Using microphones with L-Acoustics hardware and softwares, sound designers can use L-ISA to reconnest space and sound to immerse audiences in new acoustic worlds
MARCOUSSIS, France – May 2022 – L-Acoustics announces the launch of the L-ISA Ambiance™ virtual acoustics enhancement system. Ambiance uses L-Acoustics loudspeaker systems, microphones, and an advanced 3D Room Engine powered by the L-ISA Processor II. Ambiance empowers acousticians, theater and audio-visual consultants, composers, and sound designers to transform the acoustic properties and qualities of a venue space to match the desired atmosphere. Ambiance enhances experiences by better connecting audiences and performers to each other and to their shared space.
The architecture and acoustics of a venue play an integral part in the audience and performer experience. From concert halls with long reverberation times that impart a lush feel for orchestras to cinemas and halls with minimal reverb that allows for clear speech intelligibility, the experience of a space is as much due to the feel of its sound as to its decor. Where once venues were designed for single-use, today’s spaces are multi-purpose, changing with the calendar to better serve wider audiences.
Adapting acoustics through architecture is time-consuming, budget-hungry, and does not guarantee flexibility. The L-ISA Ambiance virtual acoustic enhancement system uses hardware—speakers, amplifiers, and processors—that are already a necessary part of modern venues. Adding strategically placed microphones to capture the existing acoustical energy of a space, Ambiance processes signals from the mics through the L-ISA Room Engine that’s built into the L-ISA Processor II, where reflections can then be individually managed with separate EQ, time, and space parameters, empowering a sound designer to create a desired sound atmosphere for the space. L-ISA Ambiance can be controlled via the L-ISA Controller on both Mac and Windows platforms, through the built-in configurations on the Processor, or with Q-Sys and Crestron third-party control systems.
“An L-ISA Ambiance system provides flexibility to a venue, opening up acoustic enhancement to a wider market, without the need to alter the look of the space,” explains Jordan Tani, Product and Technology Marketing Engineer at L-Acoustics. “Installing Ambiance not only gives a space future-proof flexibility, but it also opens up creative possibilities for designers to construct—and reconstruct—the aural feel of the space to their desire.”
The L-ISA Room Engine allows sound designers to spatially distribute early, late, and cluster reflections to the loudspeaker system to provide a true multi-channel room engine that considers the geometry and volume of the space itself. The L-ISA Room Engine gives users the power to individually customize gain, EQ, time, and space parameters to craft fine-tuned acoustic profiles. By managing these parameters, sound designers can tailor the feel of a space to create the desired atmosphere for the audience, the performers, or both.
L-ISA Ambiance can be used for acoustic enhancement applications or combined with L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal systems for object-based mixing in live performances or experiential playback in theme parks, immersive art installations, or other experiential events. L-ISA Ambiance is already shaping sound spaces at the GES-2 House of Culture and at the upcoming ABBA Voyage Experience.
L-ISA Ambiance will be demonstrated at Infocomm in Demo Room W209. A beta version is currently being used by a select number of pilot projects. The public version will be available in Q1 2023.
Click here to view the L-Acoustics Keynote, where Soka and SB6i were unveiled.