Los Angeles, CA (May 30, 2023)—L-Acoustics has launched a massive update of its immersive audio software platform with the introduction of L-ISA 3.0. Introduced to the live immersive audio community in 2016, the L-ISA platform has expanded over the years to also serve the immersive music-creating and mixing communities with L-ISA Studio. With that in mind, L-ISA 3.0 mixing software is intended to help users create and automate spatial audio content, live or in the studio.
Among the new additions is FX Engine, which allows designers to create reactive movements and trajectories of any kind, making them reactive to the designer and reactive to other objects within L-ISA to create organic movements. The FX Engine includes fully customizable controls and behaviors that can be additively applied to unlimited objects.
Also new is Stereo Mapper, which supports stereo and immersive content alike. Recognizing that an artist playing a L-ISA-equipped venue may not have an immersive format mix ready for the site, the new Stereo Mapper feature in L-ISA 3.0 maps existing stereo content to an immersive speaker configuration without changing the original artist’s mix. Stereo Mapper distributes stereo content to an L-ISA configuration while conserving a similar power distribution as traditional left/right array configurations to retain the original stereo image and overall mix.
Hand-in-hand with that, Stereo Mapper allows L-ISA venues to welcome artists who prefer to perform in stereo without the need to change their L-ISA configuration. Additionally, low-frequency coverage is increased throughout the venue. Any out-fill speakers can be time aligned to either stereo or immersive, making switching between stereo and spatial content quick or even achievable on the fly. Sound engineers and artists who perform in venues equipped with Stereo Mapper will find it easier to step into spatial audio with a stereo-mapped mix—the new functionality makes it easy to widen one or two sound objects beyond the traditional left/right positioning.
For those who are already familiar with the L-ISA ecosystem, the updated Snapshot Engine will be of interest. The new edition reportedly offers increased granularity and scope of what can be stored in snapshots, allowing users to choose which sources are visible at any given moment in time, with features such as source processing, delay, reverb, and more.
Meanwhile, a new Edit Mode allows users to visualize the position of audio sources in each snapshot, making it easier to follow an object’s position across the soundscape at a specific moment in time. The brand-new Preview Mode, available for both online and offline use, makes it possible to visualize the position of specific objects in different snapshots or an object’s position throughout every snapshot. If changes are needed, users can make on-the-fly adjustments in Preview Mode without any interruption or downtime.
As noted by Mix previously, L-ISA 3.0 also now incorporates augmented audio via Mixhalo, which offers audiences multi-channel audio streaming via their own phones and headphones.
In addition to the various new functionalities in L-ISA 3.0, the L-ISA Studio desktop processor has gone from 12 outputs to 16, giving on-the-go sound designers more options for their immersive sound content.
