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Updated 14 Oct 2026 · 2 min read

What's New ​

Orbit Lite 1.2 ​

Orbit Lite 1.2 is a big step up — IAMF playback (with video), custom speaker layouts, and a new engine under the hood.

New features ​

  • IAMF / Eclipsa playback — Orbit Lite now opens and plays IAMF files (.iamf and IAMF-wrapped .mp4) alongside ADM BWF. The file picker accepts both, drag-and-drop works the same, and every monitoring mode (7.1.4, Binaural, Stereo, Apple Spatial) renders IAMF correctly.
  • IAMF video playback — open an IAMF / Eclipsa Audio MP4 that carries a video track and the picture plays in sync with the spatial audio.
  • New welcome screen — a redesigned launch screen, just like Orbit's, with quick actions and a Recent files list. See Getting Started.
  • Full-screen player — a distraction-free full-screen view with a floating transport bar (play/pause, scrub, master volume, monitoring mode) that auto-hides after 2.5 seconds. See Getting Started.
  • Custom speaker layouts (OSLS) — describe any rig in an .osls file and Orbit Lite will output to it, plus a full set of built-in layouts. Capped at 24 channels in Lite. See Output Routing.
  • Output routing matrix — the same matrix patcher from Orbit is now in Orbit Lite for mapping speakers to device outputs.
  • Sample-rate mismatch warning — when the audio device rate differs from the file's, a banner offers a one-click Match device to file. See Sample-rate matching.
  • Ambisonics / scene-based (HOA) solo — a third solo button joins Bed and Obj when a file contains Ambisonics (ADM BS.2076-3 HOA) or scene-based audio (IAMF). Shortcut 3; 0 clears all solos.

Improvements ​

  • New OrbitCore 1.8 engine — Orbit Lite now runs on OrbitCore 1.8.x, the latest version of the shared Orbit Spatial audio engine, powering IAMF, the sample-rate banner and HOA solo.
  • Format-aware throughout — buttons, menus and labels read in IAMF terminology for IAMF files and ADM terminology for ADM files.
  • Smoother meters and playhead — the meters and timeline cursor no longer freeze while you drag the volume slider or hold a menu open.
  • Lighter idle load — the app uses a new event-driven engine surface for transport, sample-rate and limiter readings, doing less work each frame.

Bug fixes ​

  • macOS 26 waveform-cache crash — reading the waveform cache no longer trips a stricter alignment check on newer macOS.
  • Solo buttons now solo — Bed and Obj solo previously did nothing; both now correctly isolate their audio elements.

Orbit Spatial® is a registered trademark of South Loop Studios. All rights reserved.