First Album release in Involve Quad format: Suzanne Ciani Live Quadraphonic

[zabble]

a most successful experiment, there's a few old Quad records I can't get my hands on either!
i shall download and be damned!
Apple will probably think my accounts been hacked its so long since i last used iTunes! here goes nuttin'..!

I'm with you on this. I expect the mp3 will be an interim purchase. Better safe than not. Of course I want this in
full fidelity, but I already own a Surround Master and can't justify buying the whole combo.

 

[chucky3042]

Dear All

We just received our 5 copies of Suzanne Ciani record and all I can say is WOW great presentation and great concept design (OK I am biased .....blah blah). Here is a photo of the package. The rectangular thing in the top of the package is our decoder!!!

YAY!

 

[fredblue]

Dear All

We just received our 5 copies of Suzanne Ciani record and all I can say is WOW great presentation and great concept design (OK I am biased .....blah blah). Here is a photo of the package. The rectangular thing in the top of the package is our decoder!!!

YAY!

congratulations!
the package does indeed look very tasty, however if you can find a way for an existing Surround Master owning pleb (that's moi) who doesn't want to purchase the whole kit n caboodle but would like to buy either the vinyl separately or a Hi-Res/Lossless digital download offering (also moi) that would be amazeballs!
thanking you in advances

 

[Sonik Wiz]

I thought this was pretty cool:
https://www.facebook.com/sevwave/photos/a.10151212217572651/10155235042812651/?type=3

 

[François]

 

[johnestan]

Whats the difference functionality wise between the Surround Master V1 and the demo board included with this release?

 

[chucky3042]

Whats the difference functionality wise between the Surround Master V1 and the demo board included with this release?

The SM V1 decodes the center channel and you have an option of either 2 channel surround OR SQ decode. And you don't get the shitty plastic box. Sonically the 4 channel decode is identical....same circuitry. For around $200 its really is exceptional value....if any are available (we have 5 left ourselves).

Regards

Chucky

 

[fredblue]

interesting to see Mr.Techmoan say he is in the process of setting up a Quad system, just that its taking some time/he's having a lot of bother with it. i hope he uses the Involve decoder he got with his Suzanne Cianni record rather than whatever decoding the old wood-cheeked receiver thing he picked up off the floor in the video is capable of doing or he may be underwhelmed..

 

[François]

Check out the top comment on the YouTube page ! Particularly this:

for those wanting an SACD, Blu-Ray, DVD-A or other physical format, we have no intention on releasing (or even making more vinyl of this release, for that matter). In fact, if you'd like to make your own, you all can download the masters at http://bit.ly/livequadraphonic

 

[~dave~~wave~]

Check out the top comment on the YouTube page ! Particularly this:

Wow, good work, Fançois!
Merci Beaucoup!

Listening now in 4.0 FLAC!

 

[Jerfo]

Check out the top comment on the YouTube page ! Particularly this:

Wow! How cool is this? I bought the MP3 version off of Amazon a few weeks ago and assumed that it would be the best that I could get. I definitely wasn't expecting to be handed a discrete version or even an uncompressed matrixed version.

I've done some very informal A-B testing between the discrete and matrixed version (through my Surround Master). It's pretty remarkable how little difference I'm hearing between the two.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Wow, good work, Fançois!
Merci Beaucoup!

Listening now in 4.0 FLAC!




View attachment 35586

Magnifique to Francois! Great catch.

To Dave Wave:
I have DL'ed the files. Opening in multi-track Audition I get only the two stereo tracks. Same for Audacity. Could you please tell me how you opened & appended all the multi-channel tracks?

Thank you!

 

[~dave~~wave~]

Drill down to the Discrete folder to download either FLAC (990 MB) or wave (2 GB) quads.
(The 5.1 files merely have two muted channels like a quad SACD)

Very generous of KamranV to share these files.
I suggest any of us who download the hi-res be sure to pay for the mp3 to support him a bit in his laudable efforts on behalf of quad.
$5.99 at either of the links in the first post of this thread from iTunes or Amazon.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/live-quadraphonic/1380954771
https://www.amazon.com/Live-Quadraphonic-Suzanne-Ciani/dp/B07CVK7SB8

- for those wanting an SACD, Blu-Ray, DVD-A or other physical format, we have no intention on releasing (or even making more vinyl of this release, for that matter).
In fact, if you'd like to make your own, you all can download the masters at http://bit.ly/livequadraphonic
...I have discrete masters and all kinds of different formats up there for you to burn/play from.

Of course, we would love for you to also buy the vinyl and/or listen on Spotify or whatever you prefer so that we can break even and maybe even get paid a little bit for our work.
You decide.

 

[~dave~~wave~]

Wow! How cool is this? I bought the MP3 version off of Amazon a few weeks ago and assumed that it would be the best that I could get. I definitely wasn't expecting to be handed a discrete version or even an uncompressed matrixed version.

I've done some very informal A-B testing between the discrete and matrixed version (through my Surround Master). It's pretty remarkable how little difference I'm hearing between the two.

I agree, even in DPL II the SM encoding is amazing.

For the record, here's the full text of KamranV's comments on the YouTube link.
Toward the bottom, he gives mega props to Involve Audio, "really the best out there."
(and suggested settings for quad decoding with Pro Logic II)

-------------------------------------

YouTube full text:


Hi Everyone.
Thank you so much for the enthusiasm and keen feedback on our project and big Thank you to Techmoan for the very thorough review of our work. I
t is truly an honor for this to have happened.
As the person who made the thing, I figure I'd send some notes based on the comments.

This project is academic.
When I met Suzanne (who as been working in spatial sound since the 60s), I realized the opportunity to collaborate with her as we fast approach a completely immersive digital world (VR, etc).
Unlike the 70s when quad really made its big push, the technology to create and enjoy is now much more sophisticated and much less expensive.
All of the other incredible immersive audio tech out there like Atmos, DTS-X, and high-order ambisonics is incredible and quite a huge positive step forward however what I realized is the reason why quad and even 5.1 music didn't quite hit was it was actually a creative issue.
With todays new formats it is very expensive to create; just the speakers and outputs, alone.
Relatively speaking, it was the same with quad in the 70s.
Think of it. Even in homes, people have so many more speakers: Sonos, Alexa, Computers, Bluetooth speakers, twenty sets of earbuds.
In the 70s, if you had one set of speakers and one of those little white single-ear earphone things you were the coolest kid on the block and hosting parties every night.

The creation tools were even more rare and expensive back then.
With quad today, not only is it fairly inexpensive to add a couple of speakers to some extra outputs on a DAW but more importantly its a hell of a lot easier for a musician or producer to get their brain around writing music in quad... even easier than in 5.1.
Try it. You'll be surprised.
With today's tools once you can create in quad, you can pretty easily render your work all the way out to the object-based formats like Atmos.
Think of it like having a vector graphic on your computer then all of a sudden having more pixels to work with on your monitor... more resolution!
Of course the other cool thing about Regular Matrix/QS/DLPII/Involve is it can easily be distributed through any existing format: Streaming, Download, Vinyl, Cassette, Youtube, Radio, whatever...

The goal of our release LIVE Quadraphonic is to a) pay respect to a true innovator: Suzanne Ciani. b) Inspire others fearlessly create in spatial audio.
c) make this immersive audio better... generally VR sound isn't great right now and the problem isn't technical, it is creative.
Not enough people are practicing spatial sound creation. Go forth.

Other notes: - why vinyl? because its such a purely analog format that people understand, it very nicely illustrates the unique possibilities of matrixed spatial audio.
Plus it looks cool. - I worked on this project for about two years.
One big part of that was research. I worked with folks from France, Japan, Australia and the US (all thanked on the record) to make this possible.

Though its not perfect, I decided on Regular Matrix (QS) because of its excellent balance of quality, compatibility and accessibility.
There are other ways to do quad or other spatial formats but in my opinion Regular Matrix (QS) has the best balance between these factors.
Also, the Regular Matrix math is public domain.
You can listen through any existing distribution channel. It sounds incredible without much hassle.

- Regarding the price. When we sell out of all of these we will be at break even for the project.
We had hard costs of ~$50k to make it happen.
The $227 and 227 copies for sale happened to work out close enough to $50k and the model number of the quadraphonic mixer on Suzanne's Buchla is the 227.
Fun, right?
We tried to keep this as inexpensive as possible. -
The goal of this isn't to sell a bunch of records or be everything to everyone. It is to inspire (see above).
I personally hand numbered each record.
Suzanne signed letters for each person and you'd be surprised how much work it is to make sure numbers in four places of the release are to assemble properly.
The record is available on all streaming services too.

You can easily use your vintage QS/Regular Matrix decoder,
Pro Logic II decoder in music mode (i like dimension setting -2 or -3, depending on the music),
our encoder or the Involve Audio decoder (its really the best out there).

- for those wanting an SACD, Blu-Ray, DVD-A or other physical format, we have no intention on releasing (or even making more vinyl of this release, for that matter).
In fact, if you'd like to make your own, you all can download the masters at http://bit.ly/livequadraphonic
...I have discrete masters and all kinds of different formats up there for you to burn/play from.
Of course, we would love for you to also buy the vinyl and/or listen on Spotify or whatever you prefer so that we can break even and maybe even get paid a little bit for our work. You decide.

- In making this record, we learned a lot so we're currently working on a FREE real-time plugin so that anyone can MUCH more easily make a Quadraphonic vinyl, streams, live broadcasts, cassettes or whatever.
We don't know when it will be done yet but you can sign up here and we'll let you know when it is: http://cykik.com/quad
-KamranV

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Drill down to the Discrete folder to download either FLAC (990 MB) or wave (2 GB) quads.
(The 5.1 files merely have two muted channels like a quad SACD)

I should have mentioned earlier that I did go to the discrete folder & download 11 tracks from there. However I did not see a choice for FLAC or WAV so I will check again later. Thank you for the reply.

I agree with the comment that if you download for free go and buy the music on Amazon/whatever to show support. I will definitely do that.

 

[Jerfo]

I should have mentioned earlier that I did go to the discrete folder & download 11 tracks from there. However I did not see a choice for FLAC or WAV so I will check again later. Thank you for the reply.

Could you double-check that you were in the Discrete folder? That folder only has six files in it:

The first two files are only the discrete fronts and rears, respectively. The third and fourth files are 5.1 mixes in FLAC and WAV format. The last two files are the quad mixes, also in FLAC and WAV format.

 

[bevergerner]

Hi,
I´m interested to buy a set - where is it possible.

Thanks for your informations

 

[Soundfield]

Hi,
I´m interested to buy a set - where is it possible.

Thanks for your informations

The vinyl was only available from:

http://www.cykik.com/quad/ciani

and only in the US, as the website says - "Unfortunately we can only make this available to people in the USA." So for those of us in Europe, the only option is the download discussed in the previous posts.

 

[chucky3042]

Hi,
I´m interested to buy a set - where is it possible.

Thanks for your informations

If you cannot get one , we have 5 sets in Australia

 

[bevergerner]

If you cannot get one , we have 5 sets in Australia

thanks - I have sent you a message here