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

[chucky3042]

Well I hope they mention pre-orders here. I will be looking forward to it. Thanks for the heads up. Is there a site where one can keep track of the progress of this new album?

Not to my knowledge but we will inform QQ first here

 

[rawmacias]

Hi
Remember, you also get an Involve surround sound decoder board with the disc....try it out compared to your Sansui decoder!

Does the board decode SQ?

 

[Soundfield]

Does the board decode SQ?

No, the full function SMv2 is required for that (although I guess you could also use your Tate https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/fosgate-tate-ii-repair.26325/post-419942 ).

 

[chucky3042]

Does the board decode SQ?

Its also just 4 channel, not optioned for 5.1 (yes I hate it)

 

[rawmacias]

No, the full function SMv2 is required for that (although I guess you could also use your Tate https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/fosgate-tate-ii-repair.26325/post-419942 ).

Yeah, once I find someone here in Cali who is reputable enough to work on it. I don't want to use it till it gets checked out since I don't know what shape it is in. The guy I bought it from got it at an estate sale. He never plugged it in (good thing!) .

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Inspired by enjoying my new Surround Master v2, I was curious how discrete audio encoded to QS would compare between each of them. Although I have plenty of discrete surround music to choose from I was most interested in seeing how Suzanne Ciani’s album LIVE Quadraphonic would do. This album is well known on the forum & in it’s Involve encoded surround the premiere presentation was on 45 RPM record with an Involve decoder. I assume it was also surround encoded on Amazon, Spotify or whatever else method was used for DL’ing. Then Ciani delighted everyone when she made both a 4.0 & 5.1 versions available for free in uncompressed discrete surround. That is what I worked with. Having earlier purchased an MP3 version I was amazed to get this.

It has been determined that her discrete version to surround matrix was done with the Involve Smart Encode which features variable encoding coefficients over 3 frequency ranges. Obviously I can’t do that but I can take the discrete front & back wav files & encode into regular fixed coefficient QS. That’s what I did.

I was prepared to expect a bit of rounding or smoothing out when playing back on the SMv2. Perhaps just a bit of soundfield contraction. But honestly I cannot tell the difference one iota between the discrete & Involve decoded! The localization matches exactly to the discrete. Sounds that are sharp & quick stay that way, slower moving bass moves smoothly. This is not a case where you might demo this album to show how much better the original discrete is. It is an album to show incredibly good matrix surround through the SM v2 can be.

I will back pedal a bit now & admit I cannot simultaneously play both versions and do instant A/B comparison. But I know this music well & have auditioned all the way through & in bits & pieces. So I still stand on my judgement. If my discrete files were to go up in smoke I don't feel I would be missing anything listening to the matrix version.

 

[aludra]

Hello All.......I found this on you-tube last night...I thought I'd share

 

[aludra]

Well Crap I just saw this was posted earlier....sorry

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Well Crap I just saw this was posted earlier....sorry

If in doubt, post!

 

[chucky3042]

Inspired by enjoying my new Surround Master v2, I was curious how discrete audio encoded to QS would compare between each of them. Although I have plenty of discrete surround music to choose from I was most interested in seeing how Suzanne Ciani’s album LIVE Quadraphonic would do. This album is well known on the forum & in it’s Involve encoded surround the premiere presentation was on 45 RPM record with an Involve decoder. I assume it was also surround encoded on Amazon, Spotify or whatever else method was used for DL’ing. Then Ciani delighted everyone when she made both a 4.0 & 5.1 versions available for free in uncompressed discrete surround. That is what I worked with. Having earlier purchased an MP3 version I was amazed to get this.

It has been determined that her discrete version to surround matrix was done with the Involve Smart Encode which features variable encoding coefficients over 3 frequency ranges. Obviously I can’t do that but I can take the discrete front & back wav files & encode into regular fixed coefficient QS. That’s what I did.

I was prepared to expect a bit of rounding or smoothing out when playing back on the SMv2. Perhaps just a bit of soundfield contraction. But honestly I cannot tell the difference one iota between the discrete & Involve decoded! The localization matches exactly to the discrete. Sounds that are sharp & quick stay that way, slower moving bass moves smoothly. This is not a case where you might demo this album to show how much better the original discrete is. It is an album to show incredibly good matrix surround through the SM v2 can be.

I will back pedal a bit now & admit I cannot simultaneously play both versions and do instant A/B comparison. But I know this music well & have auditioned all the way through & in bits & pieces. So I still stand on my judgement. If my discrete files were to go up in smoke I don't feel I would be missing anything listening to the matrix version.

Yay Sonik!!!!

This is what I have said for a long while - our instant A/ B testing against the identical discreet track indicate always that no one can tell the difference (actually slight preference to the involve encode/ decode).

Love your ears!

 

[chucky3042]

NEWS FLASH!!!!

I will be picking up Suzanne Ciani for a visit to Involve tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Yay me and Dave the Bitch

 

[Sonik Wiz]

NEWS FLASH!!!!

I will be picking up Suzanne Ciani for a visit to Involve tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Yay me and Dave the Bitch

What? What?!! What??!!
Is going on?

 

[Circular Vibes]

Please try to talk her into releasing another batch ofr LPs pretty please.

 

[chucky3042]

Hi Sonik and Circular

Yep that will be one mission. The other is to give her a demo of what you can actually achieve in surround in terms of a sit anywhere environment free of the wretched center damn channel! I know when we sent all our encode stuff that we deliberately (stupidly) did not tell her what position the encode switch was QS or Involve - we let them work out what sounded better both for the stereo carrier and the resultant surround, in the end she/ they chose Involve (we checked the actually record and looked at the files). I not that some of the reviewers stated that her record was in QS or RM format......that pissed me off!

So I will give Suznne a bit of a primer on how Involve format works and what can be done with it from the recording studio point of view. An hopefully she will do another record. Hope to get you guys some pictures.

 

[chucky3042]

Hi Sonik and Circular

Yep that will be one mission. The other is to give her a demo of what you can actually achieve in surround in terms of a sit anywhere environment free of the wretched center damn channel! I know when we sent all our encode stuff that we deliberately (stupidly) did not tell her what position the encode switch was QS or Involve - we let them work out what sounded better both for the stereo carrier and the resultant surround, in the end she/ they chose Involve (we checked the actually record and looked at the files). I not that some of the reviewers stated that her record was in QS or RM format......that pissed me off!

So I will give Suznne a bit of a primer on how Involve format works and what can be done with it from the recording studio point of view. An hopefully she will do another record. Hope to get you guys some pictures.

Also work is getting close to finished with our software team in the USA who are doing final tests on the studio Involve encode software "plugin" that will issue (probably for free) Involve encode to all recording studio's. This will enable the return of pure stereo - with surround hidden within it! We are not a charity because when recordings have matrix surround in them again, guess what - they need a decoder! We would love Suzanne to push the world on this.

 

[chucky3042]

VISIT BY SUZANNE CIANI TO INVOLVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Suzanne Ciani is visiting Melbourne for a series of lectures and a performance or two this week (UK next week) and we had the great honor of spending half the day with her chatting about all things surroundy. She truly is very knowledgeable on the history and practical application of surround and like us cannot understand why you need more than 4 channels!!!!
We demonstrated many recordings via our Y4 system and I was very pleased to see that quite often she turned her head 90 degrees to focus on the surround, at one stage she rotated 180 degrees to just focus on the rear channels! One of the best moments was when we put on track 1 from one of her earlier albums "Seven waves" and she heard it in surround from the stereo mix for the first time and to my great satisfaction she reported that we decoded it as she intended and was very pleased with the presentation.

I don't want to blow future plans but suffice to say I am very confident that shortly more material will appear recorded in Involve. Suzanne is a very smart, witty and totally modest person and I really suggest you guys have a listen to her material- she has been nominated for a Grammy 5 times and is regarded as the Diva of the diode.


Chris, lil ol me, Suzanne and Dave the bitch. Yes I know I look more lIke a cross between a silver backed gorilla and Shreck

Another candid moment (Suzanne is not that small, its just she was in a man meat sandwich)

And here is the kicker getting a personally autographed copy of her Suzanne Ciani live quadraphonic album!!!!

Downstairs in the dungeon meeting Ron (hidden a bit by Suzanne) and little Max playing with our Lithium Titanate solar batteries

In short it was a great day

 

[Sonik Wiz]

VISIT BY SUZANNE CIANI TO INVOLVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Suzanne Ciani is visiting Melbourne for a series of lectures and a performance or two this week (UK next week) and we had the great honor of spending half the day with her chatting about all things surroundy. She truly is very knowledgeable on the history and practical application of surround and like us cannot understand why you need more than 4 channels!!!!
We demonstrated many recordings via our Y4 system and I was very pleased to see that quite often she turned her head 90 degrees to focus on the surround, at one stage she rotated 180 degrees to just focus on the rear channels! One of the best moments was when we put on track 1 from one of her earlier albums "Seven waves" and she heard it in surround from the stereo mix for the first time and to my great satisfaction she reported that we decoded it as she intended and was very pleased with the presentation.

I don't want to blow future plans but suffice to say I am very confident that shortly more material will appear recorded in Involve. Suzanne is a very smart, witty and totally modest person and I really suggest you guys have a listen to her material- she has been nominated for a Grammy 5 times and is regarded as the Diva of the diode.


Chris, lil ol me, Suzanne and Dave the bitch. Yes I know I look more lIke a cross between a silver backed gorilla and Shreck
View attachment 43549


Another candid moment (Suzanne is not that small, its just she was in a man meat sandwich)

View attachment 43548


And here is the kicker getting a personally autographed copy of her Suzanne Ciani live quadraphonic album!!!!
View attachment 43547


Downstairs in the dungeon meeting Ron (hidden a bit by Suzanne) and little Max playing with our Lithium Titanate solar batteries

View attachment 43546

In short it was a great day

Thanks for sharing. That seemed like avery good visit I'm glad Team Involve could get together with Suzanne.
What were you doing behind Dave's back that gave him that crazed look in the 2nd pic?

In re-checking Suzanne's wiki entry the LIVE Quadraphonic album is mentioned as being QS Regular Matrix encoded. The Involve Encoder is so different from a Sansui encoder it really needs to be referred to as Involve matrix encoding. If you click on QS Regular Matrix in the article it takes you to a page where Sansui QS & Involve is mentioned. This needs to be updated as well with a bit more detail on Involve encoding & decoding. I'm just a user I can't edit or contribute but perhaps someone else on the forum could do that?

 

[chucky3042]

Thanks for sharing. That seemed like avery good visit I'm glad Team Involve could get together with Suzanne.
What were you doing behind Dave's back that gave him that crazed look in the 2nd pic?

In re-checking Suzanne's wiki entry the LIVE Quadraphonic album is mentioned as being QS Regular Matrix encoded. The Involve Encoder is so different from a Sansui encoder it really needs to be referred to as Involve matrix encoding. If you click on QS Regular Matrix in the article it takes you to a page where Sansui QS & Involve is mentioned. This needs to be updated as well with a bit more detail on Involve encoding & decoding. I'm just a user I can't edit or contribute but perhaps someone else on the forum could do that?

Thats Dave's normal look

Yeah pissed me off that the notes say QS/ RM and yep we gotta change it

 

[Albert Dagger]

I have a Denon AVR X6400H. Should I use DTS Neural or Virtual? It does sound the same to me, and the upmix is well done, entirely discrete!
She’s going to play tomorrow night in Melbourne. I’m in.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

I have a Denon AVR X6400H. Should I use DTS Neural or Virtual? It does sound the same to me, and the upmix is well done, entirely discrete!
She’s going to play tomorrow night in Melbourne. I’m in.

I can't answer your question. Just here to say I'm damn jealous!
You mean it is on radio or streaming? Something other than a live?

I guess a couple of button pushes should sort that out. I hope to find it on line!