Getting Started With ICST Ambisonics Plugins in Reaper

  • 2026-03-08
  • 2-minute read

Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) Zurich University of the Arts

Getting Started with ICST Ambisonics Plugins in Reaper

For whom: Level: Beginner | Audience: Composer, Student, Studio Assistant.

This page is the compact onboarding version of the full docs workflow: Step by Step Setup. Use this guide to get running fast, then use the docs page as technical reference.

Who this is for

  • Composers who want a reliable first Ambisonics session.
  • Students who need a clear practical entry point.
  • Technicians who need a repeatable setup baseline.

What you will achieve

By the end, you will have a working Reaper project with source routing, AmbiEncoder control, and a basic monitoring check.

Prerequisites

  • Reaper installed and running.
  • ICST Ambisonics Plugins installed.
  • Recommended Reaper extensions installed (SWS and ReaPack).
  • Basic understanding of tracks, buses, and plugin inserts.

Session baseline (from the docs setup)

Use 64 channels as default on all Ambisonics-related tracks and check routing at each step.

Workflow phases (onboarding view)

Use this page to understand the structure before hands-on execution:

  1. Monitoring backbone: Decoder + Bformat-Master + speaker preset.
  2. Parallel listening: add binaural path for headphone validation.
  3. Source layer: start with one MonoEncoder source and verify routing.
  4. Motion layer: record first movement and validate automation readback.
  5. Output layer: render from Bformat-Master in multichannel format.

Hands-on checklist (execution)

For the exact click-by-click sequence, use:

Typical first errors (and where to debug)

  • Wrong bus assignment (Source -> Bformat-Master -> Decoder chain broken).
  • Binaural track fed from wrong source.
  • Non-64-channel track in the signal path.
  • OSC port mismatch when external control is enabled.

Next steps

tutorialreaperambiencodergetting-startedworkflow