Project 2: Sound Dome

ZKM Kubus, Quadrature 2018

Centralized Spatialization

"The Octopus and the 64 Dwarves"

A project using a centralized loudspeaker system and spatialization algorithms, in this case VBAP and/or HOA within ZKM's Zirkonium.

We will introduce Zirkonium via a prepared workshop:

https://class.danomatika.com/workshops/zirkonium

Assignment

Develop a live or pre-rendered spatialized piece of 3-5 minutes in duration using the ZKM Zirkonium software and your composition / performance environment of choice. You can render and import audio files and send live audio into Zirkonium while composing, however the focus for this project should be on prepared audio. Think beyond "speakers" and "panning" and into rhythm, timbre, and movement. Consider long, slow movement as well as short, intense sounds. Approach the sound dome and the room as an instrument in itself.

Note: This will require access to a multi-channel environment, ie. booking time in whatever studios are available with a minimum of a quad setup as well as creating an appropriate speaker setup file for Zirkonium.

For final Project 2 playback, please bring the project in a single folder named firstname_lastname and ready to copy onto another computer via external drive or AirDrop. (See next section.)

Zirkonium Project Layout

When working with Zirkonium, you can add project files from multiple locations on your computer, however it is best to create a folder with your project's name containing:

• Zirkonium project file, ie. *.zirk
• required audio files
• any special speaker setup XML files

This approach ensures that you can easily copy and run the project on other computers.

Note: Zirkonium can also create this structure for you by File->Archive.

Group Movement

Groups can be useful in moving IDs relative to each other. For instance, the following example has two groups:

• translate: master 1, members 2 - 6
• rotate: master 7, members 8 - 12

group-example.zirk

In this case, masters 1 and 7 could be dummies without actual audio while all members are the respective sounds sources. Moving the members could be used as a cheap way to approximate a moving listening position. Rotation is unfortunate currently a separate group type, so a second group is created here for rotating the audio scene perceptually.

There may be better ways to do this, an exercise left to the reader.

MUT 206 Speaker Layout

If anyone is working in MUT 206, this is the speaker layout as of May 2026, estimated in meters:

Zirkonium3 speaker setup files:

• 7 channel 2D XML
• 7 channel 3D XML