Why Aro

Aro turns Ambisonic recordings into WAV files you can use: any speaker layout, Orbit Binaural for headphones, or stereo. It also converts Mid-Side, Double Mid-Side and A-format recordings. Open a file, hear it live while you aim and mix it, then write it to a WAV. What you hear is what you get.

Beta

Aro is in beta, as a standalone macOS app. A few features are shown in the app but switched off until a later beta, each with the reason. See Known Issues.

The problem Aro solves

Ambisonics captures a whole sound field, but your DAW, your room and your delivery all want speaker channels. Getting from one to the other usually means a chain of plugins and a lot of guesswork about the file's format. Aro does the decode in one place, and lets you hear the result before you commit to it.

Common scenarios:

• Decode a field recording from an Ambisonic microphone to 7.1.4 for a mix
• Turn a purchased Ambisonic library sound into 5.1, stereo or binaural
• Decode a whole folder of takes to the same layout in one go
• Audition a recording on headphones with Orbit Binaural before decoding it
• Rotate a recording so the front of the scene is where you want it
• Convert a Mid-Side interview to stereo, or an A-format recording to AmbiX

What Aro includes

• 1st to 7th order Ambisonics — multichannel WAV, 4 to 64 channels, in AmbiX, N3D or FuMa (FuMa up to 3rd order)
• 14 speaker layouts — from mono and stereo up to 9.1.6, plus Orbit Binaural for headphones
• Four decode modes — Projection, AllRAD, AllRAD max-rE and AllRAD dual-band
• Live monitoring — in stereo, Orbit Binaural or on discrete speakers, with meters for every speaker of the layout
• See the sound field — the Sphere, Map and Head views show where the sound is coming from as it plays
• Orientation — turn, tilt and roll the scene before it's decoded, heard live as you drag
• Mixer — a level and a mute for every output channel, written into the file
• LFE feed and bass management — feed the LFE from the Ambisonic bass
• Batch — decode many files in one go, each with its own settings
• Mid-Side, Double Mid-Side and A-format — convert to stereo, a speaker layout, or first-order AmbiX
• Combine — open the separate mono files of one recording as one recording
• Clean files — 16-bit, 24-bit or 32-bit float WAV, 44.1 to 96 kHz, with optional loudness normalisation and true-peak limiting to ITU-R BS.1770-5

Who Aro is for

• Sound designers who record or buy Ambisonics and need it in their DAW's layout
• Field recordists working with Ambisonic, Mid-Side or Double Mid-Side rigs
• Mixers delivering immersive formats from Ambisonic sources

Aro reads Ambisonic WAVs and Mid-Side and A-format recordings. To check ADM or IAMF masters, use Orbit or Orbit Lite.

Ready to start?

Head to Getting Started to decode your first file.