ODEON

ODEON, a comprehensive yet easy-to-use prediction software tool for indoor acoustics developed at DTU, the Technical University of Denmark, is distributed by ODEON A/S and by Brüel & Kjær.

What is ODEON?

ODEON software simulates the acoustics of buildings and provides a wide range of tools for illustration and reporting of the results. In addition, the Auditorium and Combined editions of ODEON give you and your customers the possibility of listening to music and speech in the modelled (virtual) room. This technique is called Auralisation.

ODEON can be used to predict the acoustics of new buildings, as well as to evaluate and recommend improvements in existing buildings. It is ideal for modelling of large rooms such as concert halls, opera halls, auditoria, foyers, underground stations, airport terminals and industrial workrooms. However, smaller classrooms, office landscapes and even exterior situations such as atria and courtyards are also classical ODEON projects.

The program is straightforward to use and takes care of the bookkeeping involved in improvement of models. A large material library, which has been significantly improved in Version 10, makes it easy to assign the right properties to walls, seats, diffusers, etc. ODEON also supports modelling of transmission of sound through objects as well as diffraction around edges of thin and thick screens or screen-like objects.

For prediction of noise from large machinery in industrial environments, a special ray-tracing algorithm has been developed allowing modelling of surface and line sources. With ODEON 10 another special type of sound source is now available – loudspeaker arrays. With their controlled directivity such arrays are key elements in many PA systems and it is now possible to accurately study their performance in your ODEON models.

Last but not least, ODEON’s prediction algorithms (image source method and ray tracing) allow reliable predictions at modest calculation times.

ODEON is available in three editions:

7835 Industrial Edition – for environmental acoustics where SPL, SPL(A), T30 and STI are the important results. The industrial edition is your choice if you, for example, need to predict/investigate how the acoustical design of a factory hall and the various noise-emitting sources (machines) will influence the sound pressure level in the hall and the noise exposure of employees working in it. Using the point, line and surface sources provided in this edition, it will be easy for you to model large and complex sound sources such as generators, metal presses, etc.

7836 Auditorium Edition – this is the classical application of room acoustic prediction programs. The auditorium edition is the right choice if you work with projects where the details of sound transmission, reflection and eventually perception are of prime importance. This can be halls for music and speech, classrooms, railway stations, etc. This edition provides algorithms for the calculation of a large set of room acoustical parameters. By introducing loudspeaker array sources in ODEON Version 10 (Auditorium), the simulation of PA systems as part of the room acoustical design has become more comprehensive.
Using the graphical tools of the Auditorium edition, such as reflectograms, the 3D reflection path display and reverberation curve displays, you can visually study the room’s acoustical properties and the propagation of sound in it and illustrate this for your customers.
Furthermore, the Auditorium edition provides comprehensive tools for auralisation. Listening to anechoic recordings that were processed with the binaural room impulse response gives you and your customers a much better feeling of the room acoustics than any plot or animation. ODEON comes with a large set of anechoic recordings. With Version 10 this is even taken one step further, since this version ships with a library of voice-by-voice recorded symphonies. This means, instead of placing a single, big orchestra on stage, you compose it musician by musician, for example, to study how well the stage design supports interaction between musicians at different ends of the orchestra.

7837 Combined Edition – includes all the features found in the Industrial and Auditorium editions.

License key, upgrades and support agreements

Upgrades and support agreements are available as a supplement to the above products:

• MS1: Support and Upgrade Agreement
• Upgrade from ODEON Version 8.0 and later
• Upgrade from ODEON Versions 4.0 – 7.0

Extra Licences – Extra licenses can be added at a unit cost of only one third of the full price.

Licenses and License Key
Starting with Version 9.1, ODEON comes with an R6 smart dongle. Users with License 9.0 or below need this new key if they wish to move to an ODEON Version 9.1 or later. To replace the former type of dongle (HASP key) with this new one, please get in touch with your local Brüel & Kjær representative. When you receive the new dongle please send the old hasp dongle back. In case your R6 smart dongle has a time limitation, we will remove this when we receive your old dongle, and in case an invoice has been sent to you when this has been paid.

There are different features embedded in the new dongle. These can be updated online.

• Version number
• Edition
• User name
• Time limitation

Minor updates, such as going from ODEON Version 9.1 to 9.2, don’t require a new license file. Only upgrades, for example, going from ODEON Version 9.x to 10.x, change of edition, user name or time limitation, require a new license file on the dongle. In such cases, you need to generate and send a remote update request file to your local Brüel & Kjær representative. As soon as your request has been processed you will receive an Update file; you then only need to download this file to your dongle.