Odeon 15 Features

ODEON 15 Features

The new version 15 is now released with attractive enhancements for the four different versions of ODEON.  For the history of development of the ODEON software, click here.



ODEON 15 Features

Some features are only available in certain editions.

(B)=Basics edition, (I) = Industrial edition, (A) = Auditorium edition and (C) = Combined edition

The new features in ODEON 15 include:

  • 3DGrid interpolation (I)(A)(C)
  • 3DGrid contour plots (I)(A)(C)
  • 3DGrid with optional labels on the scale bar (I)(A)(C)
  • Depth sorting of surfaces in Define Grid menu (I)(A)(C)
  • User-defined dimension units,  e.g. feet for data input and for display, rather than the default unit; metres.
  • Audio effects, for creating multiple individual signals from just a single input for impressive multi-source/signal auralization (A)(C)
  • Caption warnings in Single and Multi point response displays
  • Multi-source/signal Auralization expert (A)(C)
  • Faster Single-Point response calculations (A)(C)
  • Import of source directivity files in the CLF text format (B)(I)(A)(C)
  • Improved measurement function (B)(I)(A)(C)
  • New audio interface towards windows (B)(I)(A)(C)
  • Customizable sweep parameters (B)(I)(A)(C)
  • Improvements of measured impulse response display (B)(I)(A)(C)
  • Faster export/import of geometries generated in SketchUp (B)(I)(A)(C)
  • Extra predefined Room Acoustic Parameters added (A)(C)
  • Improved Copy/Paste functionalities for energy parameter tab sheets (B)(I)(A)(C)
  • Improved Headphone and HRTF filtering (A)(C)
  • Compatibility warnings

3DGrid Interpolation

ODEON can calculate receiver maps in a number of discrete points defined by the user in the Define grid displays.
 
In ODEON 15, an interpolated map is automatically calculated when the display is updated as if there was used an infinite number of receivers in the calculation.
 
The interpolated map is also reshaped to fit within the perimeter of the receiver surfaces used for defining the grid. The benefits are:
 
  • Faster calculations, as a decent looking map can be created with a modest number of receiver/calculation points.
  • Better looking grids due to interpolation and because the shape of the grid is not limited by the ‘pixel size’, defined by the distance between receivers which sometimes creates jig-saw shaped edges on the grid.
 
 

3DGrid contour plots 

In ODEON 15 it is possible to customize the grid display for each room acoustic parameter found in the Room Acoustics Parameter List.
 
An individual colour scale can be selected for each room acoustic parameter and it can be defined whether a smooth colour transition between the colours should be applied in that scale. If selecting a colour scale with a limited number of colours and choosing not to use colour smoothing – then in effect the interpolated colour grid will constitute a contour plot.
 
In the figure to the right, a colour file containing 20 colours is chosen along with a manual scale covering the range from 0.0 to 1.0. The above scale is easily obtained in Odeon 15 by selecting the STI_Numbers colour scale from within the Room Acoustics Parameter List, when doing so Odeon will by default set the grid scale to manual, set Min to 0.0 and Max to 1.0 and disable smoothing in the room acoustics parameter list.

3DGrid optional labels on the scale bars

When presenting mapped results of a Grid calculation it can be convenient to have explanatory labels displayed at the scale bar. Given the example of the STI parameter above it may be more convenient to have the labels BAD, POOR, FAIR, GOOD and EXCELLENT displayed instead of, or along with, numeric values ranging from 0.0 to 1.0. It is possible to create your own grid colour scale files with the desired number of colours, desired colours, labels and the range for which the labels are valid. Labels will only be displayed if using using a manual scale and the manual Min and Max values are the valid one for that scale – in this case 0.0 and 1.0.

Depth sorting of surfaces in Define Grid

In the Define Grid menu, Odeon automatically sorts surfaces by the depth of the centre of each surface (the right most coloured columns in the image to the right), so e.g. surfaces located mainly in the xy-plane will start in listed in order going from floor to the ceiling. This makes it easy to select surfaces in complex geometries if the layer information is not helping much. In particular, it makes it faster to group surfaces e.g. in stage, floor, balcony, side balcony and balcony in the image above.

User-defined dimension units

It is possible to select the preferred dimension unit to use within Odeon in the ‘Options>Program setup>Other settings>Dimension units, e.g. use feet for input and display rather than the default unit; metres. Odeon already supported importing geometries in other dimensions than metres in earlier versions.

Audio FX’s

The AudioFX (Audio Effects) tool makes it possible to create impressive multi source/signal auralizations even though only a few real recordings are available as input files. Typical cases where this is useful is for simulation of crowds e.g. many people speaking in a cantina/restaurant or a string group in a symphony orchestra, where only one or few input recordings are available for the string group.

Currently, the following Audio Fx’s are available: Change Duration, Phase Vocoder, Chorus and Spectrumizer. The main benefit of the AudioFX tool is that it can create multiple output files at once, with some predefined random variations.

Caption warnings in Single and Multi point response displays

ODEON 15 provides warnings in the caption of the Single point (A),(C) and Multi point (B),(I),(A),(C) response displays. This helps you be aware of quality of results in a calculation may be questionable, without having to check all tabs in these displays. The current warnings are if the XI (non-linearity parameter) is above 10‰ or if some parameters could not be derived in which case you may consider increasing number of late rays or extend the impulse response length.

Multi source/signal auralization expert

The Multi source/signal auralization expert makes it easy to define auralizations with multiple sources and signals without having to define jobs, convolutions and mixes. Simply apply a signal to each source that should be active in the auralization.

Faster Single Point response calculations (A)(C)

ODEON 15 implements support for SIMD (Single instruction multiple data). This allows filtering impulse responses aimed at auralization to be carried out considerably faster – the calculation speed for Single Point responses is approximately 130% higher when auralization is enabled.

Import of source directivity files in the CLF text format

ODEON 15 can import text files in the Tab(Tabulator) separated format, used for CF1 and CF2 files. The imported files will be saved in a native ODEON format. To learn about the CLF text input format, please download the CLF authoring kit at this link.

Improved measurement interface

The measurement display has been updated allowing higher customization of the measurement sweep. It is possible to adjust the slope of the spectrum beyond pink or white and specify the start and stop frequencies of the sweep. This helps to create faster measurements, while achieving sufficient signal-to-noise ratio in the octave bands of interest. Input as well as output levels can be adjusted while the measurement system is in control of the level settings, allowing better signal-to-noise ratios to be obtained.

New audio interfacing with Windows

The tool for making measurements using the sweep method has been updated. The updated method makes use of the Windows Audio Session Programmers Application Interface (WASAPI) which allows better measurement quality. This is because it bypasses the Windows Kernel Mixer thus avoiding noise from other audio devices and applications on the PC as well as the low-quality re-sampling of the Kernel Mixer – and because it allows playback/recording in Exclusive mode.

Customizable sweep parameters

The spectrum of the sweep can be adjusted by means of the slope of the sweep in dB. The neutral sweep is white, having a spectrum slope of 0 dB. For room acoustics measurements it is common to use a pink sweep, which has a slope of -3 dB (same amount of energy per octave band). Although it may seem relevant using a pink sweep in room acoustics where we are interested in octave band values – it may be meaningful to use a smaller number as there is often more noise at lower frequencies and the measurement is normally less powerful at the lowest frequencies – the default value is set to 4 dB, but can be changed in order to optimize the signal to noise at different frequencies.

Improved display of measured impulse response

A new tab with a Spectrogram graph has been added to the measured response display and the Spectrogram and the Cepstrum has been viewed.

Faster export/import of geometries generated in SketchUp

ODEON 15 ships with the new SketchUp plugin Su2Odeon 2.0. The new plugin exports geometry data in a raw format for further processing inside ODEON where it can be processed at higher speed. The new plugin is operated in exactly the same way except that it is possible to open the exported room in ODEON from within SketchUp. The new implementation has improved handling of errors in the Sketchup data and the new plugin allows defining sources and receivers from within SketchUp if so desired.

Extra predefined Room Acoustic Parameters

By default, the parameters SPL(early), SPL(late), EDT(average), T20(average), SPL(average), D50(average), C80(average), Ts(average), LF80(average) have been added. As always it is possible to customize which parameters should be displayed result displays inside Odeon, and making some parameters visible/invisible will not require results to be recalculated.

Improved Copy/Paste functionality

It has become possible to copy text directly from the Energy parameters tab in Single Point response, Multi Point response and Measured response while preserving the formatting so each number ends in the right cell if pasting into e.g. a Microsoft Excel spread sheet. If no selection was made, then CTRL+C will copy all the contents in the window (which can then be pasted into Excel using the CTRL+V shortcut), if a selection is made as in the image to the right, then ODEON will ensure that the start of the selection starts at a beginning of a line in order to avoid cells getting shifted inside e.g. Excel.

Improved Headphone and HRTF filtering

The filtering process applied when creating inverse filtering (used to compensate for imperfect frequency response of headphones) has been improved enabling optimum frequency compensation without smearing the signal too much in the time domain. The algorithms applied in order to enhance HRTF for binaural auralization, in order to achieve better externalization (out of head experience) and localization, have been improved in order to minimize undesired smearing in the time domain. The result; better externalization, better localization and more crisp representation of transient signals.

 

Compatibility warning

The ODEON software is forward compatible. This means that you may load a room that has been created in ODEON 14 (or earlier versions down to ODEON 3.0) into ODEON 15 and that ODEON will convert file formats as needed. This means that older rooms will load seamlessly into ODEON 15. It also means, however, that older versions of ODEON may no longer be able to load the room, as they will not recognize any newer file formats.

First time ODEON 15 attempts to load an old room, the user will be warned that it will no longer be compatible with older versions of ODEON. This allows making a backup copy of the room either from the Windows Explorer or using an older version of ODEON (indicated in the warning message).

ODEON 15 will give similar warnings in the future if attempting to load a room which has been loaded into a newer version of ODEON (e.g. ODEON 16). In that case, loading the newer room into ODEON 15 may damage data. ODEON 15 cannot know if the newer version has compatible file formats – the room may load into ODEON 15 without problems – but it cannot be guaranteed. Always consider seriously making a backup copy.