AMBEO VR Mic

VR is here, and this year has seen the release of increasingly affordable VR headsets for home consumers. If you're into VR you'll know that a lot of virtual reality products are specifically aimed at video, with very little reference to audio. So at the moment the creation of VR audio is a fiddly process to create the ambisonic sound.

This mic, however, is constructed exactly with ambisonics in mind, fitted with four matched KE 14 capsules in a tetrahedral arrangement. This special design allows you to capture surround sound from a single point. For play back the audio is rendered binaurally, allowing you to virtually rotate the orientation of the perspective in all directions. The mic has 4 XLR outputs and comes with dedicated software for you to create the mix.

What is ambisonic audio?

Ambisonics is a full-sphere surround sound technique: in addition to the horizontal plane, it covers sound sources above and below the listener.

Unlike other multichannel surround formats, its transmission channels do not carry speaker signals. Instead, they contain a speaker-independent representation of a sound field called B-format, which is then decoded to the listener's speaker setup. This extra step allows the producer to think in terms of source directions rather than loudspeaker positions, and offers the listener a considerable degree of flexibility as to the layout and number of speakers used for playback.

Ambisonics was first developed in the UK in the 1970s by the British National Research Development Corporation

How much does the AMBEO VR Mic cost?

The first AMBEO mic will RRP at $1,649.95. So better start saving up if you see your future VR audio production! For more info check the Sennheiser site here: AMBEO VR MIC