Meyer Sound

Unique surround-sound control using an app

How tarent’s software is bringing concert halls to life with Spacemap Go and inspiring audiences

REFERENCES

Two steps forward with intuitive spatial sound design

Situation

The fact that more than 4,000 Galileo GALAXY sound processor units have been sold demonstrates just how successful the network platform has been in the music industry. This way of networking stand-alone loudspeakers allows sound to be optimally controlled in spaces of any size – a concept also referred to as spatial sound. Spatial sound design can be a complex process. Aspects might involve ensuring, in a concert, that the listening experience is identical from every position in the auditorium or, in a play, accounting for the fact that an actor might enter the stage from the left and leave it on the right. To simplify the configuration of such factors, Meyer Sound wanted to develop an iPad app that would enable users to control and automate the spatial sound design on a “live” basis. We were brought in to act as the technological partner for the implementation of the app.

About Meyer Sound

For 40 years, Meyer Sound has been associated with sound of the highest quality along with reliable hardware. Initially founded as a manufacturer of active loudspeakers, the company’s product portfolio now extends from compact studio speakers to complete sound installations for cinemas, auditoriums, and concert halls as well as sound setups at any scale. The launch of the Galileo GALAXY network platform ushered in a new era for the company – one in which a network of speakers can be controlled and configured in different zones.

Our solution

The setup of a Galileo GALAXY network platform consists of one or more Galileo GALAXY units to which all required speakers are physically connected and thereby integrated into the network. Since the network solutions from Meyer Sound already had a development interface, there was a clear existing foundation for our development of the iPad app. The sound processor was configured either via the Compass desktop software or the Compass Go iPad app, which accesses the same interface. The collaboration involved a three-member development team from tarent together with the Meyer Sound team, consisting of designers, project managers, and technical contacts for the software development. The project team cooperated across a geographical area extending from Europe to Berkeley, California.

 

A particular challenge for the development of the Spacemap Go app involved the need to control the full range of hardware components in their different variants. Meyer Sound offers an extensive portfolio of products covering multiple generations of hardware. This meant that different communication modalities are used, a situation that was handled with great care by both parties so that the software would be able to support any relevant hardware configurations. The close cooperation between the sound engineers and team also allowed requirements to be implemented rapidly in parallel with the development process. This made the entire architecture of the app more complex, but at the same time ensured that a larger range of functions were provided than initially planned. The end result is a high-performance and intuitive iPad app.

 

Meyer Sound makes the functionality of Spacemap Go available to all users as part of their standard software. The iPad app itself will also be available free of charge. However, the release, which is planned for the end of 2020, can already be seen in an initial trial version at the off-Broadway production “Dracula and Frankenstein” in New York.

 

Spacemap Go has been and remains an exciting software project from which we’ve been able to learn a lot. We look forward with great anticipation to its release and can’t wait to revolutionize the planet’s concert halls and theaters with an app.

Key facts

  • Cross-company collaboration in globally distributed teams
  • Rapid implementation of new features
  • Native iPad app
  • Implementation of new feature requests in parallel to the development process
  • 3-person development team

Technologies

  • iOS development
  • Swift 
  • Objective C
  • C++
Statement

About the project

Timothy Krechel
Technology Consultant
tarent solutions GmbH

Spacemap Go is a fundamental component of Meyer Sound’s product road map. In a team composed of designers, developers, sound engineers, and other experts from tarent and Meyer Sound, we collaborated on the app for more than six months. In order to exploit the full potential of the client’s hardware, all parts of the team had to work together seamlessly – a particular challenge given the team’s geographical spread across multiple locations in Europe and the US. We also significantly exceeded the originally planned range of functions in a very short time by using agile methods and, with Spacemap Go, are combining large elements of previously discrete software applications within a single compact app.

Technology and experience

tarent in figures

26

years of experience

4

office locations

300 +

IT professionals

50

digitization experts

15

partners

27

parallel development projects


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