[jgazal]

@Maestroso, so does the Realiser still have utility for you? If yes, I would like to know why?

 

[Maestroso]

As mentioned, in experiments with a tight schedule you need a way to perform measurements fast and reliably. My solution takes a little longer as it doesn't automatically instruct users in which direction to look - after a while this really turns into a PITA, especially if you want to ensure stabile conditions while facing a ticking clock. Also, it's nice to have everything in one box and not waste additional CPU-cycles ... even though, the CPU-demands of convolution processing are rather modest - at best (floating point calculations, primarily).

I still have another 30 subjects ahead of me ... in a setup that will require a turnaround which will make the Realiser absolutely necessary. I managed to move the date back to middle March - but without any sign of a shipping date I'm getting more and more concerned whether I should not cancel the whole thing.

 

[jgazal]

I see. The measurement time for demo purpose was shortened.

I remember Smyth saying they didn’t want to demo at large consumer shows because measurements were done one user by one user and they were still figuring a way to do measurements of multiple users at the same time.

Is head tracking negligible in your experiments?

 

[Maestroso]

Head tracking wasn't relevant for the first but the second experiment interpolated the IRs (thus, the look angles). Yes, the demo measurement would be perfect - unfortunately it didn't work so well on me when I tried - BUT things were done hastily and there was quite some outside noise as well - so it should be good enough under normal circumstances. But let's see.

 

[jgazal]

Please tell us how your second experiment turns out when you are done.

 

[Maestroso]

Will do .

 

[sander99]

I also came up with a way to efficiently remove the signature of an individuals' pinna as well as ITD, ILD.

Remove ITD, ILD? You lost me here. In the binaural simulation all these things must be there. If you had only said "remove the signature of an individuals' pinna" I could have thought you were talking about some kind of HPEQ, to avoid that this signature is added twice (once in the generated binaural signal and again on the way from the headphone driver to inside the ear canal). Or what am I missing here?
Well, probably you don't have time to go into all this in detail, but maybe you can just tell me this:
Is what you are ultimately trying to do something different from what the Realiser is intended for (simulating speakers in a room over headphones)?

 

[Maestroso]

What I meant was "alter" instead of remove ITD and ILD. However, in order to be able to do this, you first have to isolate both components, which (in my case) was done by extraction/removal and re-insertion after processing (select the approx. ms measured from the reference IR of the target subject).

A headphone compensation was also applied, of course.

While also trying to achieve some other things (more or less a semi-HRTF approach with high channel count for processing of Ambisonic sources - which were again based on a room IR), the system does the same what the Realiser does (particularly in the second and third experiments). And honestly, I'd prefered to use the real Realiser instead - simply because it's a lot more straight-forward and less finnicky (my implementation relies on PD). That is why I'm literally counting the seconds until the make a shipping announcement. I'm fascinated by what it does - and certainly it will open doors especially for audio producers. However, as far as I can tell (with having also studied Marketing) Smyth completely failed to target those audiences - normally you'd get in touch with all assorted magazines, exhibit at NAMM, Musikmesse, etc. - you make announcements on sites like vi-control, KVR, and others (which even come for free), but ... niente. I was wondering whether they actually wanted to sell more units than those via Kickstarter/their website. Perhaps they wanted to pkay safe, but that still wouldn't explain the lack of such advertising for the A8.

In any case, though I was one of the very first backers (and thus got to enjoy a lower price), it was still a lot of money for me (which, I'm certain that it will be worth it). But from time to time a little re-assurance from their part wouldn't hurt - I believe that's really what everyone here and on Kickstarter is asking for. The A16 backers seem to me like a patient and kind folk, who just feel a little left alone in their discussion about their future favourite device.

 

[musicday]

What I meant was "alter" instead of remove ITD and ILD. However, in order to be able to do this, you first have to isolate both components, which (in my case) was done by extraction/removal and re-insertion after processing (select the approx. ms measured from the reference IR of the target subject).

A headphone compensation was also applied, of course.

While also trying to achieve some other things (more or less a semi-HRTF approach with high channel count for processing of Ambisonic sources - which were again based on a room IR), the system does the same what the Realiser does (particularly in the second and third experiments). And honestly, I'd prefered to use the real Realiser instead - simply because it's a lot more straight-forward and less finnicky (my implementation relies on PD). That is why I'm literally counting the seconds until the make a shipping announcement. I'm fascinated by what it does - and certainly it will open doors especially for audio producers. However, as far as I can tell (with having also studied Marketing) Smyth completely failed to target those audiences - normally you'd get in touch with all assorted magazines, exhibit at NAMM, Musikmesse, etc. - you make announcements on sites like vi-control, KVR, and others (which even come for free), but ... niente. I was wondering whether they actually wanted to sell more units than those via Kickstarter/their website. Perhaps they wanted to pkay safe, but that still wouldn't explain the lack of such advertising for the A8.

In any case, though I was one of the very first backers (and thus got to enjoy a lower price), it was still a lot of money for me (which, I'm certain that it will be worth it). But from time to time a little re-assurance from their part wouldn't hurt - I believe that's really what everyone here and on Kickstarter are asking for. The A16 backers seem to me like a patient and kind folk, who just feel a little left alone in their discussion about their future favourite device.

Anyone close to them have decided to call, or go directly and talk to them and find out how far the progress been made? That will please and make all of us happy.

 

[camillem]

I tried many times to call their UK office (+44 (0)2891 455252 ) without success.

So i called their California office (+1 424 346-2600), and i spoke with a guy that told me that the Eta (with a capital E) is still march/april.

But he has told me too that he doesn't have a lot of information so i'm not sure this is reliable...

I told him i couldn't reach the UK office and he was surprised because he called them yesterday.
I have asked him to tell them we all wait for an update and he answered me "yes they already know..."

let's wait an see....

 

[musicday]

I tried many times to call their UK office (+44 (0)2891 455252 ) without success.

So i called their California office (+1 424 346-2600), and i spoke with a guy that told me that the Eta (with a capital E) is still march/april.

But he has told me too that he doesn't have a lot of information so i'm not sure this is reliable...

I told him i couldn't reach the UK office and he was surprised because he called them yesterday.
I have asked him to tell them we all wait for an update and he answered me "yes they already know..."

let's wait an see....

Thank you for your efforts my friend

 

[Maestroso]

@camillem Thanks a lot!

"I tried many times to call their UK office (+44 (0)2891 455252 ) without success."

Actually this makes me even more worried now ... hopefully my worst thoughts won't turn out to be true ...ok, let's stay optimistic!

 

[VandyMan]

However, what's beyond me is the lack of information/communication on their part as well as the announced shipping dates, which were far from realistic estimations

I've noticed in other projects, both in Kickstarter and professionally, that things sometimes get quiet when there are delays and the project is almost finished. There is a tendency to say: "let's wait until next week for the update because X will be done and we will have good news." But then X is not completed or some new thing is also almost done, so the update gets pushed and pushed again.

Sometimes the quiet it is because the project team has announced wrong dates a few times and are hesitant to give new dates until they are certain.

So, I don't necessarily take the quiet to be bad news, but it is bad customer service for sure. If you are going to use Kickstarter for a project, you have to be willing to give your customers a level of transparency that many find uncomfortable.

 

[Fox1977]

Even if they don't give a firm date, they could already tell what's been new since the mid-december update, to let us know how things are going. I guess people would rather hear "we've encountered these setbacks, but still things are moving forward. We understand that you are frustrated but the wait shouldn't be long anymore", rather than not saying anything.
Clearly they underestimated the project at the beginning, though i suspect that they knew it wouldn't be ready till at least the end of 2017 but still said "may-june 2017" because if we had known when we backed the project on Kickstarter back in august 2016 that we wouldn't get anything before 2nd quarter of 2018, part of the people wouldn't have signed up and maybe the whole funding of the project might have been jeopardized.
They never really apologized for the repeated delays and keeping so long between two information update, and that's not cool.
Yet, i still hope for good news

 

[musicday]

If i was rich i would have invested in the companies like Smyth Research. I truly believe the A16 can have multiple use and will really revolutionise the sound movies market for home use.
If they would invest more into advertising with magazines like What HiFi, then everything will be at a different level by now, however let's have more patience, is still January.