Monitoring Modes

One of Orbit's key features is the ability to quickly switch between monitoring formats. You can hear the same ADM content through 7.1.4 speakers, binaural headphones, Apple Spatial Audio, or stereo — and compare how the mix translates to each environment.

For a deeper look at Orbit's monitoring philosophy, see Playback Approach.

7.1.4 speaker monitoring

Best for validating channel mapping and room translation.

Use it to:

• Confirm beds hit the right speakers.
• Validate object localization across the room.
• Switch Bed Routing between Direct and VBAP to hear how static beds are distributed.

If you need background on 7.1.4 layouts, see Dolby Atmos speaker guidance: https://www.dolby.com/technologies/dolby-atmos/

Binaural (headphones)

Best for headphone translation and spatial intent using Orbit's built-in HRTF engine.

Use it to:

• Check front-to-back separation.
• Confirm height cues for objects.
• Select an HRTF profile from the four built-in options, or load a Custom SOFA file for personalized rendering.
• Use Head Tracking with AirPods or a selected camera (built-in or external) to keep the stage stable.

A binaural limiter is applied by default to prevent clipping on headphone output (-3 dB trim with a lookahead limiter at -1 dBTP). A gain reduction indicator is shown in the meters area, and the limiter can be bypassed if preferred.

Head tracking keeps the soundstage aligned as you move your head.

Apple Spatial Audio

Best for checking how your mix sounds through Apple's spatial audio pipeline — the same renderer used by Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, and Apple Music.

Use it to:

• Hear your ADM content through Apple's HRTF rendering.
• Compare Apple's spatial processing against Orbit's binaural engine.
• Test with personalised HRTF profiles (via iPhone ear scan) for the most accurate Apple experience.

Four sub-modes are available, selected from the Spatial Options panel in the sidebar:

• Static — Apple HRTF without head tracking (any headphones).
• Static Personalised — Uses your personal ear scan profile (any headphones).
• Head Tracking — Real-time head tracking via AirPods/Beats.
• Head Tracking Personalised — Head tracking with personalised HRTF.

Head tracking for Apple Spatial Audio is controlled by choosing a sub-mode in the sidebar settings — it is separate from the Head Tracking widget used in Binaural mode. Orbit automatically detects whether your connected headphones support head tracking and personalised HRTF, and shows only the modes available to you.

An independent volume control is provided for Apple Spatial Audio output, with a dB slider in the sidebar matching the range of the master fader (-60 to +12 dB).

96 kHz content over Bluetooth

When using Apple Spatial Audio with 96 kHz or higher sample rate content, wired headphones are recommended instead of Bluetooth for best results.

Stereo fold-down

Best for compatibility checks and quick balance decisions.

Use it to:

• Confirm essential elements remain audible.
• Catch phase and summing issues.

TIP

Switch modes at the same timeline position to compare translation.

Spatial options

• Bed Routing: Direct keeps beds locked to their speakers; VBAP pans beds for smoother spread. Applies to 7.1.4 speakers and binaural.
• HRTF (binaural only):
  • Orbit Studio: Synthesised HRTF with bass compensation and height channel balance correction. Designed for broad compatibility across headphones.
  • Orbit Reference: Diffuse-field compensated Neumann KU100 measurements from the SADIE II database. Tonally neutral, reference-grade monitoring.
  • SADIE II KU100: Raw Neumann KU100 dummy head measurements. Retains the natural KU100 tonal character.
  • SADIE II KEMAR: Raw GRAS KEMAR dummy head measurements. Retains the natural KEMAR tonal character.
  • Custom SOFA: Appears when you load a personal SOFA file via Load SOFA File.
• Load SOFA File: Import a SOFA HRTF file for personalized binaural rendering. Works with standard SOFA files from databases like CIPIC or Listen, or your own measurements.

Why the centre sounds quieter on measurement-based HRTFs

Switching from Orbit Studio to Orbit Reference, SADIE II KU100, or SADIE II KEMAR can make the centre channel sound a few dB quieter than the front L/R pair. This is real, and it's a genuine property of the underlying HRTF measurements — not a bug in Orbit's binaural renderer.

Why it happens. For an off-axis source like the front-left speaker (azimuth −30°), the ipsilateral (left) ear receives a strong, fast direct impulse and the contralateral ear gets a delayed, head-shadowed copy. The peak amplitude in that ipsilateral HRIR is quite high. For a source at the centre (azimuth 0°), both ears receive a symmetric impulse — neither ear gets the near-ear boost, so the peak amplitude in each ear is moderate. The difference shows up as an inherent level variation between front-centre and front-left/right when you measure (or compensate) a real head.

The four built-in profiles split along that line:

Profile	Source data	C vs avg(L,R) energy	C peak deficit
Orbit Studio	Synthesised, level-balanced	+0.23 dB	none
Orbit Reference	DF-compensated SADIE II D1 KU100	−0.91 dB	~1.5–2.5 dB
SADIE II KU100	Raw SADIE II D1 KU100	−0.68 dB	~4 dB
SADIE II KEMAR	Raw SADIE II D2 KEMAR	−0.74 dB	~1.5–2.5 dB

Studio is the outlier because it was synthesised to be level-balanced across all twelve speaker directions — every direction gets the same headroom. The other three are real (or diffuse-field-compensated) measurements and carry physical level variation between directions. What you're hearing on the measurement-based profiles is the authentic experience of monitoring on real studio speakers — the same level relationships, the same spatial cues, everything a dummy head would pick up sitting in the listening position of a 7.1.4 rig. The centre-shy character isn't a defect; it's how the room actually sounds at your ears.

Practical advice — pick by goal, not by genre:

• Want monitoring that replicates a real studio? Pick Orbit Reference, SADIE II KU100, or SADIE II KEMAR. These are the ideal choice when your goal is to hear on headphones what you'd hear standing in front of a 7.1.4 speaker rig — including the slightly quieter centre that any real room produces. KU100's ~4 dB peak deficit at C is the most pronounced; that profile sounds the most "I'm in the room".
• Want a level-balanced binaural feed for centre-critical QC? Pick Orbit Studio. When dialogue intelligibility, M/S balance, or anything else where a couple of dB at the centre matters is what you're judging, the synthesised level-balance gives you a flat starting point that's easier to read.
• The step in centre level when you switch between Studio and any of the measurement-based profiles is expected and won't be fixed by tweaking gain or routing — it's a feature of the underlying measurements, not a bug.

Solos & Mutes

The footer's Solos & Mutes panel lets you isolate specific audio groups for focused listening.

Content controls: Solo or mute all Bed channels or all Objects.

Speaker controls: Solo or mute specific speaker groups (L/R, Center, LFE, Surrounds, Heights).

Each tile shows real-time activity and has S (solo) and M (mute) buttons. When any group is soloed, other groups become implicitly muted (dimmed appearance).

Clear button: Resets all solos including per-object solos from the sidebar.

Master level: Horizontal fader in the header controls overall output (-60 to +12 dB). Option+click resets to 0 dB.

For detailed control descriptions, see Workspace Tour → Footer.

Solo in Pairs

Enable Setup → Solo in Pairs to solo consecutive object pairs together. When enabled:

• Clicking the solo button on object 1 solos objects 1+2.
• Clicking solo on object 2 solos objects 2+3.
• Clicking solo on object 3 solos objects 3+4.
• And so on...

This is useful for:

• Quickly comparing stereo pairs in an object-based mix.
• Checking L/R balance of object groups.
• A/B testing adjacent elements without manually toggling multiple solos.