About
I graduated with a first-class honours degree in Music Technology and Audio System Design from the University of Derby in 1999.
My interest in audio signal processing spurred me to continue at Derby. I completed my PhD, entitled “An Investigation into the Real-time Manipulation and Control of 3D Sound Fields” in 2004. In this, I solved the problem of generating ambisonic decoders for irregular speaker arrays. I also carried out work on binaural/transaural reproduction systems.
I'm now an Associate Professor (Research) in Audio Engineering in the College of Science and Engineering. I teach electronics, audio programming and digital signal processing. These are all fed from my continuing research interests in ambisonic surround-sound systems. I earned excellence awards for my promising research in 2005/6, my application of technology in 2006/7 and excellence in learning, teaching and assessment in 2007/8.
My work on ambisonics was also featured as an impact case study in our 2014 Research Excellence Framework submission. My work has also been used in the REF2021 impact case study. I organise and run the yearly Sounds in Space Research Symposium.
Teaching responsibilities
Lecturer on the courses:
Module leader for the modules:
- Computing and Communications Technology (Level 5)
- Audio Digital Signal Processing (Level 6)
- Independent Engineering Project (Level 6)
- Multi-Channel Sound System Design (Level 6)
- Audio Software Engineering (Level 7)
- Advanced Surround Sound Systems (Level 7)
Also contributes to the modules:
- Computer Music Systems
- Multichannel Sound and Auditory Perception
- Audio Innovation
- Independent Studies
Have previously led the modules:
- Analogue and Digital Electronics
- Signal and Circuit Analysis Techniques
- Real-time Software Engineering (MSc)
- Information Technology and Electronic CAD
- Musical Applications Programming
- Audio Systems Technology
Additional interests and activities
Recent Projects
2022/3 - Odyssey VR Project with Derby Theatre
Bruce provided a live immersive audio system for Derby Theatre Plus One’s groundbreaking live Virtual Reality Theatre Production. The system used software that came directly from Bruce’s research into Ambisonic audio. The project was recognised after winning The Stage’s Digital Project of the Year
The project was centred around young people across the care sector, who often didn’t see themselves as participating in arts.
Odyssey was Derby Theatre’s imaginative response to that research. Producer Tom Craig and digital curator John Whall ran virtual-reality workshops to investigate the idea of offering an immersive state of play that would encourage young people to create without committing to the idea of ‘art’.
There were initially no rules: just turn up and try on a headset. They were then invited to design their own bedroom. How would it look and what if there were no limitations?
Playwright Simon Marshall and spoken-word poet Ndukwe Onuoha joined the team and together they created an immersive digital VR performance experience.
As the young people curated their worlds, stories emerged. Leicester organisation MBD created the virtual experience, and to make it as immersive as possible, Bruce Wiggins, and his team, designed an Ambisonic speaker rig that surrounded the audience to give them a more realistic, and immersive group experience than could be achieved over headphones (which is how VR material is usually presented to the listener). Musical composition, songs and sound were added via the company, participants and a composer.
At the Roundhouse at Derby College, audiences experienced the piece performed live by the young people with the audience immersed in the virtual world of their ideas. Stepping through a series of rooms, audiences saw ‘home’ and the reality of transient lives but also looked towards hope for the future, with the final space, a large open stage that looked out, not into an audience but an endless sea and a bright horizon.
A video detailing the project can be found at: https://vimeo.com/775774623
More information on Derby Theatre’s Plus One creative partnership can be found at: https://derbytheatre.co.uk/programme/plus-one/
2011 to 2019 - Sounds in Space Research Symposium. Organise, host and present at our annual Sounds in Space Research Symposium, which looks at the aesthetics, production and technical details of spatial audio. See videos, pictures and programmes of past events (opens in new window).
Wigware Plug-in Suite (Windows and Mac)
Wigware Ambisonic Decoder (WAD)
This program now comes in two flavours, as a Direct Show filter and a VST plugin. The Direct Show Filter allows any Direct Show capable audio player software (such as Windows Media Player) the ability to read and decode B-format wave files (the format of which is specified here on Richard Dobson's web page - details on the Waveformat extensible file format used can be found on Microsofts web site here - details on Ambisonics can be found here).
The VST version comes in 1st and 2nd order versions (3rd and 4th order versions to follow) and allows you to alter the polar patterns of the speaker feeds either across the whole frequency range or using 'Shelf Filters' with a variable cut-off. Both of the VST plugins will derive outputs for a standard ITU 5 speaker array, with higher orders giving better frontal resolution.
Check my personal website (www.brucewiggins.co.uk) for updates to this software:
- VST (PC) 1st Order Ambisonic Decoding Plug-ins (5.0 and regular decoders are now separate) - v0.7
- VST (PC) 2nd Order Ambisonic Decoding Plug-in - v0.4
- VST (Mac) 1st Order Ambisonic Decoder Plug-ins
- 1st Order Windows Media Player Plug-in (Direct Show Filter) - v0.3.2
- Square decoder
- ITU 5 Speaker decoder
- Hexagon with a speaker at 0 degrees decoder
- Hexagon without a speaker at 0 degrees decoder
- Octagon with a speaker at 0 degrees decoder
- Octagon without a speaker at 0 degrees decoder
- with-height eight speaker Cube decoder
Wigware Ambisonic Panner (mono to 1st and 2nd order)
Panning plug-in taking mono in, and passing out 1st or 2nd order B-format. These currently include near-field compensation and distance filters, but the panning only currently works on the surface of the sphere. These have been released early due to issues found with currently available Ambisonic encoders.
Wigware Ambisonic Reverb (1st Order....2nd order coming soon)
A simple, recursive, 4-channel, reverb plug-in. Perfect for 1st order Ambisonics.
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