TOPIC:

Hi minidsp peeps
any ideas yet on when you plan to release a minidsp unit that allows Multi sub management using the Dirac Multisub tool ?

And any ideas yet on a unit that will allow use of the new Dirac ART features.
I know Storm have exclusive rights until around October 2023, but after that the application should be "let loose in the wild" 😜😂

Do you know, for example - will it require a new unit design to run or are any of your current generation products capable of running the new application.

I think we’re all eagerly awaiting an ART statement from minidsp! 

You can do a really good multi-sub implementation though by using minidsp and MSO. Check out the tutorial and YouTube videos.

Indeed.
I use MSO and REW currently to do 4 JBL industrial 18"s in my home theatre which I use currently with a DBX Venue 360 feed into a Emotiva RMC1.
The issue is I have to add filters manually to the 360 which is a pain.
I am happy to go to a minidsp but I'd like to wait for something that does multi subs.
The new RMC1+ upgrade comes out later this year or early next. But I'm not  certain if it will include Dirac multisub or ART to begin with.
So a minidsp with Multi Sub will be a good add on to replace the Venu 360.

MSO can output everything as a biquad suitable for you to copy and paste into the minidsp. Makes set-up a little easier. 

Yes the minidsp has a major advantage over the Venu360 in this regard.
I have to actually set each filter in the Venu360 manually.
Which is time consuming and tedious.
But I might wait until the new Dirac multisub and ART-capable minidsp versions become available before I make the jump

webmst007 wrote:

But I might wait until the new Dirac multisub and ART-capable minidsp versions become available before I make the jump

This may never happen of course. Currently ART is only licensed to a single company I believe but I can't recall if the period of exclusivity is known. I have no insider knowledge but personally I won't be expecting to see this offered by any miniDSP product even remotely soon.

Dirac ART - according to the You tube videos will remain exclusive to Storm until October 2023. I actually think that's a rather astute piece of program development. It isolates the testing and first public release fault-finding and initial  optimisation processes that can be focused through a relatively small control group of users on a single platform. Nice control process rather dealing with a whole variety of platforms and users at the beginning of the ART system deployment cycle.
I suspect minidsp - like others - will need a new line of products to accommodate the additional processing requirements of Dirac ART.
Just wish we could get an idea of what the development cycle timetable looks like so in my case I could plan for my upgrades accordingly.
Cheers

You kinda hope the flex 8 or at least the flex HT, might have been designed with ART in mind.

webmst007 wrote:

Just wish we could get an idea of what the development cycle timetable looks like so in my case I could plan for my upgrades accordingly.

Info. would always be good but I'll warn you that miniDSP's usual approach is to never share any information of future plans, with the first we generally hear of new products being when their release is imminent.

Bearing in mind that no current miniDSP product even supports Dirac Live Bass Control, my guess is that we're years away from any possible product supporting ART. If indeed one ever happens. 

Well I'm more optimistic 😁😁
they are already across the live product.
So that's a great place to be right now.
 If ( and it's fairly certain Dirac ART will be a big hit) Dirac ART is a serious step forward - then all - or at least a fair few of the mainstream avr producers will want to get on board and not be left behind in 2024.
I should think it will be the same with minidsp and with such great products now and so many loyal customers - why would they not get on board with the latest technology?
I can't imagine minidsp are not already in the throws of design work to potentially incorporate Dirac Multi sub and Dirac ART at some point in new gear - probably in the middle of 2024 - at a guess.
Right now I'd settle for Muli Sub in a 4 or 8 output channel something ( XLR preferably).
😁😁💯👍🙏🙏

Ultrasonic wrote:

Bearing in mind that no current miniDSP product even supports Dirac Live Bass Control, my guess is that we're years away from any possible product supporting ART. If indeed one ever happens. 

If you watch some of the Dirac talks on ART they seem to suggest that if the device can currently handle the latest version of Dirac Live then it can handle ART. They say it’s not really anymore taxing for the hardware. I’m hopeful too this means it will come to a new or existing minidsp product soon, like the Flex HT.

asx77 wrote:

If you watch some of the Dirac talks on ART they seem to suggest that if the device can currently handle the latest version of Dirac Live then it can handle ART. They say it’s not really anymore taxing for the hardware. 

That would make sense, in that I'd expect it would be designing the filters that is the complicated part, with the filters themselves not being anything particularly different to what we've had previously. Although I could be missing something there. 

I'll happily be proved wrong but my money is still on my earlier guess though. It wasn't hardware capability that was behind this. 

I thought there is a heavier burden on the hardware to run the ART system.
of course this does not take any of the actual acoustic requirements for ART in terms of full range speakers needed ( or desirable) at least in the bed 7 ( or 5 ) layer. Then there's the question of how many subs to allow ART to really work well.
And then there's the need to fully power all those channels to provide channel material plus the ART co-optimization signal.
But I might be wrong and ART might be able to run on some of the current line up.
Wouldn't that be great 👍.
 

The suggestion was for the upcoming Flex HT rather than a current product. Although I suppose there are the 8 channel DDRC models.

From a basic hardware capability perspective it principally comes down to the number of independent input and output channels I think. But it needs to be in a form that integrates into customer's systems in a way that works. 

In the first instance I expect the principle market for ART to be on AVRs, and unless miniDSP are intending to make the leap to producing one this is part of the reason I'm not expecting this soon, and is also a reason I suspect we're yet to even see the simple Bass Control option. 

In my own system I'll add that whilst I have reasonably 'full-range' main speakers (quoted - 3 dB to 35 Hz) I high-pass filter them at 110 Hz to let my sub take over. In part this is due to being able to position my sub for better bass response but there's more too it than that, including reducing intermodulation distortion on the main speakers as well as what simply sounds best. However, I've not looked into ART enough to know whether it's essential to get the main speakers involved too or if it could just take advantage of multiple subwoofers. I suspect it could be.

Questions over exactly who may be interested in ART will also likely factor into if/when miniDSP may release a product that use it. Realistically not that many people use multiple subwoofers. I come from an audiophile rather than a home cinema background by the way, where getting most to consider even a single subwoofer is a big step!

I think the storm ART is currently only up to a certain frequency (150Hz or maybe it's 300 or 350Hz - can't remember 🤣).
so maybe full range won't happen until next year or after they've ironed out the major  links in it's operation at that range.
so for me it would do multisubs ( I use 4 in a Harmon- like array ) which would be really nice to do through either my avr( hopefully a new rmc1+ ) but more likely through a minidsp I think when it's released with that version of Dirac ( I know - born optimist me 🤣🤣😁👌😂).