Roland RSS-10 - Manual (Page 10)

THE OUTLINE OF THE RSS SYSTEM
What is the RSS System
To reproduce three-dimensional sounds in the RSS System, the directions are controlled with
"Azimuth" and "Elevation," and the sense of distance is controlled with the "Distance" parameter,
Sound created by this method is what is known as Binaural sound. Binaural sound is sound recorded
using a dummy-head microphone. When you hear Binaural sound through headphones, it sounds
so realistic, it seems as if you were actually listening to the performance at the place where it was
recorded. This, however, would not sound as realistic if played by a stereo speaker system. The RSS-
10 can convert Binaural sound to a format that can be listened to with an equivalent amount of
realism and presence even when played by a stereo speaker system.
The sound we normally hear allows us to perceive the distance from the sound source because it
is a combination of two different types of sounds —the direct sound that reaches our ears directly,
and the reflected sound, which reaches us after reflecting off various objects. This can be easily
demonstrated by the fact that you cannot sense the distance at all when hearing sound in an
anechoic chamber (where no reverberation at all occurs). To reproduce a reflecting sound, you
must consider the actual conditions in the room, and simulate how the things in the room will affect
the sound reflections. The processing speed oftoday's computers, however, cannot handle this. The
RSS System produces a sense of distance for the sound by assuming that you hear the sound over
an imaginary floor, at a certain height.
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