HRTF clarification question

[GiudiceLab]

We are using spatialized audio in our lab and we are trying to understand how the HRTF is implemented. That is, we know that we can set an audio option for 'HRTF_Full' or 'HRTF_Lite', but we are unclear about what is actually happening. Are we only affecting the DirectX settings? Does Vizard do any additional processing?

Specifically, we are trying to understand how or if the virtual room interacts with the audio virtualization functions, and to what extent we can control these properties in Vizard.

[Jeff]

Thanks for the post. Someone here will get back to you on this.

[Gladsomebeast]

Vizard simply wraps the DirectSound API. So Vizard does not do any additional proccessing.

So the nature of the room 3D model does not affect the 3D sound that occurs in it. Only the sound-source's/listener's position and orientation factor into the 3D sound algorithm.

From the DirectSound API documentation, the 'HRTF_Full' or 'HRTF_Lite' options allow you to trade the quality of the 3D sound effect with CPU cost.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb219768(VS.85).aspx

[GiudiceLab]

Thank you very much!

[Gladsomebeast]

Glad to help,

Where did you hear about these 'HRTF_Full' or 'HRTF_Lite' options. Can't seem to find them in the docs.

[GiudiceLab]

Hey Paul,

Sorry it took us so long to get back to you. If you search in the docs for 'configuration settings' and go to 'miscellaneous options' near the bottom, the HRTF settings are in the description of 'sound3d.dx.algorithm.'

Do you know of a way to select multiple sound devices to use in DirectSound with Vizard? We've tried using the PySonic module, but we're having trouble getting Vizard to be able to use this with an import statement or a plugin. Any ideas? Either way (DirectSound or PySonic) would be great. Thanks again for all of your advice so far.

[Gladsomebeast]

I got pySonic working by installing FMOD, the API pySonic wraps.

Get the "FMOD 3 Programmers API" from here:
http://www.fmod.org/index.php/download

Then copy the api/fmod.dll file into the same directory as your script.

[GiudiceLab]

Thanks again Paul!