Advice on multichannel sound
I am starting to plan a piece which will involve a number of speakers across a room, with sound being distributed to each speaker on its own channel. I have tried something similar with using all 6 channels on my own audio interface and Max/MSP with some success, but I am trying to figure out the pitfalls of doing this with many more speakers, maybe as many as 20. I know MOTU makes audio interfaces with many outputs, I have to check whether they are available via rental or not, and I don't know if my Macbook Pro could handle the CPU load. Max/MSP would basically be coordinating the playback of recordings for each channel, and not involved in synthesis or any signal processing (or very little).
For those with experience doing multi-channel installations, do you have any advice about the pitfalls involved? I would have to rent all the speakers plus the audio interface (if companies exist who do this). The main thing is that visitors to the installation can walk around the room and get 'closer' to a specific sound. Thanks in advance!
20 channels is totally possible.
if the sounds are unique, you are not looking for an audience oriented surround experience, I recommend hitting the thriftstore. 6 channel amps and decent bookshelf speakers cost almost nothing these days as everyone is "upgrading" to dinky wireless bluetooth speakers. Also likely to find a used audio interface for less than you could rent one.