Sound Magic allows for interactive music

January 2013 – A new exhibitor at NAMM 2013 was Sound Magic. The software company has developed an interactive 3D music program that allows for on-demand spacial placement of tracks and sounds on a virtual stage to create a custom playback perfomance. Using a multi-track (4 track) source that is nominally from Cubase software, at this time, the system has a graphic for a stage, and you can place the track sound images anywhere on the stage. The software adjust the phase and time delay resposne accordingly, allowing you to shift left and right positon as well as forward and back.

Designed for headphone use, and assuming a single planar sound response, the software is fairly intuitive and easy to use. The Windows and Cubase based release will soon be met with a Mac version (OSx) and support multi-track tools such as Logic and Sonar. To allow foro further customization, there is a pre-amp mode that lets you adjust the signal coming from each track.

The software supports the mix volume for the total sound. The tracks can be live or synthesized. For live sound, the system supports up to 24b/96K sample rates and a 3 microphone mixer control. For systems that do not have multi-track data, you can import into the tools for for multi-track separation.

The outputs of the software incorporate a DRM for the results protectioni if desired. The software is available as a download from their web site, as is thier developer kits for content creators. The development kit is targeted at both music creators and special features for video game sound track content creation and in plane sound placement.