In our roundup podcast episode 400, the last of 2019, Julian, Dan and myself shared our top picks of 2019, along with some suggestions from the community and one of Mike’s choices was the Penteo 16 Pro upmixing and downmixing plugin. and it is his Product of the year.

Back in September Perfect Surround released Penteo 16 Pro as their latest upmixing plug-in, which opened up the Penteo upmixing technology to the full range of immersive formats up to 16 channels. This includes 5.1, 7.1, Dolby Atmos up to 9.1.6, Auro 3D up to 13.1, DTSX and up to 3rd order Ambisonics. What is more, it is now both an upmix and a downmix plug-in in one interface and enables you to go from different channel counts and formats in the one plug-in.

For me, the core ethos of the Penteo range through the years from Penteo 3 to Pento 4 and then Penteo 7 and now Penteo 16, is that the design of their upmixing engine always gives an upmix that will be transparent and compatible when downmixed. There is no point in having a great sounding upmix, if when it is downmixed, it sounds crap. The reality of what we do, especially in broadcast and OTT is that our immersive mixes must work when downmixed all the way back through stereo to mono, as the majority of our audience won’t have a full surround rig to enjoy all the fruits of our labours. The downmix compatibility is one of the main reasons I like Penteo so much and then, add to that, the simple interface and an excellent natural, unforced immersive sound and you have a winner. Now can the new Penteo 16 Pro follow in the footsteps of its predecessors?

Let’s find out by starting with the new features that are in Penteo 16 Pro…

New Features In Penteo 16 Pro

• Enhanced 5.1/7.1 Surround + 16 Channel Upmixer

  • Upmix stereo to any combination of 16 channels (up to 9.1.6)

  • Upmix to 5.1 /7.1 DSP enhancements

  • New 3.0/3.1 Triangle, 6.0/6.1 formats

  • 20 new stereo to Immersive upmix formats

  • All major formats supported: Atmos, Auro3D, DTSX

  • Full Ambisonics 1st, 2nd, 3rd order support for both AmbiX and FuMa

  • Advanced overhead channel control modes make upmixing quick and easy

  • Enhancements to stereo‐to 5.1/7.1 surround upmixing

• Integrated 5.1/7.1 Downmixer

  • 5 new surround to stereo downmix formats

  • Uses same controls and interface as upmixer

• Visualizer and Controls

  • Visualizer – 2D and 3D views offer a new way to visualise the immersive mix

  • Full and Minimal sizes – frees up screen space for large sessions

  • New Session management tools help speed workflow creativity

  • New more intuitive user interface

When Penteo 3, then Penteo 4 came out, there was very little competition, but in today’s market, there are a lot more solutions around. As a result, PerfectSurround has taken this opportunity to revisit the engine, the user interface and the feature set to produce an upmix and downmix product that will meet our needs moving forward.

They have made a number of bold decisions bringing together upmixing and downmixing into one plugin, choosing to support the full range of immersive formats including, not only Dolby Atmos, but also DTSX and Auro 3D, but not satisfied with that range of supported formats, they have included support for up to 3rd order Ambisonics as well, at no extra cost.

The integration of the familiar Penteo 7, and earlier, controls, makes it much easier for existing Penteo users to get to grips with the new layout and GUI. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it comes to mind. That said, PerfectSurround has not been afraid to change things around to make it easier to use, now the plugin supports many more channels and immersive formats.

The unified format with the signal always travelling from left to right, makes it easy to understand, aided by the downmix or upmix text and arrow at the top of the main section. Simple, clean and intuitive, all things I look for in any plugin.

The visualizer is simple, but at the same time, very effective and the way the graphics interact almost shimmering gives a very useful visual representation of what is going on.

Recommending that Pro Tools users instantiate a stereo to 3rd order Ambisonics channel format is a very clever workaround to save users having to change plugins when you want more channels.

Not Enough Downmix Options?

In our exclusive review, we said… “The integrated downmixer is a brilliant addition but it’s a shame that the Downmix section doesn’t fully match the upmix formats as currently, the downmix support stops at 7.1 so it’s not possible to use the Penteo 16 Pro downmixer to downmix, for example, a Dolby Atmos 9.1.6 mix down to say 5.1 or even stereo. Let’s hope that the full range of downmix options can be added to a subsequent update.”

Not Any More - Downmix From Dolby Atmos And More

With the release of the latest version of Penteo 16 Pro, in November 2019, PerfectSurround have responded to our observations on the limited number of downmix options and have now added options enabling users to also be able to downmix from any Atmos, DTSX, Auro formats down to any other Immersive format (for example 9.1.6 to 5.1.2), or downmix to 7.1/6.1/5.1/4.0/3.0 or Stereo.

PerfectSurround told us…

Now, Penteo 16 Pro can upmix ANY format to ANY format, and downmix ANY format to ANY format between stereo and Atmos 9.1.6, switching formats on-the-fly without needing to re-initiate the plugin.  Based on our user testing, this appears to be a major time saver that will speed workflows.   

Here is a summary of the features and all the 40+ channel formats we now support with Penteo 16 Pro.

Over 40 Channel Formats Supported By Penteo 16 Pro

The integrated downmixer is a brilliant addition and the additional supported formats that PerfectSurround brought to Penteo 16 Pro with the update released in November 2019 have rounded out this excellent and very comprehensive combined upmixing and downmixing plugin

There is no doubt that in extending the Penteo Pro plugin to cover all the formats, the user interface has lost some of its simplicity, but it’s probably an oxymoron, because adding complexity will always have an impact on simplicity. That said, all the improvements far outweigh the loss of some of the simplicity and it is very clear PerfectSurround have worked very hard to maintain the simplicity and commonality with the previous versions as much as it is possible.

In conclusion, yet again PerfectSurround have taken what was already a great plugin and made it even better, but not just a bit better but a lot better. Supporting all the main immersive formats us a smart move, but adding Ambisonics was inspired. Then to add a downmixer into the mix is incredible and bringing all of these features into one plugin is absolutely the right thing to do. There are no extras, no options, no in-app purchases, you get it all-in-one plugin and to cap it off the price is very reasonable especially when you compare it to some other similar products. All in all, there is no way I cannot give Penteo 16 Pro our Expert’s Choice Award yet again.

Get The Free Trial And Try It For Yourself

As we have mentioned, it is not really possible to demonstrate what the upmixes sound like, other than to compare the downmix of the upmix with the original stereo source, which we do in our exclusive video. However, instead we would recommend that you go to the Penteo 16 Pro website and click on the Free Trial button at the top of the page to apply for a 14 day free trial and try it for yourself on content you know.

Pento 16 Pro Price And Availability

The combined Penteo 16 Pro is available now. It is priced at $499, for which you get an upmix and downmix plugin that supports the full range of immersive formats including Dolby Atmos, Auro 3D, DTSX and up to 3rd Order Ambisonics.

Penteo 16 Pro is available in AAX 64 bit format for Pro Tools as well as in VST3 format for other DAWs like Nuendo.