What is the Room View?

The room is the core of spatial integration in PolySWAM. It defines the acoustic environment where your ensemble plays, so that all the instruments interact within the same, coherent physical space.

Ambiente: a room, not a reverb

PolySWAM uses Ambiente, Audio Modeling's proprietary room simulator. Unlike a standard reverb, Ambiente uses advanced spatialization techniques: every instrument interacts with the room from its own position, distance and angle. The whole ensemble sounds unified and realistic, with natural depth and stereo image. It does not simply add an effect: it virtually places your orchestra in a real environment.

Where to find the room controls

There is no separate "Room" page: the room is controlled from the STAGE page, from the Room Catalogue and from the MIX page.

On the STAGE page: the room panel

At the top left of the STAGE page, a button shows the name of the current room (for example SMALL HALL).

Click it to open the room panel:

• ABSORPTION (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): how much sound the surfaces of the room absorb. With low absorption the room is more reverberant and live; with high absorption it is drier and the sound decays quickly. Absorption gives you control over the early reflections and the length of the reverb.
• ROOM SIZES − / +: choose a smaller or a larger room, with the same absorption.
• Catalogue: opens the Room Catalogue.

On the same page you place the instruments: drag each instrument bubble to set its distance and angle from the conductor. The farther an instrument is, the more distant it sounds and the more room sound you hear with it.

The Room Catalogue

The Room Catalogue shows all the rooms in a grid: each row is a room size (from the smallest at the top to the largest at the bottom), and each column is a level of absorption (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH). Click a room to select it: the room changes immediately, so you can listen while you play. Click BACK to return.

PolySWAM has 12 room sizes, each with 3 levels of absorption: 36 rooms in all.

On the MIX page: Ambience Amount and Mic Distance

• Room button: shows the current room and opens the Room Catalogue.
• Ambience Amount (−9 dB to 0 dB): how much room sound you hear around the instruments.
• Mic Distance: the distance of the virtual microphones from the ensemble, from close to far. The larger the room, the farther the microphones can be placed.

Tip: use a larger room with low absorption for a spacious, cinematic sound, and a smaller room with higher absorption for a close, intimate sound. Use Mic Distance and Ambience Amount together to move the ensemble nearer or farther.

The room is part of the Scene

The room, the absorption, the positions of the instruments, Ambience Amount and Mic Distance are stored in the Scene. Each Scene of a preset can have its own room. When you change them, save your own Scene to keep them.