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This is cool. I can't wait to try it out! Crazy Feature request: One of the things I've wanted for years out of a software based walkie-talkie like this is man

by kawfey 6y ago

This is cool. I can't wait to try it out! Crazy Feature request: One of the things I've wanted for years out of a software based walkie-talkie like this is manual audio spacial diversity control (a.k.a. 3D audio). That way I can have multiple simultaneous channels, but be able to change the position (left/right/forward/45deg/etc) and the volume of each feed so I can have situational awareness with all channels while being able to use my brain to separate and focus on a particular channel. These kinds of systems are often marketed to dispatch agencies, mission control, government/military customers, etc, and are super expensive[0]. I've never seen a consumer-grade version of 3D audio like this, but that would be super beneficial to ad-hoc communicators in disasters, scanner enthusiasts, public event coordinators, county/city-level EOCs that can't afford expensive systems. [0]:https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/24741/new-3d-audio-will-allow-a-10-pilots-to-hear-alerts-come-from-the-direction-of-the-threat https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/24741/new-3d-audio-wil...

zumachase 6y ago
Thanks! The tech in the link is awesome...might be above our pay grade.
- plttn 6y ago
  It's definitely doable. Dolby Axon (which shut down a few years ago) had positional voice chat.
- garaetjjte 6y ago
  It should be easy to integrate game audio engines, such as OpenALSoft.
rasz 6y ago
Aureal A3D. Technology was developed in the nineties for NASA. Stolen by Creative. Creative simultaneously stole their patented tech and sued Aureal for bogus patent infringement. Aureal "won" the Lawsuit, but ran out of money due to legal fees. Creative bought their assets, IP and funny declaration releasing them from any damages from lost patent lawsuit. Patents long expired, nowadays smallest $2 microcontroller can run it in real time.
jeffpeterson 6y ago
Aha! I'm a huge fan of positional voice audio in video games. Mumble has a positional audio feature[0] that is relatively straightforward to integrate via mods. I built a mod[1] recently that adds support to Raft, and I attempted to list some of the benefits in the readme. In my experience, it completely changes the feeling of talking with people online; they become their avatars. I'd love to see it come to discord or zoom, and be lifted out of the video game space. I haven't looked at Mumble's actual implementation, but I imagine it's possible with the web audio APIs. [0]: https://wiki.mumble.info/wiki/Positional-Audio https://wiki.mumble.info/wiki/Positional-Audio [1]: https://www.raftmodding.com/mods/mumble-link https://www.raftmodding.com/mods/mumble-link
- ryukafalz 6y ago
  I love that Mumble has that, but I wish it were possible/easy to enable it without a video game and manually position participants. As for webapps, I think Mozilla Hubs does this: https://hubs.mozilla.com/#/ https://hubs.mozilla.com/#/ ...as does Freeswitch I believe, though I've had a heck of a time trying to get that up and running: https://freeswitch.org/confluence/display/FREESWITCH/mod_conference https://freeswitch.org/confluence/display/FREESWITCH/mod_con...
  - SirYandi 6y ago
    I would love for MozIlla hubs (or any similar app for that matter) to allow one to set a webcam feed as your avatar's "head". If anyone knows of such a thing please let me know. Would be perfect for socialising during quarantine and beyond.
    - zumachase 6y ago
      It's at the other end of the spectrum, but Remotion is really cool and does what you describe. We wanted to get away from always on video, but I know lots of people like that. I cannot say enough good things about what the Remotion team are doing.
    - schwartzworld 6y ago
macrael 6y ago
Check out https://www.highfidelity.com/ https://www.highfidelity.com/ I know it's not really what you are asking for, but it's some very cool spatial audio work, letting you separate out where folks are in a virtual space. [disclaimer, I know some of the folks working on it]
- el_nahual 6y ago
  I tried out highfidelity a couple weeks ago and didn't get any of the directional audio to work. There was a radial but not an angular effect if that makes sense.
  - macrael 6y ago
    interesting. It was working for me on Chrome, I could differentiate left/right
jcims 6y ago
I wish podcast producers would do this (or more of them at least in case anyone knows of one). I’ve done it manually as an experiment and it definitely improves clarity in cases where there are 4 or more drunk folks taking over each other.
fortran77 6y ago
Virtual Airwaves is working in this space. https://virtualairwaves.com/ https://virtualairwaves.com/ and see their iOS app: https://appsto.re/us/jrj3hb.i https://appsto.re/us/jrj3hb.i and the web app: https://cb.virtualairwaves.com/channel/1 https://cb.virtualairwaves.com/channel/1 They have several patents on "3D Audio" style techniques to give distance cues via the signal: See: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9730023 https://patents.google.com/patent/US9730023

by kawfey 6y ago

zumachase 6y ago

Thanks! The tech in the link is awesome...might be above our pay grade.

plttn 6y ago
It's definitely doable. Dolby Axon (which shut down a few years ago) had positional voice chat.
garaetjjte 6y ago
It should be easy to integrate game audio engines, such as OpenALSoft.

rasz 6y ago

Aureal A3D. Technology was developed in the nineties for NASA. Stolen by Creative. Creative simultaneously stole their patented tech and sued Aureal for bogus patent infringement. Aureal "won" the Lawsuit, but ran out of money due to legal fees. Creative bought their assets, IP and funny declaration releasing them from any damages from lost patent lawsuit. Patents long expired, nowadays smallest $2 microcontroller can run it in real time.

jeffpeterson 6y ago

Aha! I'm a huge fan of positional voice audio in video games. Mumble has a positional audio feature[0] that is relatively straightforward to integrate via mods. I built a mod[1] recently that adds support to Raft, and I attempted to list some of the benefits in the readme. In my experience, it completely changes the feeling of talking with people online; they become their avatars. I'd love to see it come to discord or zoom, and be lifted out of the video game space. I haven't looked at Mumble's actual implementation, but I imagine it's possible with the web audio APIs. [0]: https://wiki.mumble.info/wiki/Positional-Audio https://wiki.mumble.info/wiki/Positional-Audio [1]: https://www.raftmodding.com/mods/mumble-link https://www.raftmodding.com/mods/mumble-link

ryukafalz 6y ago
I love that Mumble has that, but I wish it were possible/easy to enable it without a video game and manually position participants. As for webapps, I think Mozilla Hubs does this: https://hubs.mozilla.com/#/ https://hubs.mozilla.com/#/ ...as does Freeswitch I believe, though I've had a heck of a time trying to get that up and running: https://freeswitch.org/confluence/display/FREESWITCH/mod_conference https://freeswitch.org/confluence/display/FREESWITCH/mod_con...
- SirYandi 6y ago
  I would love for MozIlla hubs (or any similar app for that matter) to allow one to set a webcam feed as your avatar's "head". If anyone knows of such a thing please let me know. Would be perfect for socialising during quarantine and beyond.
  - zumachase 6y ago
    It's at the other end of the spectrum, but Remotion is really cool and does what you describe. We wanted to get away from always on video, but I know lots of people like that. I cannot say enough good things about what the Remotion team are doing.
  - schwartzworld 6y ago

macrael 6y ago

Check out https://www.highfidelity.com/ https://www.highfidelity.com/ I know it's not really what you are asking for, but it's some very cool spatial audio work, letting you separate out where folks are in a virtual space. [disclaimer, I know some of the folks working on it]

el_nahual 6y ago
I tried out highfidelity a couple weeks ago and didn't get any of the directional audio to work. There was a radial but not an angular effect if that makes sense.
- macrael 6y ago
  interesting. It was working for me on Chrome, I could differentiate left/right

jcims 6y ago

I wish podcast producers would do this (or more of them at least in case anyone knows of one). I’ve done it manually as an experiment and it definitely improves clarity in cases where there are 4 or more drunk folks taking over each other.

fortran77 6y ago

Virtual Airwaves is working in this space. https://virtualairwaves.com/ https://virtualairwaves.com/ and see their iOS app: https://appsto.re/us/jrj3hb.i https://appsto.re/us/jrj3hb.i and the web app: https://cb.virtualairwaves.com/channel/1 https://cb.virtualairwaves.com/channel/1 They have several patents on "3D Audio" style techniques to give distance cues via the signal: See: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9730023 https://patents.google.com/patent/US9730023