5 ms·

Show HN: Death to video calls. Interactive audio spaces are the future

7 points by aporciuncula 5y ago

aporciuncula 5y ago
Hi! Our team recently launched Orbital, your always-ready, zero-friction, super-interactive, fun-to-customise, never-seen-anything-like-it-before place to gather. Pop in for meetings, quick chats, open-door office hours, or cowork together through the day – all at the same link. We've just released some new features and would love to get your feedback on them, particularly around the onboarding experience for teams. It's totally free to sign up here: https://launch.orbital.chat?launcher=ap&launch_code=showhn https://launch.orbital.chat?launcher=ap&launch_code=showhn There's a live chat in the app that you can use to share feedback, or just reply here.
anonfunction 5y ago
Does orbital use spatial audio or 3d audio?
- aporciuncula 5y ago
  Distance-based spatial audio! :)
bradknowles 5y ago
There are predecessors in this space. A former employer of mine used one, but I don’t remember the name. Problem is, by forcing the physical office analogy to this level, you add a lot of background visual noise to the environment, over audio only conference calls. People keep getting distracted by watching who is “sitting” over by whom, what large gatherings are happening where, etc…. Chime or Slack or Discord lets you have audio only conferencing without this visual background noise, but can also let you do screen sharing or also video conferencing. If you don’t like video conferencing, you can just choose not to do video. Just use the audio-only components. You don’t need to try to do a top-down 2D simulation of an entire office environment.
- aporciuncula 5y ago
  Thanks for that feedback, Brad! There definitely is a level of novelty at first around who sits where, etc. but we find that it wears off after the first few chats. Instead, teams settle into just being comfortable in the space and the collaborative tools become the focus. The slight animation around a user was also designed to provide just enough movement to keep people engaged, sort of like a visual fidget spinner. Of course everyone is different, though, and some people may choose to not watch the screen during a conversation, as you say.

7 points by aporciuncula 5y ago

Hi! Our team recently launched Orbital, your always-ready, zero-friction, super-interactive, fun-to-customise, never-seen-anything-like-it-before place to gather. Pop in for meetings, quick chats, open-door office hours, or cowork together through the day – all at the same link. We've just released some new features and would love to get your feedback on them, particularly around the onboarding experience for teams. It's totally free to sign up here: https://launch.orbital.chat?launcher=ap&launch_code=showhn https://launch.orbital.chat?launcher=ap&launch_code=showhn There's a live chat in the app that you can use to share feedback, or just reply here.

anonfunction 5y ago

Does orbital use spatial audio or 3d audio?

aporciuncula 5y ago
Distance-based spatial audio! :)

bradknowles 5y ago

There are predecessors in this space. A former employer of mine used one, but I don’t remember the name. Problem is, by forcing the physical office analogy to this level, you add a lot of background visual noise to the environment, over audio only conference calls. People keep getting distracted by watching who is “sitting” over by whom, what large gatherings are happening where, etc…. Chime or Slack or Discord lets you have audio only conferencing without this visual background noise, but can also let you do screen sharing or also video conferencing. If you don’t like video conferencing, you can just choose not to do video. Just use the audio-only components. You don’t need to try to do a top-down 2D simulation of an entire office environment.

aporciuncula 5y ago
Thanks for that feedback, Brad! There definitely is a level of novelty at first around who sits where, etc. but we find that it wears off after the first few chats. Instead, teams settle into just being comfortable in the space and the collaborative tools become the focus. The slight animation around a user was also designed to provide just enough movement to keep people engaged, sort of like a visual fidget spinner. Of course everyone is different, though, and some people may choose to not watch the screen during a conversation, as you say.