Sam H (Self Employed) asked a question.
Disappointed with Dolby's MacOS Only Development Path
Initially it looked like the recent updates to Dolby Atmos Renderer was encouraging for Windows users still waiting for a Dolby Atmos Renderer that isn't wrapped up in 3 unrequired licences for MacOS DAPS and the nonsense that is CoreAudio/Dolby Audio Bridge excuse requires more hardware and a second computer to simply begin Atmos work. Alas the latest development Dolby have put into the new version of the Renderer appears to really only serve to benefit MacOS who already have available DAPS & DAMS licencing choices and running Atmos on the same computer already comapared to Windows.
I'm all for bringing DAMS features to DAPS (especially as it's only $50) and developing it, but Windows users still cannot hope to enter Dolby Atmos Production economically like a MacOS studio can. There is simply no reason today technically, for windows users to require 2 computers and more hardware in-between them just to do Atmos and LTC when it can all be done on one machine too. We know it's possible because several DAWs include the renderer anyway on the X86 Windows platform. We also know it's trivial to connect 128 channels of audio and LTC between a DAW and other unrelated applications on the same PC too and sync to master clock with no underruns and low dsp count. Please Dolby, open the software up to Windows so we can use the higher amount of audio processing available to Windows studios now.
1. Please consider removing the 3x MacOS DAPS licences from Windows DAMS (music studios have no requirement to run 3x Macs over a network connecting to DAMS anyway) and adjust the cost to be that of MacOS DAPS at $299
2. Allow non Dolby Audio Bridge I/O on the Renderer, at the moment you appear to block this on Windows as the software starts.
3. Port the MacOS only Dolby VST plugins to Windows so users are not limited to specific DAW with native equivalents only.
Here is Windows happily routing 128 channels of audio from DAW to another DAW. No underruns, synced to the clock and well under 10% DSP load and this is simply running on an i7 laptop with a mobile processor.
I'm all for bringing DAMS features to DAPS (especially as it's only $50) and developing it, but Windows users still cannot hope to enter Dolby Atmos Production economically like a MacOS studio can. There is simply no reason today technically, for windows users to require 2 computers and more hardware in-between them just to do Atmos and LTC when it can all be done on one machine too. We know it's possible because several DAWs include the renderer anyway on the X86 Windows platform. We also know it's trivial to connect 128 channels of audio and LTC between a DAW and other unrelated applications on the same PC too and sync to master clock with no underruns and low dsp count. Please Dolby, open the software up to Windows so we can use the higher amount of audio processing available to Windows studios now.
1. Please consider removing the 3x MacOS DAPS licences from Windows DAMS (music studios have no requirement to run 3x Macs over a network connecting to DAMS anyway) and adjust the cost to be that of MacOS DAPS at $299
2. Allow non Dolby Audio Bridge I/O on the Renderer, at the moment you appear to block this on Windows as the software starts.
3. Port the MacOS only Dolby VST plugins to Windows so users are not limited to specific DAW with native equivalents only.
Here is Windows happily routing 128 channels of audio from DAW to another DAW. No underruns, synced to the clock and well under 10% DSP load and this is simply running on an i7 laptop with a mobile processor.
Thanks for the post. The soon-to-be-released Dolby Atmos Renderer will be available for purchase for PC only without additional licenses. There has been ongoing development work that is applied to both the PC and MAC versions. As your own research has shown there are possible solutions for using a DAW with the Dolby Atmos Renderer on a single PC that anyone is free to explore. This is in addition to DAWs with integrated Dolby Atmos Rendering on PC.
Best,
Adam
The bigger issue is the Dolby Renderer doesn't seem to allow virtual or ethernet-based audio servers/devices to be used and seems to only identify hardware. Obviously this matches Dolby stating PC needs a second PC and connecting hardware (officially) but this doesn't make sense when most workstation/studio level PC builds are so much more powerful than any M1 or M2 mac studio but who are allowed to run ProTools and Render on same CPU. In 2023 for Dolby to be saying you need to run 128 channels of audio out through hardware, only to loopback into the same PC for this new Renderer is rather weird when it's simply not necessary technically and hasn't been for 10 years or more.