L-Acoustics L-ISA 3.0 At InfoComm 2023

L-Acoustics has announced the launch of L-ISA 3.0, a comprehensive, best-in-class immersive audio software platform for the live sound and music creation markets. Serving the live immersive audio community with the L-ISA platform since 2016, and the immersive music-creating and mixing communities with L-ISA Studio since 2021, L-Acoustics makes investing in spatial technology even easier with powerful new features in its upgraded L-ISA 3.0.

As audio professionals seek to leverage spatial audio technologies in live, professional, and consumer audio, L-ISA 3.0 mixing software makes immersive audio more accessible, delivering powerful tools that make it easier to create and automate compelling spatial audio content — live, or in the studio.

FX Engine: Changing the way we think about creating spatial audio effects.
Working dynamically in real-time has always been a core philosophy for L-ISA. The new FX Engine supercharges creativity by allowing designers to create reactive movements and trajectories of any kind — reactive to the designer and reactive to other objects within L-ISA — to create true organic movements. The powerful FX Engine includes fully customisable controls and behaviours that can be additively applied to unlimited objects, allowing even the simplest of mixes to come alive in new and complex ways.

Stereo Mapper: Supporting stereo and immersive content alike.
While an increasing number of venues around the world already possess L-ISA immersive audio configurations and 3D mixing capabilities, visiting artists may not have their content ready in an immersive format while on tour. For those artists, the new Stereo Mapper feature in L-ISA 3.0 maps existing stereo content to an immersive speaker configuration — without changing the original artist’s mix. Stereo Mapper distributes stereo content to an L-ISA configuration while conserving a similar power distribution as traditional left/right array configurations to retain the original stereo image and overall mix.

Stereo Mapper allows L-ISA venues to welcome artists who prefer to perform in stereo without the need to change their L-ISA configuration. Another benefit of Stereo Mapper is that low-frequency coverage is increased throughout the venue, reducing or even improving the stereo image while maintaining or improving low-frequency directivity. Any out-fill speakers can be time aligned to either stereo or immersive, making switching between stereo and spatial content seamless and achievable on the fly.

Sound engineers and artists who perform in venues equipped with Stereo Mapper will find it easier to step into spatial audio with a stereo-mapped mix — the new functionality makes it easy to widen one or two sound objects beyond the traditional left/right positioning. Step by step, moving up to a fully spatialised mix will be easier than ever, using Stereo Mapper as a starting point.

Snapshot Engine: More precision and control.
Whether working on a spatial mix with a laptop and headphones or mixing FOH for live productions, L-ISA 3.0 is the most simple and efficient platform to achieve high-quality, immersive audio experiences. An entirely updated Snapshot Engine provides increased granularity and scope of what can be stored in snapshots, allowing users to choose which sources are visible at any given moment in time, with features such as source processing, delay, reverb, and more. This affords unparalleled precision and control over spatial mixes for both live sound and studio applications.

Meanwhile, a powerful new Edit Mode allows users to visualise the position of audio sources in each snapshot, making it easier to follow an object’s position across the soundscape at a specific moment in time. The brand-new Preview Mode, available for both online and offline use, makes it possible to visualise the position of specific objects in different snapshots or an object’s position throughout every snapshot. If changes are needed, users can make on-the-fly adjustments in Preview Mode without any interruption or downtime.

L-ISA 3.0’s new Snapshot Engine makes it easy and intuitive for both novice and experienced users to achieve truly convincing spatial audio mixes. With its powerful real-time editing and previewing functionality, it is now easier than ever to fine-tune spatialisation settings to achieve the exact 3D audio mix you are looking for.

The L-ISA Ecosystem: Augmented audio via Mixhalo integration.
To make immersive experiences even more accessible, L-Acoustics is expanding the L‑ISA ecosystem, making it possible to install qualified third-party applications and technologies on the L-ISA Processor II. The first application to natively leverage the outstanding processing power of L-ISA is Mixhalo, the ultra-low latency networking technology that unlocks high-fidelity, augmented audio for fans at live events, which is now fully integrated into the L-ISA 3.0 platform.

Mixhalo offers audiences multi-channel audio streaming via their own phones and headphones. Fans can hear the full band mix with studio quality sound at a concert or focus on a guitar mix or drum solo. Or they could tap into a binaural mix powered by the L-ISA Processor. While at a soccer match, users can listen to a home radio broadcast or tap into a celebrity broadcast. At a conference, they can listen to a keynote speech by a foreign language interpreter. All in low latency and dynamically synced to the PA. Coupling Mixhalo with the L-ISA Processor II allows show designers to natively control Mixhalo augmented audio content directly from the processor and stream directly to mobile phones. L-Acoustics and Mixhalo will start a public Beta phase with a select number of qualified Certified Providers this month.

“As consumer audio platforms such as Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music continue to make spatial audio more ubiquitous, having the ability to create and perform in immersive is now a necessity and accessible to all — regardless of skill level or format,” explains Scott Sugden, Director of Product Management, Software & Electronics, L-Acoustics. “The new L-ISA 3.0 platform brings more value to our immersive technology platform for those who’ve chosen to use it in their venues and for those who choose to create their content with it.”

In addition to the various new functionalities in L-ISA 3.0, the L-ISA Studio desktop processor has gone from 12 outputs to 16, giving on-the-go sound designers more options for their immersive sound content.

L-ISA 3.0 functionalities are available now. Download L-ISA Studio for free.

L-ISA 3.0 will be at L-Acoustics’ InfoComm Booth #5751, and Demo Room W320.