Atmos playback from Apple Music

[grahamsimmonds]

I just wanted to post my solution which may help some people.

I have been using Dante Virtual Sound Card up til now. To try and solve a problem with my Eucon setup, I switched to using my Thunderbolt interface with my Antelope Galaxy 32. Instantly Apple Music switched to 5.1 as it could see all 32 outputs of the Galaxy.

As soon as I switched back to Dante VSC (which has only 16 outputs) I got the full 7.1.4 Atmos output back from Apple Music.

By the way, you can force Apple Music to re-assess your outputs by going into Settings - Playback - Dolby Atmos and changing it to "Always On". Play the track and it comes out in stereo. Switch it back to Settings - Playback - Dolby Atmos - "Automatic" and there is a slight pause as it looks at what you have got. If its 16 outputs it flips back to 7.1.4 Atmos.

Another thought - I haven't tried it but I wondered if you used the Protools Audio Bridge 16 instead of Loopback, that might work?

[Goobs]

I can't confirm at the moment as I'm not home, but I'm pretty sure both the Pro Tools Audio Bridge 16 will work with this, as well as creating an aggregate device in the audio midi setup app which has 16 channels will also do the trick with making the 7.1.4 option appear.

[indeloon85]

Originally Posted by Goobs

I can't confirm at the moment as I'm not home, but I'm pretty sure both the Pro Tools Audio Bridge 16 will work with this, as well as creating an aggregate device in the audio midi setup app which has 16 channels will also do the trick with making the 7.1.4 option appear.

Confirmed that this is how I’m piping Atmos into my system. Audio bridge 16 into pro tools, setup a bed or objects and you can solo the 714 feed to your heart’s content. Many songs sound like they were just spread out further using Halo or something but check out Billy Eilish songs in Atmos. They did it properly with the Atmos spread!

[digidbizi]

HI... I Am still trying to figure out what is going on!!!

I have a 2018 Intel MacMini with a Focusrite Rednet PCIe card (older model) in a TB3 enclosure. Using this card for output in audio midi (128 channels), I can setup for 7.1.4 and playback works just fine at 7.1.4 FROM Apple Music over my Dante network. But, on my MacStudio Ultra m1, I mostly get 5.1 playback and SOMETIMES 7.1.


Go figure???

WHAT'S THE EXPLANATION????

[studioj11]

Originally Posted by indeloon85

Confirmed that this is how I’m piping Atmos into my system. Audio bridge 16 into pro tools, setup a bed or objects and you can solo the 714 feed to your heart’s content. Many songs sound like they were just spread out further using Halo or something but check out Billy Eilish songs in Atmos. They did it properly with the Atmos spread!

Cool!! would you mind sharing a screen shot of your IO setup and session view?

Do you know what would be the best way to fold this down to 7.1? (I haven't added height speakers yet). I have a MTRX Studio so I could use a fold down formula in there or do it directly in Pro Tools.... but I'm new to immersive formats and so haven't a clue how to do either really :)

Thanks for any help!

[studioj11]

Originally Posted by studioj11

Cool!! would you mind sharing a screen shot of your IO setup and session view?

Do you know what would be the best way to fold this down to 7.1? (I haven't added height speakers yet). I have a MTRX Studio so I could use a fold down formula in there or do it directly in Pro Tools.... but I'm new to immersive formats and so haven't a clue how to do either really :)

Thanks for any help!

got this mostly working by using PTAB 16 audio device in Mac OS output as suggested. And then setup 12 mono auxes in PT, and routed the discrete inputs from the PTAB bus to each channel and feeding them to a single 7.1.4 bus aux. So I'm getting my Rear Surrounds now out of Apple Music.
But no height signal is coming into the Height channels in PT. Even though I don't have height outputs, I should be seeing signal coming in I think? As long as Audio MIDI setup is set to 7.1.4?

Also, maybe it's psychoacoustic, but does it not sound as good as when I was using the MTRX Studio audio device and listening in 5.1? I mean PTAB is still outputting through the MTRX of course, but I feel like I'm hearing some additional compression.