wkentdag

Hello - I'm in the process of designing my first installation using Max. It's going to be either 16 or 32 channels, and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to play/test it. Setting it up to play correctly is probably the more important question in the long run, but for now, I'm more curious how people test 2+ channel audio if they don't have hardware that can play it. Is there a quick fix to boil it down to 2 channels for testing purposes? Or am I SOL? Thanks!

testing-multi-channel-audio

With my 4 channel stuff I just route 2 channels to each stereo output for monitoring on the go. You could pan out your channels over the stereo field.

Using a spatialization approach that is separate from the number of loudspeakers (vbap, ambisonics, etc.) can be very helpful here. I've shifted between binaural encoding and multiple loudspeakers in development of some pieces.

That being said, it is really handy to hear all the channels individually at some point.

Using a spatialization approach that is separate from the number of loudspeakers (vbap, ambisonics, etc.) can be very helpful here.  I've shifted between binaural encoding and multiple loudspeakers in development of some pieces.  

That being said, it is really handy to hear all the channels individually at some point.


In the I/O Mappings window within the Audio Status... window you can map the outputs numbered 3-16 to play through outputs 1 or 2 of your available stereo output device (say, Built-In Audio, for example).

Testing multi-channel audio