Peeking at the API indicates I can pass something called an ambisonic order into some functions, but even the constant for the default gives me no obvious indication of what this means.
They're likely referring to Ambisonics[1]. Think of Ambisonics as a 3D Mid-Side encoding, and the signal fed to each speaker is calculated from the differences in these components. Contrast the more common surround setup where each channel corresponds to a speaker directly. Something in an ambisonic format can be decoded to the more common 5.1/7.1 formats.
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They're likely referring to Ambisonics[1]. Think of Ambisonics as a 3D Mid-Side encoding, and the signal fed to each speaker is calculated from the differences in these components. Contrast the more common surround setup where each channel corresponds to a speaker directly. Something in an ambisonic format can be decoded to the more common 5.1/7.1 formats.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambisonics