Yamaha and Yamaha Motor Deliver Immersive Audio Experience at Japan Mobility Show

From October 28 to November 5, 2023, Tokyo hosted the inaugural Japan Mobility Show, which brought together 475 Japanese businesses to showcase their vision of Japan’s future through vehicles and mobility. Yamaha Motor Co. and Yamaha Corporation shared a joint booth, with an Active Field Control (AFC) immersive audio installation impressing visitors throughout the event.

Organized by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, the Japan Mobility Show replaces the Tokyo Motor Show. The theme of the joint Yamaha booth was Feel The Life. Created as a theatre space to present a variety of performances, it used products by Yamaha, NEXO and Steinberg to showcase the company’s state-of-the-art ‘one stop shop’ immersive audio expertise.

The immersive sound environment was provided by Yamaha's unique, three-dimensional AFC audio technology, combined with NEXO high performance speakers and Steinberg's Nuendo DAW software. By making full use of these cutting-edge technologies, Yamaha was able to provide a new acoustic experience which fully enveloped the audience.

AFC has two different components: AFC Image is an object-based sound image system which can localize up to 128 different sounds within a space, while AFC Enhance is a sound field support system which enriches the audio experience, creating acoustic characteristics which are unique to the space.

At the Japan Mobility Show booth, AFC Image was used for the immersive audio mix and a live mix of the performances, which included live music and vehicle demonstrations. AFC Enhance was used to create the booth’s acoustic ambience and for sound source playback.

Meanwhile, Yamaha's unique Real Sound Viewing live reproduction system was also being displayed on the outer walls of the booth.

The audio content for the AFC system was created for the event by expert immersive audio composers. Nearly 30 songs were produced, including sounds for the exhibition vehicles, providing enough content for the immersive sound installation to impress visitors continually throughout the show.

The booth was equipped with a total of 28 NEXO full-range speakers and four subwoofers for the immersive reproduction. The full-range speakers were configured in two height layers. The first layer was flown at a height of approximately 3.5m and comprised three (L-C-R) arrays of five GEO M6 as the main speakers for the stage at the centre of the booth, plus 12 ID24 series (120° x 60°) surround speakers arrayed around the booth.

For the second height layer, 13 PS15-R2 ceiling speakers were flown at approximately 6m, pointing straight down. NEXO NS-1 system configuration software was used at the planning stage, to ensure that the sound pressure of each speaker was as uniform as possible.

At the back of the stage, four LS18 subwoofers were discreetly installed to deliver powerful bass. The system was powered and controlled by three NEXO NXAMP4x4 and two NXAMP4x1 multi-channel power amplifiers.

Steinberg’s Nuendo DAW was used for playback. Running on a Macintosh, its 3D panning and automation functions, including VST Multipanner, were used on each audio track to position objects and move the sound image. These were routed to the AFC Image processing engine via an AIC128-D Dante accelerator interface card, with the object operations of the audio tracks and AFC Image linked via the Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol. This created a comfortable mixing environment, enabling a large amount of sound content to be mixed within a limited time frame.

Once the audio had been mixed, the final production was created by recording the output signal. after object rendering by AFC Image. as an audio master on a separate installation of Nuendo. The recorded master was played back on two standalone Dante-compatible multitrack recorders - one main and one backup. These were synchronized to the timecode of the video system, creating an immersive environment in which video and sound were linked.

Playback of sound content and control was handled by a RIVAGE PM3 digital mixing system. Signals were processed through the channel section of the DSP-RX DSP engine and output via the Dante-networked AFC processing engine. As well as mixing, the RIVAGE PM3 handled precise acoustic adjustment for the immersive production.

AFC Image Editor software was used to control the AFC system. Depending on the content of the performance or demonstration, the mix engineers also performed real time operations, such as manipulating objects in accordance with the movements of the performers on stage.

Meanwhile, AFC Enhance was used to create a sense of acoustic realism. Using eight unidirectional microphones placed on the stage trusses, the system was turned on for a portion of the audio playback to increase the spatial expansion and realism of the sound. AFC Enhance was controlled remotely using ProVisionaire Touch Kiosk touch panel software on an iPad.

Attracting more than 30,000 visitors each day to the Yamaha booth, the Japan Mobility Show 2023 successfully demonstrated how the combination of Yamaha Group products can provide everything needed for inspiring, imaginative and engaging immersive audio experiences. From content creation and sound image control/sound field support to live mixing and output, only Yamaha can deliver all of the tools for the complete immersive experience.