Ambisonic file type (1,0)
Malham notation: ‘h’

Index page
Glossary

The term file used on this page
can equally well mean stream (for
streaming Web applications), &hellip or
just the ensemble of jack leads transferring
data in studio usage.

This is the simplest possible ambisonic file. It has three channels (one more than stereo). When reproduced it gives a pantophonic (two-dimensional) soundfield —that is, as in stereo there is no ‘height’ information.

Notation

(1,0)

Malham notation: ‘h’.

Channel count

Number of channels present: 3

Identity of the channels present

The former names for these channels are W, Y and X.

What degrees are present?

0		all channels full periphony		(ACN 0)
1		pantophony only		(ACNs 1 3)

A note on nomenclature

The old WXYZ… notation was very practicable. However extending it beyond third-order would have been difficult, and beyond fourth-order impossible (the alphabet would have been exhausted). Also setting an sequence/order for the channels is problematic. De facto standards had grown up which were both convenient and intuitive for lower orders. Extending the system for higher orders was not practicable … and the human intuitive system is illogical for data processing.
Full details of ambisonic channels numbers (ACNs) appear elsewhere on this site.

Malham notation is again incredibly convenient for lower order material. It is though cumbersome (and/or easy to mis-read) for high order material. For example ‘ffffffhhhh’. This could be resolved by writing ‘f⁶h⁴’ … ?
There is certainly no reason not to retain it (and it is used in this page's title (and -for convenience(!)- in this page's web address)). However for data-processing the (H,V) array format is easier, and -perhaps- for high orders less prone to human error.