providing better frequency response of the processed sound sources.

• ZYLIA Ambisonics Converter Plugin  v. 1.1.1

• Fixed bug in FUMA channels ordering

• Support for a new ZM-1-3E model of microphone array was added.

• In this update we have improved the sound quality of Ambisonics filters for ZM-1-1D, ZM-1-1C and ZM-1-3E arrays. They should now sound more neutral out of the box, but the change may require small tweaking of EQ settings in your projects.

 

• Normalization parameter was added

​         ◦ Possibility to set normalization between „SN3D” and „N3D”

• Minor bugs were fixed

        ◦ Estimation of progress bar for .wv files conversion
        ◦ Sensitivity of rotation slider

• In this update we have improved the sound quality of Ambisonics filters for ZM-1-1D, ZM-1-1C and ZM-1-3E arrays. They should now sound more neutral out of the box, but the change may require small tweaking of EQ settings in your projects.

• Support for ZM-1-3E was added.

​

• Minor bugs were fixed:

        ◦ Input field of elevation slider
        ◦ Wrong sample rate warning

Download link - ZYLIA Ambisonics Converter plugin

ZYLIA Ambisonics Converter Plugin is a VST/AU plugin which enables conversion to Ambisonics directly within a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Thanks to ZYLIA Ambisonics Converter Plugin the whole recording system becomes even more powerful enabling new features for 3D audio production and surround sound recording.
ZYLIA Ambisonics Converter Plugin transforms a single 19 channel ZM-1 [http://www.zylia.co/zylia-zm-1- microphone.html] recording into Higher Order Ambisonics file that is compatible with top class tools for VR and 360 video production. It enables you to prepare 3D audio recordings for playback on the ‘Facebook 360’ and ‘Youtube 360’ platforms.​

​Main features:
​
•    B-format conversion (1st, 2nd and 3rd order of HOA)
•    FuMa or ACN channel ordering & SN3D or N3D normalization
•    ambiX and TBE formats
•    Support for YouTube360 and Facebook360
•    Correction of microphone position in the post-production stage
•    Available as VST, VST3 and AU plugins
•    macOS and Windows versions
•    Compatible with DAW that supports at least 19 channels per track

Available in ZYLIA PRO Set.

​What would happen if on a rainy and cloudy day, during a walk along a forest path, you could move into a completely different place thousands of kilometers away from you? Putting the goggles on would get you into a virtual reality world, you would find yourself on a sunny island in the Pacific Ocean, you would be on the beach, admiring the scenery and walking among the palm trees listening to the sound of waves and colorful parrots screeching over your head.
​
It sounds unrealistic, but such goals are determined by the latest trends in the development of Augmented / Virtual Reality technology (AR / VR). Technology and content for full VR or 6DoF (6 Degrees-of-Freedom) rendered in real time will give the user the opportunity to interact and navigate through virtual worlds. To experience the feeling of "full immersion" in the virtual world, realistic sound must also follow a high-level image. Therefore, only each individual sound source present in virtual audio landscape provided to the user as a single object signal can reliably reflect both the environment and the way the user interacts with it.

There are many possibilities of using a 6DoF VR technology. You can imagine exploring a movie plan in your own pace. You could stroll between the actors, look at the action from different sides, listen to any conversations and paying attention to what is interesting only for you. Such technology would provide really unique experiences.

​A wide spectrum of virtual reality applications drives the development of technology in the audio-visual industry. Until now, image-related technologies have been developing much faster, leaving the sound far behind. We have made the first attempts to show that 6DoF for sound is also achievable.

​It's extremely challenging to record high-quality sound from many sources present in the sound scene at the same time. We managed to do this using nine ZYLIA ZM-1 multi-track microphone arrays evenly spaced in the room.

In our experiment the sound field was captured using two different spatial arrangements of ZYLIA ZM-1 microphones placed within and around the recorded sound scenes. In the first arrangement, nine ZYLIA ZM-1 microphones were placed on a rectangular grid. Second configuration consisted of seven microphones placed on a grid composed of equilateral triangles.

​Microphone signals were captured using a personal computer running GNU/Linux operating system. Signals originating from individual ZM-1 arrays were recorded with the specially designed software. 

​We recorded a few takes of musical performance with instruments such as an Irish bouzouki (stringed instrument similar to the mandolin), a tabla (Indian drums), acoustic guitars and a cajon.

To present interesting possibilities of using audio recorded with multiple microphone arrays we have created a Unity project with 7 Ambisonics sources. In this simulated environment, you will find three sound sources (our musicians) represented by bonfires among whom you can move around. Experiencing fluent immersive audio becomes so natural that you can actually feel being inside of this scene.

​During exploration experiments, MPEG Standardization Committee has realized that there is a lack of test material for audio and video experiments into MPEG-I Immersive Video. Our recordings have been accepted as a reference material in MPEG Standardization Committee. Each of the experts involved in standardization works on MPEG-I can now use the Zylia recordings to develop and test audio technologies for VR/AR applications. 

By Eduardo Patricio

​In this post we present two videos in different formats, but edited from the same source material captured on the 20th of June 2018, at Barigui park (Curitiba, Brazil).

The audio was recorded with the ZYLIA ZM-1 3rd order Ambisonics spherical microphone array while the video was captured by a 360-degree camera (Gear 360).
 
Below, you can watch both videos and find some information on how to achieve the two different results, with focus on preparing the audio recorded with the ZM-1 microphone for each scenario.

Interactive, immersive video with full 3D sound 
​(media components: 360-degree video + Ambisonics audio) 

​Non-interactive video with fixed perspective 3D sound
(media components: Tiny planet” video + binaural audio)

The microphone and the camera were placed on a single camera stand with a small clamped extension arm (see picture below). Both devices were aligned vertically with a small horizontal offset. We made sure the microphone and the camera always had the same relative facing direction (front of the microphone aligned with the camera side where the recording button is found).

For scenario B, we used the video from Gear 360 in ‘tiny planet’ format and a binaural audio track.

Since, the source material is the same as the one from scenario A, we’ll list here only the steps that differ.

Scenario B steps:

• Process stereoscopic video from Gear 360 on Insta360 Studio to have the ‘tiny planet’ effect;
• Convert the raw 19-channel file from ZYLIA Studio to binaural, using ZYLIA Studio PRO running in REAPER.
• Edit 360-degree video and Ambisonics audio on Adobe Premiere.

We are happy to announce a release of ZYLIA ZM-1 drivers for Windows 7. Now our software is compatible with Windows 7 and 10.

​We are thrilled to announce new versions of ZYLIA Studio (1.7.2), ZYLIA Studio PRO (1.3.1) and update of ZYLIA ZM‑1 drivers.

ZYLIA ZM-1 model 3E support
​
The most significant change is support for a new model of ZYLIA ZM-1. We added tailored spatial filters for a 3E microphone model to ZYLIA Studio and ZYLIA Studio PRO.

​Source localization in ZYLIA Studio PRO

​Source localization function is a new feature which will help you to find sound sources in the space. Thanks to that you will add a new virtual microphone in the right 3D position immediately.
To enable this function, press on the "Source localization" button in the left-upper corner of ZYLIA Studio PRO window. The localization algorithm works in real time. During playback of your 19-channel recording, estimated positions of the sound sources will appear on the VST/AU radar screen (blue icons). To add a virtual microphone in this position, simply click on the sound source icon. 

​ZYLIA Control Panel (macOS)

​ZYLIA Control Panel now is bundled with ZYLIA ZM-1 driver for macOS operating systems. Thanks to this application you will be able to manipulate LED brightness of your ZYLIA ZM-1 device.
To dim LED of plugged ZYLIA ZM-1 microphone, open ZYLIA Control Panel application and by using the slider decrease brightness to the desired level (you can turn the LED off as well). After closing ZYLIA Control Panel you'll be ready to start your recording session. ZYLIA Control Panel saves the last used LED brightness level and restores it right after application start.

Additionally we fixed a few small bugs to improve stability of ZYLIA software.

In digital audio ‘bit depth’ is the number of bits of information in each sample, and it directly corresponds to the resolution of each sample. To simplify, we can assume that the sampling frequency are values assigned in time and the bit depth are values assigned to the strength of the signal.

As it was already mentioned, in the 44.1kHz system, the audio-to-digital converter takes 44,100 samples per second. So, in the 48kHz system it is going to be 48,000, and so on. Increasing this value allows capturing more information about the sound which equals higher sound frequencies. This simply means that high-frequency instrument components can be better reproduced.

On mastering process, it is significant to operate on full band samples where low and high-frequency components are well heard. It is easier to mask some instruments by others in the same acoustic scene. Taking care of high sample frequency, you can guarantee your listeners’ natural timbre and feelings. ​

High sample frequency and bit resolution recordings are strongly recommended in compression, equalization and many additional audio effects. Standard configurations are 16 bits depth and 44,1k Hz sample frequency called CD standard. More advanced audio processing may require higher parameters.
 

If you neglect to configure high bit resolution a quantization noise will appear in your recording. It is an understandable effect since sound samples will be represented by an insufficient number of bits. ​

In audio mastering process, the quantization noise prevents engineer to operate on well-recorded sound frequencies. Low bit depth frequency components are much distorted than the high bit. When mastering operator mix rehearsals with noise, the final record contains strengthened noise, which may be onerous for the listener and difficult to accept in professional audio production.