Are there plans to support Windows Spatial Sound, like Atmos, DTS:X or Windows Sonic? [Do we support 5.1 and 7.1 mixes?]
TL;DR5.1 and 7.1 are already supported, and spatial formats like Atmos are being looked at, but the team still has to work out how to use height channels and handle delivery and authoring.
Yes, please.
5.1 and 7.1 are already [supported]. Spatial, it's really interesting and we're looking at it a lot. We need to work out exactly how we're going to use it, because the height channels, are we going to use them all the time or are we only going to use them in certain contexts when we want the height there? Obviously, without the height channels, you should still know to a certain degree whether it's coming from above you or below you. So things like spatial sound are going to help with that, but it shouldn't be the only way of conveying that. But yeah, it is really exciting. And I'm more excited personally about spatial sound than I am going from stereo to surround.
Well, they used to sell surround as 3D audio, right? But it's not. It's a 2D plane. So now 3D audio is actually 3D for the first time. That's cool. But for our game, our game is six degrees of freedom. Up is wherever we want up to be, right? So being limited to a flat plane of audio speakers is a limiting factor for us. So we're absolutely looking at Atmos, because it will potentially do a lot for us. Not just Atmos, other 3D sound systems are available.
It is a hugely complicated thing to unravel, delivery formats and how you listen to spatial sound and how you author spatial sound.