Sennheiser Ambeo VR Ambisonic Microphone Overview
Over the last few years VR video has been going from stride to stride and now we finally have a microphone that is capable of pulling audio along with it. The Ambeo VR allows you to capture professional 3D Audio, able to immerse the listener into a whole new world of sound.
Developed in collaboration with a team of VR content producers, the Ambisonic microphone caters specifically to its target audience with fully spherical ambisonics sound.
The microphone features four matched KE 14 capsules in a tetrahedral arrangement. This gives you the ability to capture the sound that surrounds you from a single point.
Sennheiser Product Overview
The elegantly designed AMBEO VR Mic has been developed in cooperation with VR content producers and fine-tuned through an extensive creators’ program with participants from across the audio and VR communities. The mic caters exactly to the needs of VR content creators, letting you capture the experience and spirit of any location enabling the listener to be immersed as if they were there.The easy-to-use AMBEO VR Mic is an ambisonic microphone fitted with four matched KE 14 capsules in a tetrahedral arrangement. This special design allows you to capture the sound that surrounds you from a single point. As a result you get fully spherical ambisonics sound to match your VR video/spherical 360 content.
By means of the VR Creators Program Sennheiser made sure to involve the professionals of the industry in the realization of the AMBEO VR Mic right from the beginning. Thus, we developed a comprehensive product package including many well-conceived accessories that allow for a smooth workflow ¬– not least the A-B encoder software that works as a plugin, which can be seamless embedded in your post-production process.
The AMBEO VR Mic works with ambisonics, a multi- channel technique that lets you spherically capture the sound arriving from all directions, at a single point in space. For playback this representation is rendered binaurally, allowing you to virtually rotate the orientation of the perspective in all directions, horizontally and vertically. Ambisonics is also supported by all of the major post-production and playback tools on the market today. This makes ambisonics the appropriate tool for Virtual Reality and all other applications involving 3D sound and interactively controlled audio. A tool to create new worlds of sound with.
The capsules of the Sennheiser AMBEO VR Mic deliver A-format, a raw 4-channel output that has to be converted into a new set of 4 channels, the Ambisonics B-format. This is done by the specifically designed Sennheiser AMBEO A-B format converter plugin, which is available as free download for VST, AU and AAX format for your preferred Digital Audio Workstation for both PC and Mac. B-format is a W, X, Y, Z representation of the sound field around the microphone. W being the sum of all 4 capsules, whereas X, Y and Z are three virtual bi-directional microphone patterns representing front/back, left/right and up/down. Thus, any direction from the microphone can be auditioned by the listener during playback of Ambisonics B.
With its history of 70 years as a trusted and innovative company, developing top-notch professional microphones with high-quality capsules, you are entitled to expect a lot from the Sennheiser brand: reliable, robust German-engineered products. Rest assured: We deliver – and also provide excellent customer support as well as a 2-years warranty with every product.
- Dimensions: 215 x 49/25 mm (L x D)
- Frequency response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz
- Max. sound pressure level: 130 dB(A) for 1 kHz
- Transducer principle: Pre-polarized condenser microphone
- Weight: 400 g
- Microphone connector: DIN12M, use enclosed adapter cable to convert to
- 4x XLR3M Polarity: Pin1 (GND), Pin2 (+), Pin3 (-)
- Pick-up pattern: 4x cardioid, in A-format arrangement (1: front-left-up [FLU],
- 2: front-right-down [FRD], 3: back-left-down [BLD], 4: back-right-up [BRU])
- Nominal impedance: Approx. 200 Ω
- Min. terminating impedance: 1000 Ω
- Storage temperature: -20 °C to 70 °C (-4 °F to 158 °F)
- Operating temperature: -10 °C to 55 °C (14 °F to 131 °F)
- Equivalent noise level: 18 dB-A as per IEC 61672-1 / 27 dB CCIR as per CCIR 468-3
- Power supply: 4x phantom powering (P48) as per IEC 61938 (48 ± 4 V), 3.5 mA each
- Sensitivity: 31 mV/Pa (-30 dBV)
- Operating relative humidity: Max 90% at 40 °C
- Matrix reference: Center of the capsule holder
- Mixing to B-format: W = FLU + FRD + BLD + BRU / X = FLU + FRD – BLD – BRU/
- Y = FLU – FRD + BLD – BRU / Z = FLU – FRD – BLD + BRUv
- AMBEO VR Mic
- Balanced split cable 4x XLRs 3-pins
- Extension cable, 1.5m, DIN12F to DIN12M
- Rycote suspension mount
- Foam wind shield
- Proprietary A-B format Encoder, available in VST plugins (Mac OS X and Windows) and AAX plugins (Mac OS X)