NextGen Audio: Tempest Engine, Project Acoustics, Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos, DTS X

You're aware that a specification that has no upper ceiling for sounds doesn't mean unlimited numbers can be used, right? Sound object count will still be limited by processing power.
 
You're aware that a specification that has no upper ceiling for sounds doesn't mean unlimited numbers can be used, right? Sound object count will still be limited by processing power.
You or I don't know what the audio processing limits are for either of the audio chip in these systems. What we do know is there is a limit for Atmos and Sony's Tempest on the number simultaneous sound objects in can produce. There is no limit for DTS X. XB1 already has it and so will Series X.
 
Are you arguing that Series X will be capable of more than 512 sound objects because DTS X has no defined sound object limit? Heck, you even seem to be suggesting that XB1 has no limit on its audio objects - it too supports DTS X. So XB1 is capable of unlimited sound objects?
 
Are you arguing that Series X will be capable of more than 512 sound objects because DTS X has no defined sound object limit? Heck, you even seem to be suggesting that XB1 has no limit on its audio objects - it too supports DTS X. So XB1 is capable of unlimited sound objects?
No what I'm simply talking about is what each format supports. DTS X is unlimited, Atmos is limited to 128 but could go higher, Mark Cerny said Tempest could support "hundreds". The title of the thread is "The Tempest Engine VS Dolby Atoms dispute". I just brought up the fact the Series X will also support DTS X. As far as the original XB1. It had a pretty advanced sound processor in it because of kinect. Probably the reason it got the Atmos update and PS4 never did.
 
You or I don't know what the audio processing limits are for either of the audio chip in these systems. What we do know is there is a limit for Atmos and Sony's Tempest on the number simultaneous sound objects in can produce. There is no limit for DTS X. XB1 already has it and so will Series X.
Correction here: DTS:X unlimited is only on PC with a move towards XBO. But it’s not there yet. I purchased it on PC but haven’t seen it show up on XBO yet.
 
Does it matter if folks are using uncompressed 5.1/7.1 via HDMI :?: I'm not clear on the difference for games on a normal setup.
 
Does it matter if folks are using uncompressed 5.1/7.1 via HDMI :?: I'm not clear on the difference for games on a normal setup.

It does and doesn't. What sony is trying to do is to have HRTF functions that takes head and ear shape into account. Given perfect user specific HRTF function the sound localizes perfectly and it becomes very difficult to say if the sound is coming from real world or via headphones. Sony's approach is to make this work for headphones first as that is the easiest medium. Then follow up with 2 speaker setup. 5.1/... setups are in some distant future. This is as per what cerny said.

In sony case what really is important is the horse power to generate the 3d audio from many sources. If this is not done well enough then no amount of post processing will fix the situation. Assuming there is good quality 3d audio available then next step is to process 3d audio into 2 channel headphone output using user specific HRTF function. The multi channel/speaker setups are coming after the headphone implementation. Regular speaker output might never become nearly as good as headphone output is.

Considering sony's vr ambition this approach and focus on audio makes sense. Good quality 3d audio makes a huge difference in vr.
 
No what I'm simply talking about is what each format supports. DTS X is unlimited, Atmos is limited to 128 but could go higher, Mark Cerny said Tempest could support "hundreds".
Tempest Engine's hundreds figure is a hardware capability, not a format. DTS X's 'unlimited' is a specification. Different hardwares will be able to mix different numbers of voices when using DTS X.
 
They both probably use the same hardware for audio (a stripped down CU core from AMD) under different names.

I'm not talking from a theoretical hardware perspective but from an actual supported by the SDK/API perspective that developers can use.
 
I'm not talking from a theoretical hardware perspective but from an actual supported by the SDK/API perspective that developers can use.

Patsu linked this earlier. Timeframe of acquisition would line up pretty well with tempest/ps5 implementation. Probably this is the sdk sony uses/is hw accelerated in ps5.

It has all kinds of cool stuff. Small quote from the page. This is not all that audiokinetic does.

The Wwise Spatial Audio Geometry API uses emitter and listener positions, and the raw triangles of your game's (typically simplified) geometry in order to compute image sources for simulating dynamic early reflections, in conjunction with the Wwise Reflect plug-in. Sound designers control translation of image source positions into early reflections directly in Wwise Reflect, through tweaking of properties based on distance and materials.

https://www.audiokinetic.com/products/wwise-spatial-audio/
https://www.audiokinetic.com/about/news/sony-interactive-entertainment-to-acquire-audiokinetic/
 
Yeah, it supports a lot of features but no mention of Dolby Atmos support. This could become a hassle for multiplatform developers if they were looking for common format to use on PC/Xbox/Playstation.
 
Yeah, it supports a lot of features but no mention of Dolby Atmos support. This could become a hassle for multiplatform developers if they were looking for common format to use on PC/Xbox/Playstation.

I'm not so sure atmos would be required. The audio is likely in some internal format sonys audio sdk produces. Then the audio goes to sony's hrtf function that massages audio to format that headphones/speakers would accept. Developer would only care that audio sdk can do the 3d audio calculations and that hrtf function can output the audio into the hw that end user has. It's not really any different than sony not having directx in playstation. Not the end of the world and developers just have to deal with console specific api.
 
Xbox developers don't even have to use Atmos. Most don't. I'm not sure what the advantages of Dolby Atmos are to be honest, besides it being the latest standard for home theater. Being able to encode to atmos is good if you have a dolby atmos home theater setup. Atmos for headphones is nice, but I'm not sure sure that it's better than a number of other HRTF solutions that are available.
 
Not so sure about that. We don't know what the Xbox audio is. It could be an in-house DSP like Shape was.

Could be, at the time it was more advanced then what AMD had to offer.

developers don't even have to use Atmos

Developers don't have to use anything. The 3d audio hardware in the consoles is most likely not going to see as much attention as ray tracing or graphics in general. SSD's are also most likely going to be more prioritized aswell. Creating games requires huge resources and time these days and thats not going to decrease. Most people will notice the benefits of visuals and loading times, audio not as much.
 
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