Comments by jdmoore

None taken :)

The patch provides an alternative means of multichannel panning. The regular api patch implements pair-wise panning where 2 speakers are used to produce a phantom sound source. My patch implements first order Ambisonic panning which makes use of all speakers simultaneously to create a phantom sound source. Ambisonics aims to provide consistent cues to a listener in the sweet spot and can result in a more natural reproduction when compared to other algorithms.

Ambisonics is not a new technology but there's quite a lot of interest in it at the moment because of it's potential in a number of areas (games, broadcasting etc.).