14 DAY TRIAL // When it comes to 3D sound, all engineers become a bit nervous... and not because 3D is something to be nervous about, but because the proper manipulation of the 3D/surround field is a task which requires both a large amount of work and a lot of careful precision, much like surgery (in case you are after some serious 3D sound processing).
Now it has all become easier as a new piece of hardware emerges and will soon be on the shelves: the Surround Microphone. SoundField announced the imminent release of the SPS200 software driven microphone, one of the most interesting sound capturing devices around. This new technology will allow you to have your sound captured in 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 configurations as well as in extended stereo modes while being also able to vary the polar pickup of the capsules.
Yes, capsules, because it has 4 of them, looking like some sort of technological flower: it supports 360-rotation moves and 45-degree tilts so there's almost no limits you can't reach with this piece of gear. The SPS200 will give you the same quality in your recordings as a studio mic would: the 4 capsules are low-noise, condenser, studio-grade items, running on 48V phantom power and offering balanced line level XLR connectivity.
You don't need any hardware controller for the SoundField SPS200 as its operation relies solely on software resources, no matter if it's about decoding, converting between various formats or simple manipulation of the audio data - all running in perfect compliance with both Mac and PC, ProTools and major DAWs like Cubase, Nuendo or Soundscape.
A very cool feature permits the user to run the SPS200 in both the normal upright position and in the suspended position as well; just hit the Invert switch in your software application and the mic will retain the 3D acoustic perspective. The definite breakthrough is the zoom function allowing you to actually get closer to a sound source without moving the mic one inch. Imagine how many great-sounding effects can be achieved with almost no effort at all!
Still, the price hasn't been announced but is due soon. Stay put on SoundField and Softpedia for further data on the SPS200.