Out of the explosion of interest in spatial and multichannel mixing formats, PerfectSurround has ‘upmixed’ their Penteo line from the singular Penteo 16 Pro to a trifecta of software offerings by adding two more, the Penteo 360 and Penteo 16 Pro+. There are now 3 stunning options available to help you deliver anything from LoRo, binaural, Facebook360 and YouTube360 to surround, Atmos, Auro3D and DTSX. Not sure which plugin is right for you? No problem, in this article, we have the information to help you decide.

Why Penteo?

I’ve been working with hardware and software upmixers for about 16 years now. Most of the ones I’ve used have relied on some element of reverb and/or delay to fill out the image. Neither are the case with the Penteo line of software upmixers. This leaves me free to apply upmixing irrespective of reverb, which means I’m not tied into searching for an upmix preset that might not quite sit where I want it to in the mix. It also means the plugin can maintain level, EQ  and timing consistency so folding down to stereo doesn’t mean risking ITU incompatibility. In fact, Penteo 16 Pro and Penteo 16 Pro+ don’t come with any factory presets, it is left to the user to define what a preset can be, not the manufacturer.

What is Penteo 360?

Penteo 360 is one of the two brand new members of the Penteo family and was developed in response to the current ‘boom’ in demand for spatial audio internet content. It’s designed to be incredibly easy to use. Simply set the input and output to the desired audio formats and select a preset mode: Facebook360 or YouTube360. The software can quickly encode or decode 1st or 2nd order Ambisonics with binaural output in either AmbiX or FuMa format. It will also phaselessly upmix and downmix 2.0, 3.0, 3.1 LCR, 4.0, 4.1, 5.1 and 5.1. Jeffrey Read, CEO of PerfectSurround explains…

“Recent expansion of multichannel sound delivery via headphones has driven an explosion in 360 content creation from mainly Stereo and 5.1 Surround inputs. Although 360 content creators want greater control over their sound, they don’t have a lot of time to invest in a mix. That’s why we made Penteo’s new One-Click Facebook360 and YouTube360 modes. They deliver an immediate high quality Binaural output and Penteo’s unique ability to upmix from any format into Binaural is a game-changer.”

Who Is Penteo 360 Aimed At?

People needing 360 immersive audio for their 360 video content will love the simplicity of this plugin. It does an incredible job of taking source audio and creating perfectly encoded binaural mixes, virtually in real-time. Binaural mixes envelop the listener with a rich, immersive sound field containing more depth than traditional stereo. 

As someone who is contemplating how to render a current stereo podcast project to binaural, Penteo 360 is an ideal choice because I can feed the plugin a stereo input file without having to go back and remix in 5.1. As with the existing Penteo 16 Pro and the other new plugin, Penteo 16 Pro+, Penteo 360 is 100% ITU downmix compatible, which in contrast to other products in this market, should mean no questionable level differences between input and output gain. 

What Does Penteo 16 Pro Do?

Penteo 16 Pro is a state-of-the-art 16 channel upmixer/downmixer focussed on delivering a range of multichannel options for its global user base. It’s the result of years of research and development, inspired by a wealth of user feedback. Penteo 16 Pro is designed to understand the input source and faithfully redirect the sound to the desired output format. It maintains the sense of body and width of the source it’s upmixing. Penteo 16 Pro is also favoured by high-end feature film and television mixers for its sonic excellence, versatility and automatable parameters. 

Penteo 16 Pro outputs the extensive variety of formats shown here. 

As a repurposing tool, there is huge potential for taking archival projects and upscaling them to meet modern distribution needs. Penteo 16 Pro supports Pro Tools, Pyramix, Reaper, Nuendo, Cubase Pro, JRiver, Adobe Audition and the latest versions of Logic Pro X. I don’t know of any other upmix software that gives so many DAW’s the array of possible output configurations with the exception of  Penteo 16 Pro’s other new sibling, Penteo 16 Pro+.

What’s New In Penteo 16 Pro?

As mentioned above, Penteo 16 Pro supports more DAW’s than ever, now including Pyramix. It also supports the new M1 64-bit architectures and the Audio Units plugin format up to 7.1.4, which means Logic Pro X users can take advantage of Penteo 16 Pro when looking to scale up mixes and other elements to meet the creative needs of a Dolby Atmos project, up to 16 channels wide.

Penteo 16 Pro natively supports a variety of Dolby Atmos configurations which will be welcome news to sound designers.  The enhanced Downmix DSP, and enhanced DSP for any input format that contains LFE bring greater integrity to Penteo 16 Pro’s output capabilities. For those users who need a low latency option, when enabled, the plugin will now latch ‘low latency’ as a persistent state until deselected.

So, What’s The + For?

Penteo 16 Pro+ is the all-in-one solution many of us have needed to dynamically upmix, downmix or output to binaural and LoRo for a wide range of projects. For professionals with a lot of different projects on the go, Penteo 16 Pro+ could well be the only tool required to create on every different conceivable level.

So what is it?

Penteo 16 Pro+ contains all the features of Penteo 16 Pro and Penteo 360, and is designed as a powerhouse tool to deliver anything, anywhere. If you want something that can meet current or future client deliveries, this is the ultimate solution. 

An enormous amount of work has gone into developing three separate plugins offering differing ranges of functionality to tailor to what we all know is a vast array of professional audio workflows. I’m impressed with the superior sonic quality, ease of use, the thought put into the parameters and not least, the gorgeous 2D and 3D Output Visualizer displays. The displays really help understand the energy distribution in the audio image being created by the plugin. 

Not sure which version of the Penteo plugin is right for you? Then check out this feature summary…

No one else supports this array of input and output formats. By carefully selecting one of PerfectSurround’s Penteo products to meet your project needs, you’ll be able to focus on the creative without worrying about the delivery. 

What We Think Of New Penteo Plugins

I think the upmixing and downmixing these plugins offer is incredible and the sound quality exceeds anything else I currently own. They’re very easy to use and configure and the Visualizer is mesmerizing. The binaural encoding features make this a singular product in its class and will help me deliver my content for this evolving market with complete confidence. The ability to switch output configuration modes on-the-fly from 3rd order ambisonics to 2.0 stereo is another great aspect of this set of plugins.

As a test, I took my old 5.1 mix for a short animation and folded it down inside Penteo 16 Pro+ to see how well it handles LoRo and binaural encoding. This same test could easily have been done with Penteo 360 since it has binaural encoding capabilities too. I’ve posted the resulting files here. Please remember that in order to experience binaural content properly, your device has to support it.

Since I’m familiar with the original mix, I decided to ask Mike Thornton what he thought:

“Damian sent me these two files to check on my new AirPods 3 which support spatial audio on my iPhone. For me, comparing the stereo LoRo and binaural downmixes of the original 5.1 mix, the binaural mix is a much more believable and immersive experience than the LoRo; both on conventional headphones and through the Apple Airpods, which support spatial audio. For me, the stereo mix suffers all the issues of listening to a mix designed for stereo speakers, whereas the binaural mix is designed for listening on earbuds or headphones. This test reaffirms for me the benefit of delivering binaural to the end user, especially if it is likely to be listened to on headphones.”

Penteo Plugin System Requirements

• Penteo products support 64-bit AAX, the M1 chips, VST3 and AU formats for Mac OS Big Sur and Windows 10.

• Specific DAWs supported: ProTools 2021.10, Reaper, Pyramix, Nuendo, Cubase Pro, JRiver, Adobe Audition (up to 5.1) and Logic Pro X (up to 7.1.4).

Penteo Pricing And Availability

All Penteo products are available now in the web store on the PerfectSurround website.

• Penteo 360 - price $299

• Penteo 16 Pro - price $449

• Penteo 16 Pro+  - price $599