There should be no problem simply writing 5.1 files in Csound (opcodes
permitting); all you are doing is defining (or assuming) speaker
positions, which is exactly what the new Microsoft file format does.
Extended Csound running on the "Sphinx" can output six channels. I think
decoding 5.1 does not incur any license, though the algorithm probably
need to be vetted by Dolby before it can be publicly described as such.

I agree nevertheless that Ambisonics is a more fruitful path. Richard
Elen's G-Format, which is Ambisonics pre-decoded into 5.1, could also be
an interesting path.

The Microsoft format suggests, in time, an alternative form of opcode
for Csound - instead of plain 'outq', 'outh', etc, one could define a
symbolic mapping to speaker positions,  e.g 'outh.LFE', and so on,
coupled with an optional init statement which associates speaker
assignmenmts with actual hardware output lines. This may be very useful
now that so many soundcards are standardising on 8-channel outputs.
Then, reconfiguring the hardware would not require any changes to the
Csound code. 

I have recently found another soundcard which supports multi-channel
files through a single WAVE device - the Frontier Design 'WaveCenter' -
quite cheap, too. I have more details, and links, on my website.

A Happy Christmas too everyone!

Richard Dobson

"Matt J. Ingalls" wrote:
> 
> should be able to do 8 channels.
> 
> 5.1 is owned by dolby
> plus ambisonics (Bformat) is better (WXYZ)
...
> > Support for more than four channels. Say, a 5.1 algorithm for film work and/or
> > Foley processing.
> >
>
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