News: April 5 - April 11, 1999

Sunday, April 11, 1999

ALive Posts Heretic II EP A3D 2.0 Article - Mark @ 03:19 EST

Lee from ALive sent us an email about an article he has posted under the billing of "An Indepth Look at A3D2.0 with Heretic 2:EP". With all due respect, rather than an indepth look at A3D2.0 in the Heretic 2 EP IMO the article reads more like an editorial using the Hertic 2 EP as a platform to point out weakness, but not strengths, in the A3D 2.0 API and an article announced under this billing should cover the entire story. In the article Lee at one point says that its.."too bad there isn't a audio version of "Hypersnap" so that I can snap the audio effects down for comparision...". As someone who has been playing the Hertic II EP off and on since its been released in preparation for a full review of the title, I must say its too bad indeed. My perseptions of A3D 2.0 in the Heretic II EP and how it compares to the default audio are very very different in a positve way. Despite the occasional glitch, I am finding that A3D 2.0 adds greatly to the gaming experience in Heretic II. I fully expect that EAX support, when fixed in Heretic II, will also enhance the gaming experience. Isn't that what this is all about?.

At this point I am not going to get into it any further other than to say that in my opinion, based on my knowledge of A3D 2.0 and my experience playing the Heretic II EP, you should take some of what you get from ALive's Heretic II EP article with a grain of salt. I am really interested in feedback from people who have played the Heretic II EP on a Vortex 2 card. I am not excluding SB Live owners from the feedback here, but as Lee noted, the EAX support in the EP currently does not work.

Early Beta Vortex 1 Linux Driver - Mark @ 03:14 EST

I saw over at Aureal A3D Central that 4Front Technologies  is offering early an beta-1 verision of their Vortex 1 Linux driver.  You can check out their site and the readme file for more details.

SB Live and Windows 2000 - Mark @ 03:10 EST

BetaNews has posted an article on how to get your Sound Blaster Live working in Window's 2000.  Thanks to ALive for the pointer.

Bits & Bytes - Mark @ 03:07 EST

3DHardware has posted a review of the newly renamed  Cambridge Soundworks FPS1000 (formerly FourPoint Surrounds).  Thanks to Chris for pointing out a site aimed at sound developers called Sound Studio where they have posted a review of Sound Forge. Moving out of the sound front you can start by checking out the Future Games Network front end where there are links to a bunch a great sites.  Next, there is a Rage Magnum review over at WickedPC, a Monster Fusion review over at ExtremeHardware and a Logitec Gaming Mouse Review over at Firing Squad.

More on A3D 2.0 and Obstructions - Mark @ 02:52 EST

Thanks goes out to Aureal's Developer Relations Manager Skip McIlvaine for sharing the following email which he sent to MaximumPC in response to the recent article on Liveware 2.0 .

Regarding your April 8th "Inside Sources" article titled "Soundblaster Live! Drivers Refreshed," I wouldlike to comment on this statement

"Creative Lab's told us that even A3D doesn't support obstruction and support would require work. Aureal clarified this by stating they just don't support obstruction from moving objects. " I am not sure who exactly provided this clarification for Aureal, or exactly what they said, but I would like to clarify what appears to have become even more confused.

A3D 2.0 most certainly supports obstruction/occlusion for moving objects. To prove this I would suggest downloading the Wavetracing Test Applet at:

http://www.a3d.com/html/download/demos/
or
ftp://ftp.a3d.com/pub/Public/WavetracingDemo/a3dwavet.exe.

Move walls (which are the same things as objects, i.e., they are both represented by polygons) and listen for the very obvious obstructions / occlusions (or whatever you want to call it). The statement above is more a game of semantics - creating more confusion - than a clarification of the functionality of either's technology.  We currently support static and dynamic geometry effects and do so automatically via the application's existing geometry database. To claim that we do not support something that has been in public release for several months is disturbing. Creative themselves are only now addressing the need to provide controls to manually simulate obstruction. We have supported it all along and in what we believe to be a more usable and powerful way. (Our approach is to have the application specify geometry we automatically determine if each source is occluded/obstructed at any given time, and then automatically apply the appropriate rendering effect. With I3DL2 (formerly EAX 2.0), only this last step is taken on by the audio engine.) We have found developers to prefer our approach, as it involves little extra work on their part, since the geometry is already available via their game engine. They do still have full control over the effects generated, so we allow creativity as well as realism, and allow the developer time to concentrate on the art of audio development, rather than the mechanics of environmental controls.

I believe the I3DL2 spec may use different names for the interfaces in respect to walls versus objects, and thus this simple difference may lead to misconceptions about the functionality of A3D 2.0, which treats all geometry at a polygonal-level. The statement: "support would require work" simply means interface work is necessary to map our existing functionality to I3DL2 calls. We support, and will support, more features in regard to geometry-based rendering via A3D 2.0 than I3DL2 and EAX 2.0. Since no specifics on EAX 3.0 are currently available, we can't comment on how close to matching our functionality Creative may come in the future. As I mentioned, if anyone has doubts on our dynamic geometry processing (for both reflections and occlusions/obstructions), they can download the Aureal Wavetracing test applet (or the A3D 2.0 SDK) and see for themselves. We'd love to see Creative produce a matching demo for EAX, so users and developers can compare the effects, and work required to produce them.

Thanks.

Skip

Skip McIlvaine
Developer Relations Manager
Aureal

Interative Around Sound 2.0 this Fall - Mark @ 02:42 EST

Extreme Audio Reality (EAR) has begun development on Level 2 of their Interactive Around-Sound® (IAS) audio engine.

Ear on Games - Mark @ 02:33 EST

Seems like the grass roots movement on 3D sound is picking up steam and thats just great news when it comes to developers putting it on their priority list. This week its a new site called Ear on Games. They launch their new site with some Question and Answers with Lee Jackson of 3DRealms on Duke Nukem Forever and with reviews of the sound in Half Life, Sin and Ultimate Race Pro.

Thursday, April 8, 99

Altec Lansing ADA-305 Review
Posted by -Mark - 12:20 am EST

Thanks to Ben from WickedPC for the following note:

Altec Lansing found a place in the Wicked PC teams heart with their ADA-305 Digital PowerCube Speakers. We've reviewed them accordingly, and found them to be a kickass set of speakers, for a decent price of $158.71. The controls are USB only which was an interesting turn, and then also the surround effects made us quite happy.

So what are you waiting for? Go read the review

MaximumPC on Liveware 2.0
Posted by -Mark - 10:20 pm EST

Thanks to Lee from ALive for pointing out a MaximumPC article on Liveware 2.0. Here is one interesting bit:

Creative officials said. EAX 2.0 also includes support for occlusion (sounds being muffled behind a wall) and obstruction (sounds being blocked by objects).

Creative Lab's told us that even A3D doesn't support obstruction and support would require work. Aureal clarified this by stating they just don't support obstruction from moving objects.

SB Live! to Ship in Compaq Prosignia
Posted by -Mark - 12:55 pm EST

Creative Labs today announced that Compaq Computer Corporation   is offering Creative's award-winning Sound Blaster® Live! Value audio processor on its Prosignia Desktop PCs targeting small and medium business customers.  You can check out all the details in the press release.

Starsiege Review
Posted by -Mark - 12:25 pm EST

There's a big showdown between three main competitors in the giant robot (mecha) genre - Starsiege, Mechwarrior 3, and Heavy Gear 2 are all vying for attention in the market. Dynamix reaches retail first with its entry, Starsiege, formerly known as Earthsiege 3. How does it fare? Check out the review over at Thresh's Firing Squad and find out.  For more on the audio you can check out our interview from last summer with lead programmer Rick Overman

A few Reviews
Posted by -Mark - 8:00 am EST

Thanks to 3D Audio Immersion for pointing out Review Board's Xitel Platinum Review and thanks to Chris for pointing us to 3Dgaming's SB Live Value Review.

Wednesday, April 7, 99

Team Fortress Classic Released!
Posted by -Mark - 1:10 pm EST

Sierra/Valve have released the free multiplayer mod for the A3D 2.0/ EAX supporting Half-Life. You can download the patch from 3Dfiles.com.   The patch upgrades Half-Life to version 1.0.0.9, and on top of Team Fortress Classic, includes a few bonus maps, bug fixes and more.  If 3Dfiles is busy you can also try Planethalflife for more mirrors.  A reminder from Planethalflife that those of you that have the LAN Party version of Team Fortress Classic or any of the TFC press release versions installed are going to have to re-install Half-Life before you can install the upgrade

Vortex 2 boards to Ship in Sony VAIO Desktops!
Posted by -Mark - 12:55 pm EST

Aureal annouced today that two new VAIO brand desktops from Sony Electronics include Aureal’s Vortex®2 audio processors.  New VAIO Digital Studio machines with Vortex2 integration include the PCV-E518DS and the PCV-E314DS.  Sony’s PCV-E302DS and PCV-E308DS also include Vortex 1 processors.  Sony becomes the first manufacturer to design the Vortex2 audio processors directly onto a PC motherboard.  For more details you can check out the entire press release.

Video Logic Sonic Storm Pro Review and Contest
Posted by -Mark - 12:55 am EST

Simon King, our UK correspondent, has posted his review of Videologic's Sonic Storm Pro.  This PCI soundcard uses a chip from ESS and 3D technology from Sensaura.  We are also giving away a Sonic Storm Pro and a cool t-shirt from Sensaura. Details are at the end of the review.   Here is a quote from the review to wet your appetite:

What I'm trying to say is that the two-speaker algorithms on this baby are really quite good. It might be me, I am a bit of a freak, but whilst playing the provided demo - playroom, in full 3d graphics, far better visually than Aureal or Creative's efforts - the two speakers really had me going.

Tuesday, April 6, 99

New Chip From Aureal
Posted by -Mark - 12:55 pm EST

Aureal Semiconductor today announced the availability of the Vortex® AU8810 audio processor, a new digital audio accelerator for desktop and notebook PCs.   The AU8810 is the latest addition to Aureal's award-winning line of Vortex audio processors, with support for Aureal's A3DTM positional audio standard.    The new chip is a low-cost audio solution designed for the building of PC'99 compliant systems through the integration of audio and modem capabilities.

HTML Bug Fixed
Posted by -Mark - 12:55 pm EST

We recently had a nasty crash bug (now squashed) jump into our HTML code and want to apologize for any inconveniences.

Ultima 9 and EAX
Posted by -Mark - 7:55 am EST

Thanks to Jazar from Ultima Horizons for sending us the following information on the audio in Untima 9 that came by way  of an Ultima Ascension programmer (audball)

Without EAX, you won't get the echoes/reverberations. If you play the game with EAX, then turn it off, you'd sorely miss the effects it produces. However, for somebody who never hears the game with EAX, I doubt they'll think is sounds bad...

For some sounds, we have our Audio Engineers record in some echoes/etc., so those without EAX will get reverb (footsteps are a good example - if we detect you don't have EAX, we play the "echoing footstep on rock" sound instead of the "footstep on rock" sound.) We also have other ambient sounds used to set the mood of areas, etc., and those have reverb...

As for how much is enough, who knows. We'll playtest it out and add what's needed and fits into the schedule (it's a typical time/results tradeoff).

There's more good info over at Ultima Horizons so why not pay them a visit?

EH Online
Posted by -Mark - 7:55 am EST

Vince over at Extreme Hardware asked us to let you know that a new edition of the popular EH Online column (formerly known as Hardware Therapy) has been posted and it covers quite a few juicy subjects.

Monday, April 5, 99

Terratec Audio System EWS 64 S Review
Posted by -Frank - 9:33 am EST

3Dhardware just posted a review of the Terratec Audio System EWS 64 S.

The Digital Xtension R is something in style of the Sound Blaster Live! Digital connector, and offers TOS-Link optical and S/PDIF coaxial stereo digital audio inputs and outputs, offering a 44.1 kHz sample rate. This makes the EWS 64 S perfect for editing content targeted at MiniDisc,

CD or MP3. The ReceiverSystem ActiveRadio Upgrade is (not more than) a card allowing Right around now you should have noticed the board is targeted towards home musicians, but I strongly advise gamers to keep on reading, this baby packs a share of gaming goodness as well.

New Aureal Press Release
Posted by -Frank - 9:25 am EST

Aureal Semiconductor Inc., leaders in digital audio imaging, today announced plans for a multi-step program designed to provide additional capital for company growth, restructure Aureal's capital framework to enable it to qualify for listing on the Nasdaq national market, and provide additional liquidity for its investors.

Click to Read Press Release

Labtec 2414 Speaker Review
Posted by -Mark - 1:55 am EST

Steven over at 3D Audio Immersion has posted a review of review of the Labtec 2414 speaker system. Here is a snippet of the review:

Now, for the budget minded individual that still wants some pretty decent stuff (who doesn't) Labtec has introduced the LCS-2414 speaker set. Sporting a very sleek design, and the new black subwoofer, it looks good

New IAS Drivers
Posted by -Mark - 1:55 pm EST

Just as promised, Extreme Audio Reality has released new IAS drivers bringing the IAS component up to 1.55. Here is a snip from their site:

We updated the IAS audio engine today to 1.55; the changes made were minor, however Aureal A3D users should grab the latest version (since the component now recognizes the 2.05 a3d.dll).

News from April 4th

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