Overview:
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The group focuses on creating 3D Audio rendering guidelines to define more realistic audio environments. This effort has lead to extensions to the Microsoft DirectSound 3.0 API to enable hardware acceleration, and to the publication in 1998 of the IA-SIG Interactive 3D Audio Rendering and Evaluation Guidelines (Level 1), describing "minimal acceptable" 3D audio features for all platforms.
The group this year documented the recommended enhancements to current 3D audio technology, such as Reverb parameters, object reflections and occlusions, and more, published as the IA-SIG Interactive 3D Audio Rendering Guidelines (Level 2). The I3DL2 document details the 3DWG's recommended approach to providing state-of-the art Interactive 3D audio using a pre-set reverberation to simulate a common environment for sound source and listener. Occlusion and obstruction effects are also specified. An example API implementation (two 'C' header files, DownLoadable here) is included in the specification. enumerating a recommended "DirectSound Property Set" implementation of the low level I3DL2 source and listener controls. The Property Set also includes a number of useful presets for rooms and material types for occlusions and obstructions.
It is expected the 3D working will next take up the issue of 3D MIDI specification as a future (and possibly its next) work item. The issue of effects beyond 3D has also been discussed as a possible next item. Using the I3DL2 specification for environment definitions, it could be possible to apply similar control paradigms to flange, chorus and other studio effects. Currently this is beyond the charter of this working group, however, many members expressed interest in this topic.
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