TASCAR (Toolbox for Acoustic Scene Creation and Rendering) is a research toolkit for rendering virtual acoustic environments.
TASCAR is provided under GNU GPL v2. https://github.com/HoerTech-gGmbH/tascar
Research
TASCAR is being developed in co-operation with University of Oldenburg. It is the core rendering software for the Gesture Lab and the 3D Virtual Reality Lab at UOL. HTCH and UOL cooperate closely in the domains of virtual reality reproduction and behavioural interaction studies.
References:
- Grimm, Giso; Luberadzka, Joanna; Hohmann, Volker. A Toolbox for Rendering Virtual Acoustic Environments in the Context of Audiology.Acta Acustica united with Acustica, Volume 105, Number 3, May/June 2019, pp. 566-578(13), doi:10.3813/AAA.919337
- G. Grimm, J. Luberadzka, T. Herzke, and V. Hohmann. Toolbox for acoustic scene creation and rendering (tascar): Render methods and research applications. In F. Neumann, editor, Proceedings of the Linux Audio Conference, Mainz, Germany, 2015. Johannes-Gutenberg Universitat Mainz.
- G. Grimm, B. Kollmeier, and V. Hohmann. Spatial acoustic scenarios in multi-channel loudspeaker systems for hearing aid evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 27(7):557–566, 2016.
- G. Grimm, J. Luberadzka, and V. Hohmann. Virtual acoustic environments for comprehensive evaluation of model based hearing devices. International Journal of Audiology, 2016.
Technology
Moving sound sources are simulated physically correct; air absorption and Doppler effect are taken into account. A mirror sound source model with simple reflection parameters enables static and dynamic moving reflectors. The simulation takes place in real time in the time domain and thus enables interactive positioning of objects, e.g. control of the listener position via body motion trackers. The output signal can be reproduced in Higher-Order Ambisonics (HOA), Vector-Base Amplitude Panning (VBAP) or binaural via headphones. Generic or individual HRTFs can be used for binaural output.
An interface for synchronization with video sources or interactive computer graphics is available via Open Sound Control (OSC). In principle, there are possibilities to connect to the Blender game engine.
The software only runs under Linux operating systems.
Installation
In Ubuntu 18.04 (bionic):
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys B7D6CDF547DA4ABD
sudo apt-add-repository 'deb http://apt.hoertech.de/ bionic universe'
In Ubuntu 16.04 (xenial):
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys B7D6CDF547DA4ABD
sudo apt-add-repository 'deb http://apt.hoertech.de/ xenial universe'
In all systems, use
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tascarpro
install.tascar.org
for installation.