Spatial Sound Reimagined
Generating immersive 3D soundfields, the IKO uses an array of twenty speakers to project Higher Order Ambisonic sound spaces.
“The space itself becomes part of the music.”
Projecting outwards, the IKO enables genuinely sculptural compositional possibilities, embracing and seamlessly integrating room acoustics into the constructed sound space.
In so doing sound and space merge to create shifting planes of rhythms, frequencies and intensities.
“The way it actively engages the acoustics of the room seamlessly blends physical and sonic spaces.
You don’t feel that you’re playing back music in a space.
The space itself becomes part of the music.“
Andrew Knight-Hill
Director, SOUND/IMAGE Research Group
Higher Order Ambisonics
Ambisonics is a surround sound format which enables recording and playback of full 360º sound fields.
The audio signals used contain a speaker-independent representation of a sound field, which is then decoded to the listener’s speaker setup. This allows the composer / producer to compose in full 3D; sculpturally forming sound sources rather than pandering to fixed loudspeaker positions.
The earliest ambisonic formats utilised four channels (also known as 1st Order Ambisonics). This core foundation was later updated and expanded to give greater spatial resolution via Higher Order Ambisonics.
