The Yamaha AFC system for studying and calibrating location acoustics has recently been updated with the launch of its fourth version, which includes AFC Enhance and AFC Image. Let’s take a closer look at the features of this update, thanks to an interview with the Yamaha Project Manager Wouter Verkuijl
Yamaha has announced the launch of the new version of Active Field Control (AFC), with updates both in the purely acoustic area (AFC Enhance) and in the image control system (AFC Image). Since 1969 Yamaha has been dedicated to acoustic consultancy and the design of listening environments, with the aim of finding the right balance between artist, audience and environment.
The Active Field Control (AFC) immersive audio system was born in 1985 in response to the growing diversification of venues and the need to host a wider range of events. Since then, AFC has gone on to refine more and more, with features constantly being improved to be increasingly able to change the acoustic response of a space at the touch of a button. “With this update” – says Yamaha Project Manager Wouter “Tony” Verkuijl – “we enter the fourth generation of AFC, more powerful and open to a new dimension. The idea is that the perfect sound in an environment can be obtained not only with expensive and not always practicable architectural interventions, but also thanks to a software-based system, which can also be managed directly from the Yamaha consoles. With AFC it’s possible to increase the reverberation time, which makes the difference, for example, between a concert hall – which requires a long reverb – and a cinema screening room. The same environments can be modulated according to the needs of the individual event, all in favor of better listening.”
AFC Enhance/AFC Image
AFC Enhance is the part of the system most explicitly dedicated to audio: it controls the reverberation of a space, taking advantage of the natural acoustic properties of the existing structure, and controls the propagation of sound within the space, so that the reverberation and volume can be altered while maintaining the natural sounds of musical instruments and voices.
AFC Image, on the other hand, allows users to control the perceived positions of acoustic images within a space. Immersive systems, moreover, allow you to position and move acoustic images wherever they are needed to produce the desired effect regardless of the position of the listener. Among the features of AFC Image, we particularly highlight the speaker zoning function, which assigns object sounds only to the desired speakers within the system, and the binaural output which allows users to experience the sound in headphones. Systems can be built to customer needs, allowing for easy integration of DAWs, mixers, tracking systems, and other third-party hardware and software.
“In practice” – concludes “Tony” Verkuijl – “the fourth generation AFC system is based on the microphone capture of the audio of an environment, in all its parts. The sound is then processed (the processor is the heart of the system) and at the end with the speakers and with filters it’s possible to achieve what, otherwise, it would be necessary to achieve with architecture: structuring the acoustics of an environment as needed, with a simple button. Each room can save different presets for as many types of acoustics, to be used later in its events. Finally, it’s also possible to ‘export’ acoustic models of famous rooms to use them if necessary also in other locations, to obtain the best effects.”
In short, a wide spectrum of knowledge and experience forms the backbone of AFC. Its’ continued development and growth hinges on the expertise and support from Yamaha group businesses such as Steinberg and NEXO. The Yamaha group alliance enables close collaboration between experts in a variety of related fields, driving innovation and development that keep AFC and other technologies way ahead of the curve.
