Dolby Atmos in Pro Tools / Windows is anybody doing it?

[Prabha]

Hi guys!

A couple of months ago I decided to implement atmos in my studio, I've been a PC guy since always (30+ years) and so far managed to record and mix quite easily with out even touching a mac with a stick.

But atmos has been quite a different story! there are so many obtacles along the way to do atmos on a PC with Pro Tools, that I'm going mad.

Dolby rederer is a no go if you intend to run it inside the same computer as PT. You can route audio inside PC using ASIO LINK but is a real hassle, has a 64 channel limit, and finally it's impossible

Atmos composer can't do delay compensation when running inside PT. so it's a discarded option

I don't want to run renderer in a second computer.

Is there any other way?

Maybe the industry standard, most expensive daw, should have an embedded renderer...


Thanks!

[Led]

Only way currently to do it with one system is using Asiolink Pro. It's not really a hassle once you set it up, but as you said limited to 64 channels.
If you don't want to use that, either hold out and hope for a native renderer to be added to Pro Tools, or switch to Mac.
Depends how much call you have for Atmos work I guess..

[deanrichard]

Try the demo for Fiedler Atmos Composer. It's a native solution that (theoretically) will let you render Atmos from within PT itself. I haven't tried it in PT, but it should work. (I'm using Reaper on Windows, and it works there. A few quirks, but it's a viable native solution.)

Originally Posted by Prabha

Hi guys!

A couple of months ago I decided to implement atmos in my studio, I've been a PC guy since always (30+ years) and so far managed to record and mix quite easily with out even touching a mac with a stick.

But atmos has been quite a different story! there are so many obtacles along the way to do atmos on a PC with Pro Tools, that I'm going mad.

Dolby rederer is a no go if you intend to run it inside the same computer as PT. You can route audio inside PC using ASIO LINK but is a real hassle, has a 64 channel limit, and finally it's impossible

Atmos composer can't do delay compensation when running inside PT. so it's a discarded option

I don't want to run renderer in a second computer.

Is there any other way?

Maybe the industry standard, most expensive daw, should have an embedded renderer...


Thanks!

[Led]

Originally Posted by deanrichard

Try the demo for Fiedler Atmos Composer. It's a native solution that (theoretically) will let you render Atmos from within PT itself. I haven't tried it in PT, but it should work. (I'm using Reaper on Windows, and it works there. A few quirks, but it's a viable native solution.)

Not so great in Pro Tools for a couple of reasons..it doesn't do delay comp for plugins, so you have to work it out yourself and offest tracks, and also inserts on audio channels are pre fader, so none of the panning or volume has any effects unless you use an aux for every track.

[deanrichard]

I have no solution for the delay compensation issues. They don't exist in Reaper, so I can't comment. I don't find the other things very confining because of how I work. One could automate everything through their panner, if desired, but that's not my method. For volume automation of bed tracks I submix to a multi-channel folder track using the Reaper surround panner and use standard DAW volume automation to a 10 channel buss track. I submix the bed tracks using the DAW, then create the Atmos bed from the buss track, with all channels panned to the proper bed location. I like that method as I can do compression, limiting, volume changes, etc. on the entire bed, much like buss FX in a stereo mix. I see it more as a change in workflow than a limitation. I like working that way for bed tracks. I set up a single Atmos panner on the bed track buss.

As for panning of objects, since they need to use their own Atmos panner to send Atmos panning data, I do use their panner. It's not as convenient as the DAW panner, but I see it not so much a limitation as a change in workflow. If desired. one can insert a pre-fader volume plugin and automate it.

Originally Posted by Led

Not so great in Pro Tools for a couple of reasons..it doesn't do delay comp for plugins, so you have to work it out yourself and offest tracks, and also inserts on audio channels are pre fader, so none of the panning or volume has any effects unless you use an aux for every track.

[Prabha]

Originally Posted by Led

Only way currently to do it with one system is using Asiolink Pro. It's not really a hassle once you set it up, but as you said limited to 64 channels.
If you don't want to use that, either hold out and hope for a native renderer to be added to Pro Tools, or switch to Mac.
Depends how much call you have for Atmos work I guess..

Hi Led, are you currently using asio link pro?
What happens with metadata?
Do you enable dolby atmos in the setup>peripherals menu?
If so, what do you do with the network connection?
Do you sync by sending a recorded wave file with SPMTE?

Thanks!

[Led]

Originally Posted by Prabha

Hi Led, are you currently using asio link pro?
What happens with metadata?
Do you enable dolby atmos in the setup>peripherals menu?
If so, what do you do with the network connection?
Do you sync by sending a recorded wave file with SPMTE?

Thanks!

Hi, yeah enable Dolby Atmos in peripherals with the same local machine you are on as the renderer host instead of over a network. Timecode you generate a mono timecode wav (there are websites you can do it on) and send it tot he renderer on object 64, which you specify in the renderer settings.
Here's a walkthrough vid I did of how I set it up..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eARw4dZ2PxU

[Prabha]

Thank you very much Led!