Raum & Klang
Spatial Audio Network Conference
23. + 24.09. 2026
Conference for Spatial Audio & Immersive Creators
Meet leading experts, pioneers and visionaries to rethink the future of immersive audio and set new creative impulses.
• Artistic research meets industry
• Cross-disciplinary dialogue across music, film, games, XR and media art
• Talks, listening sessions, deep dives, workshops and breakout discussions
• For composers, designers, developers, researchers and producers
• Local voices meet international partners
Developed by ZiMMT in partnership with the Spatial Audio Network Europe (SANE)
Program
Over two days, expect engaging expert talks, demos and listening sessions that bring together artistic practice, technological innovation and industry. RAUM+KLANG puts a strong focus on real-world use cases and practical application, while always considering the latest research and ideas shaping the field: talks meet hands-on workshops and deep dives into current tools and production methods, breakout discussions enable focused conversations between artists, developers and industry partners, and live performances demonstrate Spatial Audio in practice.
We’re looking forward to inspiring talks, lively discussions and great conversations!
The conference language is English.
23.09.
Day One
09:00 • arrival / check in / say hi
09:30 • Welcoming and Listening • ZiMMT
10:00 • Unique Approaches to Spatial Audio and New Features in LEMM3D • Martin Recker
How can spatial audio become an instrument for intuition, complexity and creative excess? Hauptmeier|Recker explore composition and live performance with LEMM3D, presenting new features and unconventional strategies from their practice. They share ways of navigating complex spatial setups and intuitive improvisation in a live-setup.
10:40 • The inside-out approach to spatial sound creation • Patryk Kizny
What happens when space and architecture become co-creators and mediators of sound? This talk explores new approaches to live performance and composition using spherical beamforming arrays such as the Singing Watermelons and IEM’s IKO. From unconventional multichannel setups and ambisonics to beamforming, Patrick Kizny reveals surprising approaches to sound creation and perception.
11:20 • Music Tech Germany: 10 years in between music business and creative industries • Claudia Schwarz
Ten years ago, the initiative MusicTech in Germany was shaped by scattered initiatives: startups without industry access, artists experimenting with tools without viable business models, and associations speaking different languages. Claudia Schwarz reflects on a decade of building bridges, what worked, what didn’t, and what it takes to bring startups, artists, established industry and policymakers together while positioning German and European players internationally.
12:00 • LUNCH BREAK
13:00 • LISTENING/HEARING – From the Acousmonium to the Object: Three Generations of Spatial Sound • Adrien Zanni
A behind-the-scenes look at LISTENING/HEARING, a listening room at the Venice Biennale featuring 60 speakers across a 3D dome, octophony, and Italy’s first acousmonium. The talk explores three approaches to spatial sound, sharing workflows, artistic choices, experiments with HOA, WFS and KNN, selected excerpts, and the experience of being both developer and artistic user of HOLOPHONIX.
13:40 • Audio Brewers: philosophy and workflows • Alejandro Cabrera
Alejandro Cabrera gives an introduction to the philosophy behind Audio Brewers and its tools for immersive mixing and production workflows. Using one of his own musical compositions, recorded in Ambisonics and mixed in 7th-Order Ambisonics (7OA) with Audio Brewers plugins, he demonstrates the practical application of these tools. He analyzes the mix step by step and showcases the possibilities for immersive performances.
14:20 • ambiX & mcfx: Open-Source Workflows for mastering complex speaker & mic arrays • Mathias Kronlachner
Since their release in 2014, the ambiX and mcfx plugins have been important tools for Ambisonics as well as loudspeaker and microphone arrays. This talk presents new features for large-scale spatial audio setups, ranging from effects processing and monitoring of complex loudspeaker installations and microphone-array recordings to network-based spatial audio jam sessions and the planning of optimised loudspeaker dome configurations. The open-source plugins are available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
15:00 • Listening Session • 4D Sound
15:30 • COFFEE BREAK
16:00 • How accurate does XR audio really need to be? Exploring the technology, psychoacoustics, and artistic potential of Audio for Extended Reality • Prof. Annika Neidhardt
Systems for Extended Reality (XR) aim to render virtual content into the user’s natural environment or seemingly modify it. This requires analysing the environment’s acoustics and rendering audio accordingly, without noticeable delay. While high physical accuracy remains challenging, how accurate does it need to be? The focus is on the technology, psychoacoustics, and artistic potential of Audio for Extended Reality.
16:40 • How room acoustics affect spatial reproduction, what technology can compensate for—and where acoustic design remains essential • Natalia Szczepanczyk / Holoplot at Sphere
Spatial audio aims to place and move sound precisely, yet the room still shapes what we hear. Drawing on experience with large-scale immersive audio projects, this talk explores how room acoustics affect spatial reproduction, how far today’s technology can compensate for challenging spaces, and where it reaches its limits. An honest look at why acoustic design still matters.
17:20 • Biggest Fan, Harshest Critic: Immersive Audio in Practice hits Reality • Martin Rieger
Which stories actually need 3D audio – and which are better served by plain stereo? Martin Rieger works format-independent and argues that immersive audio isn’t automatically the better choice. Drawing on real projects, he shows where spatial sound unlocks something stereo never could – especially for VR and immersive storytelling with head-tracking – and where it’s just expensive overhead. Honest, with real life examples focussing on headphone projects.
18:00 • DINNER & LIVE ACT
Mathias Kronlachner
Sander Saarmets
Lia Tsung-Yun
24.09.
Day Two
09:00 • arrival / checkin / say hi
09:30 • Listening Session • MIAM
10:00 • SoundJack.eu — Low-Latency Streaming for OSC, Multichannel Audio & Binauralization • Alexander Carot
SoundJack is a low-latency audio and video streaming platform, primarily used for remote music performances since 2005. Building on the evolution of spatial audio, the SANE project (Spatial Audio Network Europe) extended SoundJack with 3D audio capabilities. This talk presents two approaches to sender- and receiver-based spatial audio for binaural and speaker-based setups, and explores the challenges of low-latency spatial audio processing.
10:40 • Grapes 3D 2.0 Preview • Felix Deufel
Ahead of its official launch on October 15th, this talk offers a preview of Grapes 3D v2.0 — the next evolution of Not a Number’s spatial audio control software. Alongside a range of new features, the centerpiece is the 3D Canvas: a multipurpose interface for controlling any 3D audio system, regardless of format or setup. Built on years of real-world use across hundreds of installations worldwide, v2.0 pushes Grapes further toward becoming a universal control layer for spatial sound — flexible enough for touring rigs, fixed installations, and everything in between. Come see what’s coming before anyone else does.
11:20 • Ambrio: The World's First Spatial DJ Mixer • Nicolas Geysens
Ambrio built the world’s first DJ and performance mixer for spatial sound. To make spatial sound accessible while keeping it familiar, spatial control sits entirely in the artist’s hands, at the heart of the performance: the mixer. An all-in-one solution, it renders classic stereo inputs internally and maps them flexibly to any speaker setup, from 8.1 analogue outputs to audio-over-Ethernet. The focus: how artists want to express their music in space, hands-on and live.
12:00 • LUNCH BREAK
13:00 • Beneath the Earth: MIAM, an Immersive Arts Venue in a Former Bunker in Fribourg • Jocelyn Raphanel
13:40 • Spatial Audio Gathering • Enrico Dorigatti
Bridging technical expertise, artistic vision, philosophical takes, and practice-based scholarship in spatial audio: the Spatial Audio Gathering (SAG) experience
This talk introduces SAG (Spatial Audio Gathering), an international conference established in 2024 to bring together diverse perspectives and lines of inquiry in spatial audio. It explores how SAG’s community-oriented approach can catalyse research and creative practice within and beyond academia, while sharing insights into its origins and the work of its organising committee.
14:20 • Mazetools Botany – Sound Gardening • Jakob Gruhl
How does an experimental music tool evolve into an interactive game? In this talk, Ectoplastic co-founder Stephan Kloß traces the development of Mazetools—from its early audiovisual instruments to Botany, a multisensory plant world where music literally grows. Using the project as a case study, the talk explores how artistic research, immersive audio technologies, and game design can come together to create new ways of engaging with music, creativity, and interaction.
15:00 • Listening Session • Ambrio
An interactive demo of the world’s first DJ and performance mixer for spatial sound
15:30 • COFFEE BREAK
16:00 • Spatial Futurism - the potential of spatial sound as a creative practice at the intersection of art, technology, and society • Dr. Angela McArthur
In her talk, “Spatial Futurisms,” Dr. Angela McArthur explores how spatial sound practice can open up new perspectives on the future of art and culture. She examines how the complex and demanding approaches involved in spatial sound create space for experimentation, innovation, and alternative forms of artistic expression. Drawing on her experience leading a Master’s programme in Spatial Sound as well as her own artistic practice, she considers the potential of spatial sound art in the context of AI-driven cultural industries.
16:40 • Position Tracking and Spatial Audio • Paul Hauptmeier
Hauptmeier|Recker present a practical and artistic approach to combining position tracking, interactive sound design and spatial audio. Drawing on a current artistic production, they share the concepts, approaches and custom technical solutions developed for the project. A live demonstration during the listening slots offers a practical insight into the work and its technical setup.
17:20 • Von VBAP bis WFS: Spatial-Audio-Verfahren im Vergleich – mit Pan Immersive 4D und ACS Demo • Sebastian Oeynhausen
What are the differences between VBAP/DBAP, Higher-Order Ambisonics (HOA), and Wave Field Synthesis (WFS)? Sebastian Oeynhausen introduces the most common spatial audio techniques and explains why WFS is particularly well suited to creating a natural and realistic sound image. Using ACS and Pan Immerse 4D Audio, he will also demonstrate current WFS-based solutions in a live demo.
18:00 • END
Speakers
Alejandro Cabrera
Angela McArthur
Paul Hauptmeier
hauptmeier-recker.de
Matthias Kronlachner
Sebastian Oeynhausen
Felix Deufel
grapes-3d.com
notanumber.space
felixdeufel.net
Martin Recker
hauptmeier-recker.de
Natalia Szczepanczyk
Jakob Gruhl
Martin Rieger
Annika Neidhardt
Enrico Dorigatti
Adrien Zanni
Patrick Kizny
Nicolas Geysens
Claudia Schwarz
Prof. Dr. Alexander Carôt
Jocelyn Raphanel
Gallery
Take a look back at last year’s conference and explore a selection of talks and contributions from the programme.
You can find videos of selected talks from last year in our YouTube playlist: –> HERE
Tickets & Location
One-Day Pass:
€100,75 (regular)*
€64,00 (reduced)*
Two-Day Pass:
€150,75 (regular)*
€100,75 (reduced)*
Limited seats! *inkl. fees
Location:
ZiMMT (Zentrum für immersive Medienkunst, Musik und Technologie)
Torgauer Straße 80 / 04318 Leipzig / Germany
Sponsors & Partners
Supporters:
Partners:
