Hiradur

Speaker-based immersive (3D) audio in hundreds of PC games via Ambisonics using OpenAL Soft

Introduction

It's possible to achieve speaker-based immersive (3D) audio in many PC games that don't seem to be supported by current proprietary object-based audio technologies using some tinkering and a technology called Ambisonics. Since Ambisonics seems to have gone largely unnoticed in the consumer-space so far, I will first explain what it is, what its benefits are, what content is available right now, and how to set it up on a PC for gaming.

Theoretical Background

What is Ambisonics?

Many should be familiar with multi-channel audio based on discrete speaker feeds or the more recent object-based audio. Ambisonics uses neither of these approaches. Instead, it describes a continous full-sphere sound field around a single point in space. A so called Ambisonics decoder uses this information in combination with a decoding matrix, which is specific to a given speaker layout, to reproduce this sound field a

Hiradur

#!/bin/sh

# Setting up an Ambisonics listening rig using consumer hardware
# This guide was tested on Ubuntu Linux using an Nvidia GPU, a consumer-grade 5.1 av-receiver and audio transmission via HDMI.

# install necessary software
sudo apt install qjackctl ambdec mpv

# launch Qjackctl and start JACK on a sound card that is not the GPU
qjackctl

Hiradur

@-moz-document url-prefix("file://"), regexp("https?:\\/\\/(?!(www\\.)?(computerbase?!(\\/forum)|docs\\.google|forum\\.xda-developers|github|startpage|steamcommunity|userstyles|youtube)\\..*).*") {
/* 
 * Global Adwaita-dark Stylus theme
 * This theme applies a color scheme similar to Adwaita-dark to every webpage
 * This theme is based on Solarized Dark Everywhere by thedude (CC0 licensed):
 *   https://userstyles.org/styles/98305/solarized-dark-everywhere
 * which in turn was based on Midnight Surfing Alternative by luckymouse (CC0 licensed)
 *   https://userstyles.org/styles/47391/midnight-surfing-alternative
 *
 * Author of this theme: Hiradur

Hiradur

#!/bin/sh

# toggle_theme_gtk_qt.sh
# Original author: Hiradur
# License: CC0

# This script toggles between light and dark theme for GTK and QT applications

if [ $(gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme) = "'Adwaita-dark'" ]; then
  gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme "Adwaita"

Hiradur

#!/bin/sh

# toggle_av_setups.sh
# Original author: Hiradur
# License: CC0

# This script toggles video and audio output between two setups:
# 1. monitor with stereo speakers on desk
# 2. TV with 5.1 surround sound
# only one of these screens is enabled at a given time

Hiradur

#!/bin/sh

# toggle_stereo_surround.sh
# Original author: Hiradur
# License: CC0

# This script toggles between stereo and surround output.
# It is useful e.g. if you your AVR only provides matrix-decoding of surround
# sound for stereo sources.
# The sink name might need to be changed based on what `pacmd stat` lists as

Hiradur

#!/bin/sh

# theme_toggle.sh
# Original author: Hiradur
# License: CC0
# Description: Toggle between two themes for various applications
# designed for the Solarized themes by Ethan Schoonover

# This script toggles between a light and a dark theme for various applications
# by replacing the corresponding option(s) in their config files

Hiradur

#!/bin/sh
set -eu

# folder_enc.sh
# Original author: Hiradur
# License: CC0
# Description: Converts all flac files in a given folder to mp3, vorbis or opus
# files and put them in a different directory while maintaining the artist/album
# folder structure.

Hiradur

/* Solarized Light Theme for every webpage for the Stylish addon for Firefox */
/* Adopted from the Solarized Dark Everywhere theme by thedude: https://userstyles.org/styles/98305/solarized-dark-everywhere */

/* AGENT_SHEET */
@-moz-document url-prefix(http://), url-prefix(https://), url-prefix(ftp://), url-prefix(file://), url(about:blank), 

/* Best effort to exclude about pages that conflict with Australis-native styling   */
regexp("about:(?!addons|app-manager|config|customizing|stylish-edit|downloads|permissions|preferences|sync-tabs|webrtc).*")

/*url-prefix("about:neterror")*/

Hiradur

// generated by quake, do not modify
unbindall
bind TAB "+scores"
bind ENTER "+button2"
bind ESCAPE "togglemenu"
bind SPACE "+moveup"
bind + "sizeup"
bind - "sizedown"
bind / "weapnext"
bind 0 "weapon 10"