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Tools
Zirkonium
ZKM | Hertz-Lab
Zirkonium is a free macOS toolkit for spatial-audio composition and performance, developed at ZKM | Hertz-Lab Karlsruhe to drive the Klangdom — a 47-loudspeaker dome at the ZKM Kubus. Current version Zirkonium MK3 (since 2015) provides parametric trajectory creation over time, automatic interpolation, event filtering, and real-time rendering on arbitrary 2D or 3D loudspeaker setups. The DSP server is built on Pure Data (libpd) and uses VBAP, Higher-Order Ambisonics (HOA library, CICM), and binau
Waves Nx
Waves Audio
Waves Nx is a commercial monitoring plug-in that simulates a high-end mixing room over headphones via binaural processing and modelled early reflections. It supports stereo, 5.0/5.1/7.1 surround, and Ambisonic B-format monitoring (Nx Ambisonics component) for 360° and VR work. Real-time head tracking is supported via webcam or the dedicated Nx Head Tracker hardware; the plug-in includes EQ correction profiles for 270+ headphone models based on the Harman Headphone Target Curve.
Unity Audio Spatializer SDK
Unity Technologies
The Unity Audio Spatializer SDK is the free, built-in plug-in framework inside Unity that allows third-party 3D-audio SDKs to spatialise audio sources on a per-AudioSource basis. Unity itself does not ship a built-in spatialiser plug-in, but exposes the spatialiser-plug-in API and an Ambisonic-decoder-plug-in API; spatialiser plug-ins are then provided by third parties (Meta XR Audio SDK, Steam Audio, Resonance Audio, VIVE 3DSP, Microsoft Spatializer, etc.) and selected per project in Project Se
Steam Audio
Valve Corporation
Steam Audio is a free, open-source cross-platform spatial-audio toolkit developed by Valve. It provides HRTF-based 3D positional audio (with custom-SOFA-file support), Ambisonic spatialisation, physics-based sound propagation modelling occlusion / transmission / reflections / pathing, automated reverb baking based on scene geometry, hybrid reverb for large spaces, and dynamic geometry support. Distributed as integrations for Unity (2017.3+), Unreal Engine (4.27+), FMOD Studio (2.0+), Wwise (2023
SpatGRIS
Groupe de Recherche en Immersion Spatiale (GRIS), Université de Montréal
SpatGRIS is a free, open-source multichannel spatialisation server developed at Université de Montréal that supports up to 256 inputs and 256 outputs in five spatialisation modes: DOME (VBAP for speaker domes), CUBE (MBAP for non-dome layouts), HYBRID (mixed DOME / CUBE per source), BINAURAL (HRTF-based headphone monitoring), and STEREO. Distributed together with ControlGRIS — a companion plug-in (AAX / AU / VST3) that builds spatial trajectories inside the user's DAW and sends them to SpatGRIS
SPARTA
Aalto University
SPARTA (Spatial Audio Real-Time Applications) is an open-source collection of audio plug-ins for the production and playback of spatial sound scenes, supporting Ambisonics up to 10th order. It provides Ambisonic encoders, loudspeaker and binaural decoders, rotators, beamformers, microphone-array encoders, room simulators, and sound-field visualizers, used in spatial audio research, production, and immersive playback contexts.
SoundScape Renderer (SSR)
SoundScape Renderer community
The SoundScape Renderer (SSR) is a tool for real-time spatial audio reproduction supporting multiple rendering algorithms within a unified framework: Wave Field Synthesis, Higher Order Ambisonics, Vector Base Amplitude Panning, Distance-Coded Ambisonics, Binaural Room Synthesis, and binaural rendering with SOFA support, used in research, teaching, and spatial audio production.
SoundField by RØDE Plug-in
RØDE Microphones
The SoundField by RØDE Plug-in is a free Ambisonic processor for converting A-format recordings (from tetrahedral microphone arrays) and B-format recordings into virtual microphone patterns and standard surround formats up to 7.1.4. It uses frequency-domain processing rather than the matrix-based approach of earlier Ambisonic decoders, used in post-production, broadcast, and VR audio workflows in DAWs such as Pro Tools, Nuendo, Cubase, Reaper, and Logic Pro.
Sound Particles
Sound Particles
Sound Particles is a commercial standalone immersive audio workstation built around a 3D engine and a particle system — conceptually a CGI engine for sound. It generates large numbers of sound instances from a single sample, animates them in 3D space, and captures them with virtual microphones to render in stereo, binaural, surround, Ambisonics (up to 6th order), or Dolby Atmos ADM. Used widely in film, TV, game-audio, and immersive music for crowds, weather, atmospheres, and large-scale sound d
SkyDust 3D
Sound Particles
SkyDust 3D is a commercial polyphonic spatial synthesizer plug-in by Sound Particles — described as the world's first synthesizer with full 3D-audio support per voice. Up to 8 oscillators per voice (subtractive, FM, or hybrid synthesis), 256-voice polyphony, polyphonic step sequencer, MPE support, and per-oscillator spatial movement controlled by envelopes, LFOs, and movement modifiers. Outputs in over 30 formats including stereo, 5.1, 7.1, 7.1.2, 9.1.6 (Dolby Atmos), Ambisonics up to 6th order,
Resonance Audio
Resonance Audio steering committee
Resonance Audio is an open-source spatial-audio SDK originally developed by Google and released as open source in March 2018. It provides high-fidelity Ambisonic-based spatial audio rendering optimised for mobile and desktop CPUs, including encoding and decoding of Ambisonics (AmbiX ACN/SN3D, compatible with the YouTube spatial-audio decoder), HRTF-based binaural rendering, sound-source directivity, near-field rendering, occlusion, and a Spectral Reverb effect. Distributed as native libraries pl
Pro Tools Ultimate
Avid Technology
Pro Tools Ultimate is the flagship edition of Avid's commercial DAW for music recording, post-production, and immersive mixing. It supports up to 2,048 audio tracks, 192 channels of HDX I/O, and Pro Tools | HDX hardware acceleration; integrated Dolby Atmos renderer (since v2023.12) with 9.1.6 support; Ambisonics mixing; native Sony 360 Reality Audio integration via the WalkMix Panner / Renderer (since v2025.10); ADM BWF master export. Used as the industry-standard tool at major film, television,
OpenAL Soft
Chris Robinson (kcat)
OpenAL Soft is a free, open-source software implementation of the OpenAL 3D-audio API. Provides distance attenuation, Doppler shift, directional sound emitters, environmental reverb (EFX extension), occlusion / obstruction, air absorption, multi-channel buffers, and audio capture. Output formats include mono, stereo, quad, 5.1, 7.1, HRTF binaural, UHJ, and B-Format Ambisonics. Backend support spans most native audio APIs: WASAPI, DirectSound, CoreAudio, PulseAudio, ALSA, JACK, OSS, OpenSL, PortA
Omnitone
Google Chrome WebAudio team
Omnitone is a JavaScript library for Ambisonic decoding and binaural rendering using the Web Audio API. It supports First, Second, and Third Order Ambisonics with rotation matrices for sound-field rotation, head-tracked playback, and integration with media elements and AudioBufferSourceNodes, used in browser-based VR audio, 360 video, and immersive web applications.
Nuendo
Steinberg
Nuendo is a commercial digital audio workstation by Steinberg targeted at audio post-production, game audio, and immersive sound design. It includes an integrated Dolby Atmos renderer (Stereo Direct, 7.1.2, 9.1.4, 9.1.6), Ambisonics support up to 4th order, MPEG-H authoring, ADM import/export, native panning up to 22.2, Auro-3D, Adaptive Background Attenuation, AI-powered dialogue transcription, and Game Audio Connect 3 for integration with Audiokinetic Wwise.
Noise Makers Ambi Bundle HD
Noise Makers
Ambi Bundle HD is a plug-in suite for Higher Order Ambisonic production up to order 7. It comprises Ambi Pan HD (3D panner), Ambi Limiter HD (peak limiter for Ambisonic signals), Ambi Verb HD (Ambisonic convolution reverb), and Ambi Head HD (HOA-to-binaural decoder with HRTF support), used in immersive music, 360 video, and VR audio production.
mcfx Plug-ins
Matthias Kronlachner
mcfx is an open-source suite of multichannel VST plug-ins (mcfx_convolver, mcfx_delay, mcfx_filter, mcfx_gain_delay, mcfx_meter) for processing high channel counts in a single plug-in instance, with versions up to 128 channels. It is used for multichannel loudspeaker setups, Ambisonic post-production, and microphone-array processing in DAWs such as Reaper and Ardour.
JSAmbisonics
Archontis Politis
JSAmbisonics is a JavaScript library for First Order and Higher Order Ambisonic processing in browsers using the Web Audio API. It provides encoders, rotators, mirrors, virtual microphones, and binaural decoders with support for ACN/SN3D, ACN/N3D, Furse-Malham, and traditional B-format conventions, used in interactive spatial audio research, web VR, and academic teaching.
IEM Plug-in Suite
IEM, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
The IEM Plug-in Suite is a free and open-source collection of audio plug-ins for Ambisonic production up to 7th order. It provides encoders, decoders for headphones and arbitrary loudspeaker layouts, reverbs, dynamics, rotators, and visualizers, used in spatial audio composition, research, and immersive sound installation contexts.
ICST Ambisonics Plugins
ICST, Zurich University of the Arts
The ICST Ambisonics Plugins are a free open-source plug-in suite for higher-order Ambisonic production up to 7th order in REAPER, comprising encoder, decoder, multi-decoder, monitor, and animator. They support up to 64 audio sources and 64 loudspeakers with an interactive radar view, source grouping, distance encoding with Doppler effect, and OSC-based control with optional JavaScript pre-processing, used in spatial composition, multichannel sound installation, and acousmatic concert contexts.
Holophonix
Amadeus
Holophonix is an immersive sound processor for live spatialisation, available as a hardware processor (up to 512 I/O on the Ultra model) and as Holophonix Native for macOS. It implements 13 spatialisation algorithms including Higher Order Ambisonics, Wave Field Synthesis, VBAP, VBIP, k-Nearest Neighbor, and Binaural, used in theatre, concert, museum, and broadcast contexts.
Harpex-X
Harpex Ltd
Harpex-X is a commercial plug-in implementing the Harpex parametric upmixing algorithm, which uses time-frequency analysis to estimate the directions of sound components in first-order Ambisonic and tetrahedral microphone-array recordings and resynthesises them as higher-order Ambisonic, surround, binaural, or stereo output. It is used for spatial enhancement of B-format and AmbiX recordings in post-production, VR/AR, and 360-degree video workflows.
Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation
Meta
Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation (Audio360 Suite) was a free software suite by Meta / Facebook for designing spatial audio for 360° video and cinematic VR. It included DAW plug-ins (FB360 Spatialiser, FB360 Control), a time-synchronised 360-video player, FB360 Encoder application, and a Rendering SDK for integration into VR applications. Used a hybrid binaural / Ambisonic engine with simple shoebox-room early reflections, mix-focus regions, and a custom .tbe file format originally developed by T
Envelop for Live
Envelop
Envelop for Live (E4L) is an open-source toolkit of free Max-for-Live devices for 3rd-order Ambisonic spatial-audio composition and performance inside Ableton Live. Includes the E4L Master Bus (decoder), E4L Source Panner (encoder), AuraVerb, and a custom-decoder system, plus integration with EnvelopLX for synchronised LED-lighting via ADM-OSC. Built on the ICST Ambisonics Tools, HISSTools Impulse Response Toolbox, and CNMAT odot externals.