News:  October 2-8, 2000

Sunday, October 08, 2000

3DSS Forum - Mark @ 10:17 EST

The usual weekend news slow down gives me an opportunity to point you in the direct of our forum where you will find lots of support information and even fairly detailed comments from us and others on new cards like the Live 5.1, Santa Cruz and Sonic Fury. You will also find great ongoing discussions on speakers, home theatre systems, using home audio equipment with the PC and a whole lot more. No registration is necessary to read or to post so why not take a few minutes and check it out.

NHL 2001 Review - Mark @ 10:04 EST

Game Den has posted a review of NHL 2001, the latest in the successful series from EA Sports. They were to say the least impressed with sound. Here's a snip:

The theatre of sound in NHL 2001 is music to a hockey fans ear. The aura of ice hockey is simply brought to life. I couldn't help but be impressed by the sounds being forced through my five-point speaker system as I played Detroit in the cup final. Hear the roar of the crowd as body checks rattle the boards, listen to Jim Hughson commentate while Pavel Bure rushes out for a breakaway. Even the familiar themes from arena to arena are played. If you’re not impressed by the sound effects coming from NHL 2001, then nothing will ever impress you at all.

Terratec SoundSystem DMX 1024 XFire Review (Italian) - Mark @ 09:39 EST

The Italian online magazine Nextgame.it has posted a review of the new Terratec SoundSystem DMX 1024 XFire. Of course it is in Italian so if you can't read that language and want to have a rough idea of what they think then you can use the Alta Vista's Babel Fish translation service. Just remember it's a less than perfect translation.

New Release: Sound Control Plus v1.80 (BETA) - Mark @ 09:34 EST

Paul McKnight of Really Effective Software has released a new (v1.80) BETA of Sound Control Plus which is a freeware replacement of Windows Sound Mixer applet. In addition to the features of the standard Windows mixer it also allows you to add hot keys to adjust any combination of your sound mixer volumes. Support to control Winamp with a series of hot keys and an On Screen Display is also included. It supports Windows 95 / 98 / NT4 / 2000 and Millennium-Me. Here's what's new:

Fixed - When using an external mixer SCP now updates in synchronisation

Fixed - Reduced resource usage by 75%

Fixed - Volume On Scrn Display not indented correctly on some OSD positions

Fixed - No movement required whilst single clicking on tray icon

Fixed - On Screen Display font settings not visible on some setups

Fixed - Minor issues when using large fonts

Fixed - Minor resource leak

Added - Foreign language message translation options

Added - Basic CD Player with hot keys

Added - User definable applications with hot keys

Added - Winamp Playlist 1/2/3/4 hot keys

Added - Winamp hot keys for Jump To Time, 10 Tracks Forward, 10 Tracks Back

Added - CTRL+ALT hot key qualifier

Added - Winamp ID3 hot key

Added - Default startup volume levels

Added - Load Default volumes hot key

Added - Option to specify delay before small volume bar appears

Added - User definable tray double click action

Added - No movement whilst single clicking option

Updated - User interface so more intuitive

Updated - Install/Uninstall scripts

Updated - Help file

Saturday, October 07, 2000

Blade of Darkness - Severance Music - Mark @ 10:30 EST

The official Blade of Darkness and Severance sites have been updated with four downloadable samples from the game's soundtrack in MP3 format. As the game is known as Blade in the US (and probably Canada), and Severance elsewhere, there are actually two official sites, which are completely identical except for the name on the logo. The official sites also mention that the game will offer" 3D sound and environment music".
News Source: Blue's News

Yamaha Introduces Industry's Fastest CD-RW Recorder - Mark @ 09:58 EST

Yamaha Corporation of America has announced the introduction of what they call the industry's fastest internal and external rewritable CD recorders. The all-new, multi-platform LightSpeed CRW2100 Series models are capable of recording on CD-R discs at an industry-first top speed of 16X, writing a 74-minute CD in under five minutes; rewriting CD-RW discs at a top speed of 10X; and reading CDs at a sustained maximum rate of 40X. In addition, the CRW2100 Series allows users to rip audio CDs at a maximum speed of 40X-up to five times faster than conventional CD-RW recorders currently in the marketplace-allowing digital audio extraction of a 74-minute audio disc in less than 3 minutes. Now that speed will depend on your CPU power as well so it's unlikely that most people will be getting the maximum. For lots of details on the new models check out the full announcement.

Metal Gear Solid demo - Mikael @ 05:00 EST

A demo of the 3D sound supporting Metal Gear Solid has been released.

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn review - Mikael @ 04:58 EST

Baldur's Gate II continues to get excellent reviews this time it's Avault that gives it a perfect score of 5 stars. The music also got a perfect score of 5 while sound effects "only" got 4.5. Here's what they said about the sound effects:

Baldur's Gate II boasts excellent sounds, which are augmented by special effects such as 3D positioning and an echo effect used in dungeons. Aural fare such as the rattle of heavy armor, thunder and rain, the roar of monsters and the clang of weapons brings the world to life as handily as the graphics.

One of the first sounds that players will hear upon starting Baldur's Gate II is the voice of the antagonist, as played by actor David Warner. His perfect, chilling delivery lends credibility to even the least inspiring dialogue, and creates a real sense of menace surrounding your adversary. For the most part, the acting follows his example, as the voice credits are a veritable "who's who" list of talented voiceover artists. However, the voice samples available for your protagonist are still a little silly, with only a couple of new, uninspiring additions.

New Intel Motherboard (VC820) Sound Drivers - Mikael @ 04:53 EST

Intel has released new drivers (Windows 98 and 2000 Only) for the onboard sound included on their VC820 motherboards.
News Source: Anandtech

Shogun: Total War patch - Mikael @ 04:51 EST

A new patch (v1.2) for the RTS Shogun: Total War has been released. I'm not sure if this title supports 3D sound but Avault mentioned "the ambient environmental noise of the battlefields to the positional audio, there's a lot to like about Shogun's sounds." which I would guess refers to more than just stereo but I could be wrong.

Flanker 2.0 patch - Mikael @ 04:48 EST

A new patch (v 2.03) to Flanker 2.0 has been released. The game support 3D Sound, hopefully that refers to DS3D and not that they use their own 3D sound engine. You can download the patch from 3dfiles

Metal Gear Solid reviews - Mikael @ 04:44 EST

A couple new reviews of Metal Gear Solid has popped up. First up Head-2-Head that gives the game an excellent score especially when it comes to the sound effects:

Ok, if you're not going to drool over the graphics at least you should adore the sound in this game. I am just completely blown away by the sound effects in this game, from the sound of the different types of guns, to Snake's knocking on different type of walls. The voice acting is top notch; I haven't heard any better. The voice of Solid Snake is actually David Hayter who actually went to acting school here in Toronto and then moved to L.A to start his career and prior to Metal Gear Solid he did voices on a cartoon many might remember called "Captain Planet." (unfortunately, I remember that damn show-Ed.). The music in this game remains one of my favourite of all time. It is THAT good. The theme song is probably my favourite and it's similar to those gothic-like church songs you'd find in Homeworld. During the making of this game, the sound of the guns in the game were actually recorded from real life guns and overall, you won't find many games that incorporate such great music with such great sound effects.

Bonus Pack for Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force released - Mikael @ 04:36 EST

Raven Software has released the Holomatch Bonus Pack for its Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force. It includes two new Capture the Flag levels and one new Team Holomatch map.
News Source: Blue's News

Friday, October 06, 2000

Soldier Of Fortune Gold Expansion Pack Patch - Mark @ 23:25 EST

This new addition from Raven software offers several game enhancements to the Soldier of Fortune single and multi-player experience, and addresses some issues that shipped with the original release of the game. The list includes EAX performance optimizations and an update to A3D's A3DAPI.dll. Most people with Vortex 2 boards would already have updated the A3DAPI.dll anyway so this would appear to be just for people who don't pay attention to their system. Note that with this expansion pack patch you should be able to apply the new Environmental Audio Library (EAL) files for use with 13 Deathmatch Levels. The EAL that I am talking about is available from the Creative Labs EAX site. Here's a bit on what this will do:

We've added effects like dynamically changing reverbs, obstruction & occlusion filtering, and adjusted sound source parameters to many of the multiplayer and single player levels.

Diamond Audio Technology HMP-4100 Sale - Mark @ 18:42 EST

I just heard from Diamond Audio Technology that they are trying to clear space in their warehouse and will be selling off the remaining stock of HMP-4100 speakers (same system as MidiLand S2-4100 which DAT designed and built)) for an incredible $199, a price at which they are truly a steal! The offer is valid only in United States and only while stocks last. You can get the full details at their 4100 sale page.

Icewind Dale review - Mikael @ 15:57 EST

Barrys World has posted a positive review of Icewind Dale giving it 8 out of 10 "smiles?" with only complaint being the graphics. Here's the sound bit:

The soundtrack in general is really quite amazing and is so atmospheric it will have you reaching for your Winnie the Pooh hot water bottle and woolly Christmas hat set in no time at all. The music is used sparingly so as not, I guess, to become overly oppressive. Serene and soothing flutes lull you into a near slumber as you potter around the town, selling your spoils and casually munching on a cold bit of pizza left over from last nights extended gaming session. Not so serene is the impressively thunderous clash of drums and brass that announces a pending skirmish, causing sudden wakefulness, a general inability to remain balanced on your chair and a stylish new t-shirt decoration that looks uncannily like pepperoni and cheese.

When the music does calm down, however, the audio effects continue to impress: wind echoes eerily around your party in frozen ravines, approaching monsters make themselves known before coming visible by their footfalls and the voices of your party will gently become more distant as you move the 'camera' away from them.

MDK2 review - Mikael @ 15:39 EST

Intelligamer has posted a short and rather negative review of MDK2. The describes the game as "too hard, too short, and too muddled to really get excited about". When it comes to the music and sound effects he is more positive:

The musical track is typical action fair. Nothing spectacular, but the pulse pounding beat matches the play style. Sound effects are better, with neat sounds for the sniper rifle and the various weapons in the arsenal otherwise. Especially nice is the voice work for all three characters, with convincing delivery of the often amusing dialog.

Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force review - Mikael @ 15:34 EST

GameAddicts has published its review of Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force which they think is a great game for all FPS fans, even those that doesn't watch the show. Most other reviews have been slightly less positive complaining mostly about too short game and sometimes also too linear gameplay. Here's the usual sound snip:

The sounds in the game are incredible. The voice acting, overall, was great. The voice actors used for the crew members of Elite Force are the very same actors that play the roles on the TV show, providing a feel of continuity between the TV series and the game itself. The game relies heavily on speech and dialogue, so poor voice acting would have been readily apparent. The sound effects used are very close to the sounds used in the TV show, so your phaser really does sound like a phaser would in the series. I really couldn't ask for better than what this game offers.

Vampire review - Mikael @ 15:29 EST

Stratos Group has posted a very postive review of Vampire with only some minor complaints about the AI and lack of save anywhere feature. Here's the comments on sound that received a rating of 8:

Excellent sound. It succeeds in creating a dark, almost sinister mood throughout the game. The music is captivating and really brings the gothic setting to life. Sound effects are good, providing just enough to let your imagination believe that you are there.

New TeamSound - Mark @ 08:59 EST

A new version (5.6) of TeamSound, a voice communication program for gaming (etc.) has been released. You can get the details on the software and what's new at the official site.
News Source: Blue's News

New Unreal Tournament Patch - Mark @ 08:54 EST

Epic Games has released a new version 432 Win32 patch for Unreal Tournament. You can get a list of download location and changes from the Unreal Technology Page. As best as I can tell there is nothing directly related to audio, but of course the whole game affects audio so you should grab the patch.
News Source: Blue's News

Preview: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen - Mark @ 08:45 EST

Gamers.com has posted a hands on preview of Deep Space Nine - The Fallen. Not much on sound but they mention that music and sound are faithful to the series, as are the weapon effects. They also note that these were sampled directly from the television show, which is a nice touch for helping to recreate the atmosphere of the Star Trek universe. I know that the demo supports DS3D, but the full game should support both A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX.Overall they think the game looks to be a winner. For all the reasons why check out the preview.

Terratec DMX XFire Review - Mark @ 02:39 EST

3D Audio Immersion has posted a review of the Terratec DMX XFire. This board uses the Crystal CS4624 chip which is the older sibling of the CS4630 that you will find in the Santa Cruz an Sonic Fury. In the review they note that they could not get the card's SPDIF out to work for AC3 passthru with the DTT3500 and speculate about the cause. Given that they did not say it worked with anything else I will add that perhaps the most likely cause is they tested the card in Win2k only, which currently poses general problems for AC3/dts pass-thru. Overall a very positive review resulting in a 9.3/10. Look for our own review of the DMX XFire in the future. Once we figure out how to finish our review of the Santa Cruz / Sonic Fury we should pick up the pace on a number of reviews. I expect that October and November will be packed full of new product reviews from us.

Roland ED SC-8820 and SC-8850 Review - Mark @ 02:27 EST

Hardware ONE's BK Toh has taken a look at Roland's ED Sound Canvas SC-8820 and SC-8850 and compared them to the Sound Blaster Live's MIDI quality. The review offers the following intro to the two devices:

The SC-8820 and SC-8850 share just about the same instrument set, with over 1,600 instruments. A nice feature they both share is the ability to switch to the instrument sets of the older Sound Canvas series so that MIDI files designed to play on the older modules would sound exactly the way they were programmed to do. Both units are designed primarily as PC/MAC USB devices and in my tests on PCs, work really well in this mode, allowing you access to all the features. They can also use the standard PC/MAC serial ports, or standard MIDI cables, if that is your preference.

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force Review - Mark @ 02:17 EST

EscapeMag has posted a very positive review of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. In fact its probably the most postive reivew of the game I have read as the reviewer thinks it's the best FPS game they have ever played! When it comes to audio they enjoyed the authentic sound effects from the TV show as well as the music. Here's a snip:

One thing that Star Trek has always been known for is the dynamic music that seems to some of the most memorable music ever composed. Anyone born in the ‘60s may know the original series’ theme, and anyone who has watched a Star Trek movie will know the modern theme from The Next Generation. The music is excellent. A personal favorite would be the theme playing during the credits after the final mission, very soothing to calm you down from the adrenalin rush of the final battle.

ATI Licenses DSP Core From 3DSP - Mark @ 02:10 EST

The is probably not really relevant but we will mention it anyway because they use the word "audio" ;)
3DSP Corporation and ATI Technologies, Inc. announced that ATI has licensed DSP technology from 3DSP. The SP-3 is a high-performance DSP core suitable for wireless data, audio and speech processing that is capable of a sustained DSP throughput of 400 million 16-bit multiply-accumulate instructions per second (MMACS), at a clock frequency of 200MHz. The SP-3 occupies 0.9 mm2 in a 0.18u process and consumes about 50 mW. The SP-3 is supplied as VHDL or verilog code, enabling ASIC or SoC designers to easily integrate the DSP subsystem and to target the design to any silicon foundry. For the full PR you can head over to Yahoo News. Thanks to Ironbar for the pointer.

WOW Thing Review - Mark @ 02:03 EST

C/Net has posted a review of SRS Labs' WOW Thing. They were faily impressed with the unit, but just as I would expect they find that it doesn't provide improvement to high-end speakers. What surprises me is they say it's difficult to tell the difference with higher-end speakers as I would acually expect it to degrade the quality of such systems. For all the details on this inexpensive device, check out the full review.

Thursday, October 05, 2000

Hard Truck 2 patch - Mikael @ 17:43 EST

A new patch for Hard Truck 2 has been released. Only sound related is "Fixes the problem with no sound in Windows Me. Not guaranteed for beta version of Windows Me.". The game supports 3D sound according to a review of it at 3DGameForces. No mention of that on the official site or anywhere else so hope 3DGameForces is correct.

LG DVD-RW Recorder features Spatializer N-2-2 Virtual Surround Sound - Mikael @ 17:38 EST

Spatializer Audio Laboratories has got another design win for their virtual surround sound technology, Spatializer N-2-2. This time LG Electronics that decided to include it with its new DVD-RW (read/write) recorder. Spatializer N-2-2 reproduces the spatial realism of 5.1 channels of Dolby Digital® through just two standard speakers. No idea how effective it is. You can find a bit more about Spatializer N-2-2 in the press release but no details on the DVD-RW recorder.

FrontX Multimedia Ports Review - Mikael @ 17:26 EST

Tech-Report has posted a review of FrontX Multimedia Ports, a system to relocate your sound card inputs such as gameport, microphone and line-in to the front of the PC. They think it worked fine but also mentions some improvements they would like to see. One improvement I would like to see is that the auto mute feature offered for the headphone input only mutes the front channels as the rear channels are not fed through the system. Certainly not a major flaw.
News Source: Blue's News

Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn review - Mikael @ 16:29 EST

A game that not only get great but excellent if not amazing reviews is Baldur's Gate 2 where most reviews seems to think it's easily the best RPG this year. The aurals also get nothing but excellent reviews from what I've seen. PlayNow's review of the game is no exception and they think both the game overall and the sound effects are a lot better than the original Baldur's Gate which certainly wasn't a bad game. Here's the sound bit:

Baldur's Gate 2 will certainly not disappoint in the audio stakes, with an engaging combination of appropriate sound effects and moody, dynamic backing music. Of particular note is the voice acting for the numerous NPCs you'll encounter throughout the game, which has just the right mix of humour, sincerity and emotion. From the half baked comical "ye olde" accents of common street thugs and foolish commoners, to the sly, malevolent, hate-filled tones of the game's true villains, everything falls right into place.

Metal Gear Solid review - Mikael @ 16:06 EST

Metal Gear Solid continues to get great reviews proving gameplay rules (it's a PSX port), the aural aspect of the game also get good reviews. GameRush's review of the game is no exception:

The game sound effects are very well done, the music is tense, adding a real sense of atmosphere to the proceedings and the effects like gunfire and footstep sounds are all very realistic, with the AI reacting to the sounds you make, everything is pretty realistic.

More Midtown Madness 2 reviews - Mikael @ 15:59 EST

Seems like almost every website intends to review this racing game from Microsoft. So far almost everyone is overall positive even though most of them don't think the game breaks any new ground, mostly slight enhancements to the original game. On the negative side most reviews are unimpressed with the sound effects but there is also, as you could see this morning, reviews that consider the audio excellent or at least great. This time 3 out of 4 reviews are not impressed with the sound effects.

IntelGamer:

The graphics are very well done considering the purpose of the game, but also taking that into consideration, the sound is lacking in luster. Music is absent all together, and a nice round of punk songs for London and maybe some hippy jams for Frisco would have been nice. The “entertainment” of various characters voicing their opinions to you throughout the game ended up annoying me to no end. My one big peeve about the game would have to be the sound of the cars being so docile in all conditions. Just imagine running full tilt down any road in your own car, wind blasting the windows, buffeting around your machine, engine screaming for a break in its relentless thrust to go that much faster for its driver. What you get, something like a kitty that’s maybe a little happy it got petted some, purrrrr……… Blah

NXT on the BBC - Mark @ 12:32 EST

There is an interesting article on the BBC web site on just where you may find NXT flat panel technology showing up. Here's a snip:

NXT, announcing figures in line with expectations, said it has almost completed efforts to develop from "a medium-sized hi-fi manufacturer to a global technology company".

DamlerChrysler on Thursday followed firms such as Akai, Phillips and Siemens in signing up to the firm's technology, which, through a 10 pence piece-sized gadget, allows certain surfaces, including plastic and glass, to act as loudspeakers.

The technology, which was discovered by scientists at the UK Defence Evaluation & Research Agency (Dera) in 1991 and used in the Eurofighter jet, will be fitted in Mercedes models being launched in 2004, NXT's chief executive David Pearson said.

Diablo II MP3 of the Week - Mikael @ 10:55 EST

Blizzard has released a new Diablo II MP3 of the week.
News Source: Blue's News

SSI Neo 35 (MP3 player) review - Mikael @ 08:40 EST

Cnet has posted a review of SSI Neo 35. The first product they've seen that could be described as a a car stereo, home stereo and software stereo, that is it can be used in your car, living room and PC. Here's a snip from the short review that should give you an idea how it accomplish this:

The Neo 35 is, in essence, a 10GB removable PC hard drive--that is, a hard drive with shock absorbers, complete MP3 playback circuitry, control buttons, and an LCD display. It's not as slick-looking as most consumer stereo equipment, but techies might appreciate the raw aesthetic. When installed in your PC, it acts like a normal hard drive, visible when you double-click the My Computer icon. Drag and drop your MP3s onto it (it can store more than 2,000 songs), and free up your PC's hard drive for other pursuits. Then, slide the Neo 35 out of the front of your powered-down computer and place it into one of the included docking stations. One is designed for your car's dashboard and the other for your home stereo; they supply power to the Neo 35, and the device supplies the docks with MP3 music. However, the device has no headphone jack, so you can't use it as a standalone, portable player.

BuzzNet 2000 tour to demo multichannel music with give-aways - Mark @ 08:11 EST

If you are on a US college campus you may be in for some aural excellence. A sneak preview of hot new music tracks created especially for the latest surround music formats is coming to select college campuses this fall during the BuzzNet 2000 tour. Sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), BuzzNet is an ``ears-on'' educational festival of new music listening technologies planned for U.S. colleges this year and next. Venice Underground, Big Phat Band, and Aaron Neville are among the artists whose music will be used at BuzzNet to demonstrate the total immersion quality of new high-resolution surround music playback technologies for homes, cars and headphones. According to the release, the new audio technologies demonstrated at BuzzNet, such as DVD-Audio, make music fans feel like they're sitting in the studio with the band. As part of the promotion thousands of dollars worth of new consumer audio equipment including complete surround music mini-systems will also be given away on the tour. For more details you can check out the press release on the tour and the press release on the prizes.

Ricoh Shipping New CD-R/RW/CD-ROM and DVD-ROM Combo Drives - Mark @ 07:49 EST

Ricoh's Disc Media and Systems Center Division (DMS-C) has announced immediate shipping for the fastest new CD-R/RW/DVD-ROM combination drive in the industry. Priced at $349 (MAP), the MP9120A (ATAPI) has 12X CD-R and 10X CD-RW recording speed, 32X CD-ROM and 8X DVD-ROM read speeds. Ricoh is one of only three companies manufacturing combination drives; the remainder of drives sold are through OEMs. The MP9120A will be available through Ricoh's CD online store, other major retailers, e-tailers, distributors, and through OEM channels. For more details as well as detailss on a new line of value-price CD-R/RW drives check out the full press release.

Midtown Madness 2 Review - Mark @ 07:44 EST

Firing Squad has posted a review of Midtown Madness 2, a game that supports 3D audio. Quite an extensive section on sound that's worth checking out. Here's a snip on sound effects:

Each vehicle has a distinct and very authentic purr or growl. The Panoz Roadster hums and sputters, the Fire-Truck has an ominous roar to it, and the VW Bug whines at high RPMs.
Cities of the world, particularly London and San Francisco, are howling symphonies of sound. You can hear police sirens, bums pan handling, loud music from apartments above busy streets, yelling, talking, laughing and screaming all at once. This feeling of chaotic sound was captured perfectly in Midtown 2.

Roar past a fellow too close and he will curse your existence. Slam into a car, and you will hear an audible, "I just paid this off man!" Ram into a pole and you will hear the chirps of electrical wires and the groaning of the steel forming together into a strange harmony.

Wednesday, October 04, 2000

Sound Blaster Live! DE 5.1 - Mark @ 19:58 EST

The Soundblaster.com site has been updated with information on another version of the new 5.1 Live cards. This one at least for now is only available in Asia and is called the Sound Blaster Live Digital Entertainment 5.1.

Nelson Piquet's Grand Prix Evolution Demo - Mark @ 19:55 EST

Lots of fun for racing fans today! The latest Grand Prix World Championship incarnation is something different now and you are one of the drivers. You'll have the chance to drive incredibly powered vehicles, up to 200k HP, these last generation "cars" are equipped with turbine engines that can easily reach 1200 Km/h, floating on a magnetic surfaced track with sudden turns, ups and downs and tunnels. The official site states that the game has ...DirectSound support for 3d positional sound with Doppler echo effect in hardware and software mode. You can grab the 28.8 MB demo from 3Dfiles and if you do, please send us your audio impressions.

Dirt Track Racing - Sprint Cars Demo - Mark @ 19:48 EST

Dirt Track Racing Sprint Cars (DTRSC) is a simulation racing game that follows on from Ratbag's previous title Dirt Track Racing. The sport of sprint car racing is among the most popular motor sports in the United States with over 700 tracks, and millions of spectators attending weekly race meetings. According to the demo info, DTRSC is the first game to capture the essence of sprint car racing. It realistically simulates the physics of these unique machines, with their distinctive angled wings and top speeds of up to 170mph. While there is no mention of DS3D with EAX support in the demo both the original Dirt Track Racing and Powerslide ahd that support so I expect the same here. If you check it please drop us a line. You can grab the 18.5 MB demo from 3Dfiles.

Micronas Chipset Enables MP3 Encoding - Mikael @ 16:58 EST

Micronas announced its latest MP3 chip enabling both decoding (playback) and encoding (recording) of music in digital MP3 format. Called MAS 3587F, the chip allows the development of MP3 recorder/playback products that do not have to rely on a PC or the Internet as the only source for MP3 music files. The MAS 3587F is priced at under US$12 in large quantities and will be available in volume production from beginning 2001. You can find more details in the press release

Iomega's HipZip Hits the Road - Mikael @ 16:53 EST

Iomega Corporation has announced the launch of the HipZip(TM) Digital Audio Player Demo Tour, an 18-city road trip to major Eastern and Western markets highlighting the new HipZip digital audio player for Mac® and PC users. The demo Demo Tour, which runs until Christmas, gives consumers a hands-on introduction to the HipZip player. You can check the press release for more info about the tour and the player. You could also check out the press release from last month when they announced the HipZip player.

DVD-Video Sets Milestone as 10 Millionth Player is Shipped - Mikael @ 16:19 EST

Ten million DVD-Video players have shipped to market, signaling the format's unparalleled acceptance among consumers in North America.
This level is reached faster than any other consumer electronics product in history, just three and a half years after its introduction. The DVD Entertainment Group announced this new milestone for the popular home video format at the annual DVD Forum meeting in Scottsdale. You can read the rest in the press release

Deus-Ex review - Mikael @ 11:05 EST

DigitalExtremists has published a review of Deus-Ex which they think is a ground breaking game due to the unique game play and amazing graphics. One aspect that's not ground breaking is the sound effects::

Honestly, nothing really ground breaking here. Good voice acting and lip synching with the characters, unlike in some games (Seemed like there was a soliloquy every cut scene in Vamprire The Masqurade, and they were badly voiced acted and synched). I can't really comment on the music in the game, as I usually turn that off to save processor power, and also to put on a CD to listen too as well.

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force review - Mikael @ 11:00 EST

3Drage has posted a detailed review of Raven's first person shooter, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force with the following short but positive bit on the sound and music:

Its seems that Elite Force has everything that pertains to the two main senses nailed perfectly, as both the visuals and sound are excellent. The musical score, like many high quality games of age, utilizes an ambient sound track that changes depending on the current locale and atmosphere(impending and immediate danger would be an example). The sound effects, just as the musical score, were wonderful, with the typical Trekkie sounds and great voice acting to move along the storyline.

Midtown Madness 2 review - Mikael @ 10:54 EST

PC SportsUpdate has published an overall positive review of Midtown Madness 2 but they were not that impressed with the sound effects:

The sound is simply put, good enough to get by. This game has never been about flashy sound so I didn't expect any groundbreaking leaps in sound here. The sounds actually remind me of the first game, which weren't terrible either. To put it simply, the sound won't detract from your experience.

Submarine Titans Map - Mikael @ 09:40 EST

Ellipse Studios has yet again released a new multiplayer map for its 3D sound supporting RTS, Submarine Titans
News Source: Blue's News

Blair Witch: Rustin Parr Review and Santa Cruz Giveaway - Mark @ 07:50 EST

GA-Source has posted a overall very positive review of Blair Witch: Rustin Parr. They were in particular very impressed with sound as you can see from the following snip:

This is an area where this game truly excels. I may say just TOO WELL. Sound effects bring out the atmosphere in this game like nothing you've ever heard before. The wind howls, doors creak, thunder from the well-timed lightning strikes will boom over your head, and the monsters guttural moans and groans will raise every goose bump you can possibly have on your body. The gunshots do leave a bit to be desired, and could've benefited with better oomph, but that's a minor nitpick, as they sound real.

Music is portrayed well in this game, and has a way of increasing your heartbeats. If you have heart problems, then turn the music off. Heck, if you're like me, turn the music off just so you won't jump so much!

The other bit from the GA family that I want to point out is a contest that GA-Hardware is running to give away five Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz boards! You can get the details from their contest page.

Shinco 868 DVD Player review - Mikael @ 07:20 EST

CD-R info has posted a detailed review of the Shinco 868 DVD Player. It is a region-free DVD player that can be found for less than $300. Key features includes support for MP3, Dolby Digital decoder, DTS (requires separate decoder), Built-in Sega Mega Drive and Zoom (2x, 4x). CD-R info thinks it's a great choice with great image quality and feature set. They also had some complaints, the most significant is issues with several Problems with some CDR and CDR-W media. One bit lacking in the review is tests of the audio aspect of the player with only comments about the Dolby Prologic support.
News Source: Anandtech

Rio 600 Review - Mikael @ 07:06 EST

Neoseeker has posted a review of S3/Diamond's Portable MP3 Player, the Rio 600. The reviewer have several complaints like the use of proprietary memory, it ships with only 32 MB, lacks several features like voice recording and remote control (available separately). Despite the complaints they still thinks it's the best overall player they used, thanks to good sound quality, the low price, ease of use and superb LCD display. Just like Nomad II it can support future formats thru firmware upgrades. Speaking of Nomad II it's no question the Rio600 is under featured but this reviewer thinks ease of use and lower price makes the Rio600 a better player.
News Source: Anandtech

256 MB CompactFlash cards will ship this year - Mikael @ 06:42 EST

Viking Components has announced the expansion of its flash memory line with the addition of the industry's highest capacity CompactFlash(TM) cards available, 192 and 256MB. Viking's new 192 MB and 256 MB CompactFlash cards will ship to resellers nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2000. You can find more details in the press release but unfortunately no mention of price.

Silverline Records starts shipping of DVD-Audio titles - Mikael @ 00:18 EST

5.1 Entertainment Group's Silverline Records has begun shipping the first available 24 bit / 96kHz DVD-Audio disc, ``Swingin' For The Fences'' by Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. A bit more interesting is that Silverline's sister label, immergent Records, will release Venice Underground featuring cutting edge guitarist, Peter DiStefano (Porno For Pyros) is scheduled for an October 10 release. I say more interesting since it's the first album recorded in 5.1 surround sound specifically for the DVD-audio format. Just like Warner Music Group Silverline will insure that all DVD player owners will be able to enjoy these music titles by including Dolby Digital surround options on every disc. They will also offer DTS audio tracks. You can find more details in the press release

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force review - Mikael @ 00:05 EST

Maximum3D has posted a very detailed and positive review of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Here's a snip on the sound and music:

With the advent of 3D audio, a new emphasis has been placed on game sound, and thanks to the excellent A3D support, Elite Force completely surrounds the gamer in Star Trek sound effects. Most of the sounds seem ripped straight from the series, and it was especially noticeable aboard the Scavenger spaceship. The Scavenger craft is comprised of several derelict hulls joined together into a makeshift base, and moving from one section to another reveals an entirely new set of sound effects. Weapons sounds are accurate, and fans should enjoy the ability to use the phasers on a setting other than stun.

Although I generally turn the music off in games because I don't feel it has a place in a pure action game (I'd rather listen to my own choice in music), Elite Force uses subtle background music that complements the game, and heightens the tension, just like a good movie. Like I have been saying all along, this game plays more like an episode, and the music simply adds the final element to complete the illusion. When I spoke with one of the developers at E3, he told me that the goal was to make the player feel as if they were living through an episode of the show. I would have to say that they have succeeded on all fronts

Tuesday, October 03, 2000

Midtown Madness review - Mikael @ 23:58 EST

A new review of Midtown Madness has popped up on Gamerspulse. As other reviewers they had a lot of fun playing hte game. When it comes to sound effects that got both bad and great reviews they were quite positive:

The sound was a pleasant surprise. The sound track is nothing really special, hardly even noticeable. The sound effects, on the other hand, were great, from the rumbling of a diesel engine to the wit and witticisms of your London cab instructor. The sound really makes you feel like a part of the environment. There are also different voice intros for each vehicle

KISS review - Mikael @ 23:52 EST

Outer-Edge has posted a review of KISS. The reviewer wasn't impressed with the game and especially not the sound effects, voice acting and music. Here's a bit on the sound effects and voice acting:

The sound effects are equally bad and obnoxious as well. The monsters "voices" are typical (the bad typical) with some annoying roars, screeches and clown laughs. Not one monster sounds scary, tough or impossible. For an action agme, the enemies need a good set of sounds to help personify them, something missing in Pyscho Circus. Along the same lines, the voice acting (what little there is), is not the best we have seen either. The main sounds I would classify as weak are the weapon sounds. For a FPS, these are some of the worst I have heard. Guns go off with little flair and make you feel pathetic for even caring them around. Swords cut through the air with a wimpy *swish* and a dund clang when they strike walls. The weapons look good, but the sounds really do not fit them and only act to confuse and disappoint.

Deus-Ex review - Mikael @ 23:46 EST

PC Game Review has posted an extremely detailed review of Deus-Ex which they think is an excellent game, especially the game play. Here's a snip from their comments about the sound and music:

The sound and music in Deus Ex is mostly incredible. Ambient noise reverberates in the background of many levels in the game, and the chatter and honking sounds in many of the urban locations help create a gritty, realistic background for this game (even though you don't see anybody or any moving cars or the streets). The techno music is appropriate for the game's settings, and the music changes to fit the situations that you are in. If you are just walking around without a gun, the music is complacent and soft, but when you are engaged in combat, the music heats up to match the fight that you are in.

Divinity, The Sword of Lies preview - Mikael @ 23:42 EST

Ga-RPG has posted a preview of the RPG Divinity, The Sword of Lies which they think shows a lot of promise. Here's a bit on the sound:

The Larian folks have really put a lot of attention into the game's sound. Pretty much everything in the game has a sound effect attached, and there are a lot of ambient sounds. The combination is sure to immerse your ears firmly in the game world.

The music system also adds a lot to this. Apart from the fact that Larian has more recorded music ready than they're ever going to fit into the game, they also have a dynamic music system. The music will reflect what's currently going on in the game. This is a bit more involved than a simple "start playing combat music when picking a fight"; it will react to weather, mood, area, action, etc...

SWAT 3 Elite Edition Gone Gold - Mark @ 17:55 EST

Avault reports that SWAT 3: Elite Edition, the multi-user version of the 3D tactical action game, SWAT 3, has been completed and is in duplication. Elite Edition offers online gaming, new missions, new weapons, and a complete suite of editing tools such as the level editor, scenario editor and mod selector. The original version of SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle is also included. For more on the Elite Edition you can check out a couple of interviews. Both are with with producer Rod Fung, one at Avault and the other at Stomped. The game is supposed to support 3D sound.

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Review - Mark @ 13:07 EST

Firing Squad has posted a review of Baldur's Gate 2 which includes an extensive section on sound, but unfortunately no mention of the EAX support that the game has. Here's a taste:

The Baldur's Gate II sounds are pretty much what they were in Baldur's Gate, Torment and Icewind Dale. Clang, clang, boom, argh. That's not to detract from the fact that they are still good sounds… just don't expect many new ones. There are some sounds that could use some updating, but those are few and far between. Most importantly, the sounds are functional and help you play the game as well as get into the mood.

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Review - Mark @ 13:01 EST

Gamer's Depot has posted a review of the Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Based on our own testing of the card this is one of the few reviews that appear to have extensively tested the card by playing a variety of games. All I would add is I don't think that the MIDI quality is as good as they do. It's worth noting that a lot of the issues that they make inferences to in the review are now known to Turtle Beach, who has promised to address them as soon as possible in a new driver release. Some of the issues also don't manifest in Win2K and the EAX 2.0 Win9x issues can be fixed by taking the tbcds3d.vxd file from the Win2k/WinMe drivers and placing it into the windows/system folder and rebooting. All that does is replaces a release candidate driver that mistakenly shipped with the card with the file that was supposed to be in the Win9x install in the first place...

First live Internet transmission of multichannel 24/96 audio - Mark @ 12:37 EST

Recently, for the first time ever a multichannel, uncompressed 24 bit, 96kHz audio was transmitted over Internet. A jazz band performed live in a concert hall at McGill University in Montreal. The recording engineers mixing the 12 channels of audio during the performance were not in a booth at the back of the hall, but rather 3000 miles away, in a theatre at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. World renowned recording engineers Bob Margoulef and Brant Biles created a 5.1 mix from the 12 audio channels of uncompressed 24/96 audio for an audience in the Norris Theatre at the USC School of Cinema and Television. While a lot of the info is on the actual transmission, there is also additional information from an audio perspective that you may find interesting. For all the details check out the full press release.

Warner Unveils First Releases in DVD-Audio Format - Mikael @ 06:26 EST

With a release date of November 7th, in time for the holiday shopping season, Warner Music Group (WMG) becomes the first of the major music companies to offer albums in the DVD-Audio format. The new format, which features Advanced Resolution(TM), multi-channel audio that dramatically enhances the listening experience, is the most significant industry format launch since the introduction of the CD nearly twenty years ago. All albums released from WMG labels will offer consumers the flexibility of being able to be played in three ways: first, in Advanced Resolution surround sound; second, in Advanced Resolution stereo; and third, for those who own a DVD-Video player but have not yet upgraded to DVD-Audio, DVD-Video compatible Dolby® Digital surround. This last feature will enable the discs to be played in the nearly 10 million DVD-Video players already in U.S. homes. You can find more details in the press release

It will be interesting to see if this will turn out to be a success or not. The improved audio quality they talk quite a bit of in the press release is not audible according to a couple test I've seen (that is read about).

TI's Next Generation DSP Delivers 3 Days Of Continuous Music Play - Mikael @ 06:17 EST

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) has unveiled the 4th generation programmable digital signal processor (DSP) and analog-based solution for Internet Audio products. TI's advanced battery management technology will enable up to 70 hours of Internet Audio playtime when running on only 2 AA batteries. The new chip set also offers the most complete system solution for Internet Audio applications, and will power new products expected in time for Christmas 2001. In the press release you will find plenty of details on this chip and also some predictions of the MP3 (and other Digital Audio Players) markets growth the next few years. You can also check out a News.com article for some quotes from TI about this upcoming chip

Cirrus Logic Purchases Patents From B&W Loudspeakers - Mikael @ 06:09 EST

Cirrus Logic announced that the company has purchased international patents and patents pending for Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) technology from B&W Loudspeakers, Great Britain's leading loudspeaker company.

The B&W patents will be used in conjunction with the large number of existing Cirrus Logic patents and technology advances in the company's new digital PWM line of amplifiers. Cirrus Logic claims that the PWM technology will dramatically improves sound quality and reduces cost and complexity of design for audio amplifier applications. You can find more details in the press release

Monday, October 02, 2000

Creative Nomad Jukebox Review - Mark @ 18:17 EST

T-Break has posted a very positive review of the Creative Nomad Jukebox MP3. This unit features a 6 GB hard drive instead of the 64/128MB RAM found on typical MP3 Players and offers a host of other nice features an 8MB DRAM buffer which provides around five minutes of shock protection which according to the review is very effective.

TreadMarks 1.5 Updated Demo - Mark @ 13:13 EST

There is an updated demo of the A3D 2.0 supporting tank battle game TreadMarks. No word as to what's new, but the demo has doubled in size when compared to the prior version. Grab it from 3Dfiles.

Crimson Skies - No 3D Sound? - Mark @ 13:08 EST

As you may have read, we expected 3D audio support for Crimson Skies. As Mikael mentioned earlier, in preliminary testing I thought I detected different sounds from the rear speaker vs the front, despite the fact that there is no option to enable/disable 3D sound in the game. This testing was with beta Santa Cruz drivers the game would crash after a few seconds of flight time. I have now tried the game with Creative's new Live 5.1 sound card and the game no longer crashes. This testing indicates that there is no 3D audio support in the game. Hopefully they live up to promises and release a patch to fix this. The overall sound quality is very good but would really benefit from 3D audio support. If you have any different results from me or if you can shed some light on what happened to the 3D promised 3D audio support, please drop us a line.

Sirocco Crossfire review - Mikael @ 07:44 EST

A new 5-page long review of VideoLogic's 4.1 speaker system Sirocco Crossfire has been posted on 3dspotlight. The reviewer thinks it's an excellent 4-speaker system. For a second and similar opinion you can check out our review or our Crossfire vs ProMedia comparison

ProMedia 3025 Speaker system review - Mikael @ 06:25 EST

Technoyard has posted a review of Diamond Audio's $80 2.1 system ProMedia 3025 as well as the $40 ProMedia 2012 and $30 ProMedia 2010. He thinks all three offer excellent sound quality for the price. All other websites that reviewed these system have come to the same conclusion with the notable exception of TargetPC that thinks they all sucks. If you haven't already you can check out out our (Mark's) review of the ProMedia 3025.
News Source: Anandtech

Baldur's Gate II review - Mikael @ 06:09 EST

Gamersdepot has posted a rather detailed review of Baldur's Gate II. They think it's an excellent RPG, the best so far this year. Here's an interesting bit about the sound:

The beefed up sound effects are another thing that Bioware has done to make this game even more immersive than the original. There was one area in particular where you're walking around in an extremely dark forest, and you have the sounds of old trees creaking all around you, along with other creepy sounds. A definite plus for those who own 3D sound cards, like the Sound Blaster Live.

Crimson Skies review - Mikael @ 05:54 EST

HavenGames has posted a short and very positive review of Crimson Skies with the following bit about the aural aspects:

The Sound
Wow, timeline specific and clean as you can ask for. The speech and gunfire in Crimson Skies is second to no flight sim to date. The explosions and gunfire put you back in an age of combat found nowadays only in history class. The crackling old radios and the deep enthralled pounding of your machine guns will win you over if you are a gaming sound addict at all.

Santa Cruz review - Mikael @ 05:46 EST

SharkyExtreme has posted a detailed review of Turtle Beach's Santa Cruz. They think it's an excellent card but with current drivers the Live has the edge. One issue they mention that I have not noticed is when using the 5.1 mode together with WinDVD 2.2 "it was determined that the signals were being sent to the wrong outputs (i.e. Center/Sub was being sent to Front/Rear)". This certainly does not happen all the time unless you enable Virtual 5.1. Mark notes that it has happended at times to him when switching back and forth between window and full screen mode but it's certainly not a problem as all he has to do is switch back and forth between windowed and full screen mode and the channels works correctly. Once they are working correctly they stay working correctly thoughout the movie/test.

News from September 25 - October 1, 2000

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