Penteo Audio Plugins has released Penteo v6, which now offers Penteo upmixing technology to an even wider range of immersive formats. The new version adds 15 new creative workflow controls & presets, 14 advanced audio formats up to 64 channels, as well as numerous user interface enhancements.  This includes Dolby Atmos up to 9.1.6, Surround up to 7.1, Auro3D up to 13.1, DTSX, Sony 360RA, Ambisonics up to 7th order, Binaural and Dolby Pro Logic. In this article, we have all the details on the new version...

Penteo 6 - The Same Ethos And Sound Now Updated, Extended And Improved

For me, the core ethos of the Penteo range through the years from Penteo 3 to Pento 4 and then Penteo 7, Penteo 16, and now Penteo version 6 is that the design of their upmixing engine always gives an upmix that will be transparent and compatible when downmixed. There is not 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, which is why I have awarded the different iterations of the Penteo upmix plug-ins our coveted Editor’s Choice Award. Now, can the new Penteo version 6 follow in the footsteps of its predecessors?

Penteo Version 6 New Features Summary

Let’s find out by starting with the new features in Penteo Pro+…

• Innovative Creative & Workflow Controls: Ten new sound shaping modes plus five Universal Music Group presets provide unparalleled creative upmix/downmix workflow control.

• Highest Order Ambisonics up to 64 channels: Penteo adds 2ch / 3ch / 4ch UHJ plus 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th order AmbiX Ambisonics for advanced multispatial automatic encoding/decoding.

• Direct Binaural Renderer: Directly convert any of the 62 audio formats to high-quality Binaural without needing intermediate upmixing.

• Advanced Sound Design Formats: Penteo version 6 supports Octophonic 8ch Cube, hybrid Sony 360RA 16.0 and Atmos 7.0.7, plus non-LFE 9.0.6 and 7.0.6 formats, broadening the possibilities for advanced gaming/VR/XR audio creation.

• Faster Audio Restoration: With added support for LtRt, LCRS, LCRS + LFE, and 2.1 Stereo formats, Penteo version 6 accelerates reversioning of legacy formats to/from all current audio formats.

• Plugin Interface Enhancements: An improved interface with two-level input/output format drop-down menus, multi-link faders, peak indicators and numerous auto-defaults to speed upmix/downmix workflows.

Slight Name Change

With the release of version 6, Penteo Audio Plugins has introduced a minor plugin name change. There are now three versions of the upmixing and downmixing tool…

1. Penteo 360 - For 5.1 surround and Ambisonics offering 13 formats and binaural

2. Penteo Pro - For all Atmos and Immersive applications offering 43 formats

3. Penteo Pro+ - For advanced sound design combining all the features from Penteo 360 and Penteo Pro, offering 62 formats and binaural.

New Features In Penteo Version 6 In More Detail

Location Of The New Controls - For those who are familiar with the Penteo 16 Pro plugin, here is where you are going to find the controls for the new modes and presets…

1. Upmix/Stem/Passthrough

2. Autodetect Mono button

3. Rear Diffuse %

4. Rear Shelf

5. Bottom Diffuses %

6. Upper Diffuse %

7. Phantom Centre

8. UMG Atmos Presets

New Audio Formats Added

Please note that all the new formats have been added as both input (upmix) and output (downmix) drop-down options unless otherwise specified.

Penteo Pro:

• 2.1 Stereo

• Non-LFE Atmos 5.0.2, 5.0.4, 7.0.6, 9.0.4, 9.0.6

Penteo Pro+:

• 2.1 Stereo

• LCRS, LCRS+LFE

• LtRt

• Atmos7.0.6, Atmos9.0.6

• 8ch Octophonic Cube (0.0.4+4B)

  • Note: Only the Rear (that shifts sound front-back) and Upper (shifts sound up-down) faders are required. When upmixing to 8ch Cube, Penteo’s Upper fader controls the full range between Upper and Bottom level channels, and so Penteo’s Bottom fader & modes are disabled.

  • Note that the Group solo/mute channels in 8ch Cube are Lower Front (2), Lower Rear (2), Upper (4).

• Hybrid Atmos 7.0.7

• Hybrid Sony 360RA 7.0.7+2B

• Ambisonics 2ch, 3ch, 4chUHJ

• Ambisonics 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Order AmbiX – encode up to 64 channels.

  • Note: For high channel counts in 4th to 7th order (4OA – 7OA), Penteo’s output meters are reduced in width.

  • Solo / Mute buttons are removed, and the number of channels is listed in the top left corner of the output meters.

Plugin Interface Changes

• Two Level Input/Output Format Drop-Down Menus (all plugins) - To select formats faster, Penteo now has a two-tier menu for all input and output drop-down menus divided by Stereo, Surround, Atmos, Immersive, Ambisonics, 360 Audio categories. When clicked, menu will display all the formats for that category.

• DropVox, Tilt, Upper Shelf, and Bottom Shelf modes - These have moved to better align with each fader.

• Side / Rear Surround Channel Link button - This has been removed (all plugins) and replaced with the more comprehensive multi-link fader mode (see Multi-link Faders below).

• TRI drop-down formats These have been replaced by the new Stem Upmix/Passthrough mode in Pro+. In previous sessions, they were saved using TRI. Penteo will still allow you to use TRI as a drop-down format, but all new sessions will use Stem upmix/Passthrough mode.

New Controls For Creative Sound Shaping

Autodetect Mono (all plugins) - Penteo requires a well-balanced left/right channel in both level and time. This is because a stereo pair that is too ‘mono-like’ will not always generate the desired upmix. Additionally, most mono-like tracks are vocal-dominant so the upmix should center vocals and not upmix them to the side and rears. Autodetect Mono mode centers mono-like inputs overriding the normal upmix process.

Rear Shelf Filter (all plugins) - This applies a high pass shelf filter to the ear-level rear and surround channels. Rear Shelf is located beneath the Rear fader indicated in blue as default. Rear Shelf is available to all formats that have a rear or surround channel(s) except for Stereo, LCR, Atmos 2.1.x and Atmos 3.1.x.

Rear Diffuse (Pro and Pro+) (Blue Indicator) - This applies a diffusive effect to the channels in the rear surrounds. The higher the diffusion, the greater the impression of increased ambience at the expense of signal definition and channel separation.

Upper Diffuse (Pro and Pro+) ( Gold Indicator) This applies a diffusive effect to the channels in the upper ring from 0% to 100%. The higher the diffusion, the greater the impression of increased ambience at the expense of signal definition and channel separation.

Bottom Diffuse (Pro+) (Light Brown Indicator) - This applies a diffusive effect to the channels in the bottom level from 0% to 100%. Bottom diffuse is used for Sony 360 Reality Audio & Octophonic formats that have a bottom level. The higher the diffusion, the greater the impression of increased ambience at the expense of signal definition and channel separation.

Note that when any of these Diffuse buttons are enabled, the diffuse button is highlighted and downmix compatibility is compromised and will be indicated on Penteo’s downmix monitor.

Full Phantom Center (Pro+)—The Centre mode gains a fourth option in Penteo Pro+: Phantom center. This eliminates the centre upmix channel, allowing it to remain open for subsequent sound design. This is useful if upmixing to meet the Universal Music Group Atmos spec requirements.

New Workflow Modes

Stem Upmix and Stem Passthrough Modes (Pro+) - Penteo Pro+ now offers three different upmix modes from a drop-down menu. These modify how the input signal is upmixed into the output signal, which can reduce or eliminate the need for post-upmix panning and EQ.

• [U] Normal Upmix– normal upmix mode converts the input signal into an entirely new multichannel output mix based on the original stem input.

• [S] Stem Upmix – stem upmix mode forces all of the audio out of the front left and right channels, leaving them free for the user to mix the result with the original stem file.

• [P] Stem Passthrough – stem passthrough mode does the same as “S” mode but mixes in the original audio back into the front left and right upmixed channels. Output is levelled to ensure the upmix correctly downmixes to the source stem.

Note that stem modes S and P are available for Stereo, 2.1, LCR (3.0/3.1), Atmos 2.1.2 and Atmos 3.1.2 input stems in Penteo Pro+.

Multi-link Faders (all plugins)

The Side / Rear Surround Link button, has been removed and replaced with Penteo’s new multi-link mode allows any combination of up to 5 faders to be linked or unlinked with the click of a mouse.

You can link individual faders by hovering the cursor over a fader and holding down the Control key and clicking the mouse. Control-clicking a fader again will unlink it. You can unlink all the linked faders by double-clicking any linked fader.

Universal Music Group Presets for Atmos (Pro+)

Penteo’s new UMG Atmos upmix presets are designed to make it easy to meet the starting requirements listed in the Universal Music Group Dolby Atmos Music Delivery Specifications & Recommendations.

Note that Penteo’s UMG presets provide a starting point, not a final output. Each pre-set provides a quick way to automate three required settings when upmixing to 7.1.4, 7.1.6, 9.1.2, 9.1.4 or 9.1.6.

UMG Atmos presets are found in the top-middle drop-down list at the top of Penteo’s plugin face.

Peak Signal Meters (all plugins)

All input and output meters now display peak meters to indicate the highest input/output level at any instant on every channel.

Note that Peak meters are unavailable for Minimal Size or 4OA – 7OA formats.

Direct Binaural Rendering (Pro+)

Penteo Pro+ and Penteo 360 have always been able to output Binaural after Penteo’s DSP has processed the sound. With Version 6, Penteo direct Binaural output replaces downmix + Binaural output.

The new direct Binaural Renderer allows any of the supported audio formats to be converted directly into the same Binaural output without first being processed by Penteo’s upmix/downmix DSP.

If you are a Pro Tools user, please note that you need to select a Pro Tools instance higher than the format you want to binauralise.

For example, substantiate Penteo 7.1 in Pro Tools to directly render 5.1 in Binaural.

As with Penteo 16 Pro, PerfectSurround recommend that you substantiate Penteo’s highest format - e.g. 9.1.6 - and then output binaural from any lower format using Penteo’s format menus.

Upmix DSP Auto-default (all plugins)

Penteo version 6 now offers two upmix DSP options, each optimised for different uses:

Legacy DSP (previously known as On-Phase) - is optimised for Stereo to Surround upmixing. Whenever an output format is selected in Penteo for 7.1 Surround or below, Penteo will automatically enable Legacy DSP. Legacy DSP can also be selected to match the DSP found in Penteo 7 Pro for legacy session work.

Decorrelated DSP (previously known as Off-Phase) – is optimised for 2 or 3 level immersive sound formats above 7.1 Surround. Whenever an output format is selected in Penteo above 7.1 Surround, Penteo will automatically enable Decorrelated DSP.

Note that Legacy DSP can not be used on formats above 7.1. However, Decorrelated DSP can be used on Surround formats if desired.

DAW Channel Order Autodetect

Penteo version 6 now autodetects Pro Tools, Logic Pro, and Cubase/Steinberg DAW channel order formats. Thus, you no longer need to set the correct order in Penteo’s setting panel for these DAWs; Penteo does it for you.

Note that the DAW order autodetect can be overridden by selecting a different channel order and making it the default in Penteo’s settings panel.

Penteo Version 6 And Pro Tools 2024.3 and 2023.12

Penteo supports all twelve Atmos format widths delivered in 2023.12: 9.1.6, 9.0.6, 9.1.4, 9.0.4, 7.1.6, 7.0.6, 7.1.4, 7.0.4, 5.1.4, 5.0.4, 5.1.2 and 5.0.2.

Penteo also supports Pro Tools 2023.12 track widths for Ambisonics: 4OA AmbiX, 5OA AmbiX, 6OA AmbiX and 7OA AmbiX.

Penteo supports Pro Tools 2023.12 integrated Dolby Atmos Renderer and is certified for 2024.3. For all other higher formats not natively supported by Pro Tools (i.e., 360RA), recommend to all Pro Tools users that they continue to use the 3rd Order Ambisonics instance of Penteo and then select any relevant format from Penteo’s input/output format drop-down list.

Penteo Version 6 And Logic Pro

The 6.0, 6.1, 7.0, 7.1 channel order bug in Logic Pro has been resolved by Apple and patched by Penteo.

Penteo And Steinberg Nuendo 13

Nuendo is reporting a stereo layout when instantiating Penteo on a 9.1.6, 9.1.4 or 9.0.4 Nuendo track. Note that this isn’t just a Penteo issue. Other multichannel plugins are experiencing the same issue. The problem is just for 9.1.6, 9.1.4 or 9.0.4 Nuendo tracks. All other channel formats function correctly on Nuendo 13. If this is a problem for you, the advice is to stay on Nuendo 12 until Steinberg fixes the issue.

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 comparing the downmix of the upmix with the original stereo source, which we do in our exclusive review. Instead, we recommend that you go to the Penteo website, apply for a 14-day free trial, and try it for yourself on content you know.

Penteo Version 6 Price And Availability

Penteo version 6 is a free update for existing Penteo customers.

New licenses are priced as follows;

• Penteo 360 – 5.1 Upmixer/Downmixer for 13 audio formats with 2nd Order Ambisonics and is priced at $299.

• Penteo Pro – 16 channel upmixer/downmixer for 43 formats with all Atmos & Immersive and is priced at $499

• Penteo Pro+ – 64 channel upmixer/downmixer with 62 audio formats including 7th Order Ambisonics plus direct Binaural rendering and is priced at $799

Order before April 12th 2024, and save up to 30%

• Penteo Pro+ new licenses are $599, saving $200 or 25% off.  

• Upgrades from Penteo Pro to Penteo Pro+ are $245, saving $105 or 30% off

• Upgrades from Penteo 360 to Penteo Pro+ are $400, saving $100 or 20% off.

Penteo supports AAX/VST3/AU running on Windows / MacOS for Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Reaper, Cubase, Nuendo, AbletonLive, Pyramix and Resolve DAWs.