News:  February 7-13, 2000

Sunday, February 13, 2000

Windows 2000 drivers FAQ from Creative - Mikael @ 05:18 EST

Habacuc just let me know that Creative in Japan posted a Windows 2000 drivers FAQ. I can't read any Japanese but Habacuc forwarded the following partial translation of the FAQ that Tentacle posted in the Live newsgroup

Creative Labs Japan have announced about their sound card on Windows 2000.
(I translated to English.)

Q: Which sound card does work on Windows 2000?
A: The following sound cards does work on Windows 2000.
Sound Blaster Live! series.
Sound Blaster PCI series.
Creative Vibra series.
Creative Ensoniq audio PCI series.
Sound Blaster 16 series.
Sound Blaster AWE32 series.
Sound Blaster AWE64 series.

The drivers are included on Windows 2000 CD,
so you don't need to install new driver to work
your sound card.
These drivers support only basic feature such as
MIDI, CD and WAVE playing and recording, and
using for mediaplayer included in Windows 2000.

Q: Does Creative Labs support WDM (Windows driver model) driver?
A: We scheduled WDM drivers for the following sound card.
Sound Blaster Live! series. (End of Feb)
Sound Blaster PCI series. (Beginning of April)
Creative Vibra series. (End of April)
Creative Ensoniq audio PCI series. (Beginning of April)

Q: Present Livewave! for Win9X/NT does work on Windows 2000?
A: We scheduled available downloading for Livewave! for Windows 2000 from our web.
The Livewave! for Windows 2000 is equivalent Liveware! 1. (It is like as initial released Liveware! 1 for Windows 9X/NT)Sorry for my english, I'm from Japan.

Saturday, February 12, 2000

Boston Acoustics BA4800 Review - Mark @ 18:42 EST

GameSpot has posted the first review I have seen of the new Boston Acoustics BA4800 which is Boston Acoustics' first entry into the 4 speaker market and they really like them! My comments are limited to methodology of sound level testing. The review measures sound pressure level (SPL) incorrectly if they want to make a direct comparison to what Boston Acoustics claims in the specifications. SPL is commonly done with a 1 kHz test tone at 1 meter from the speakers (Boston Acoustics official specs were done at 0.5 meter) and not with a Bruce Springsteen CD ;) so the results from Born in the USA should not IMO be compared directly to BA's own tests. Having said that, I agree that real world testing like Bruce Springsteen CDs is still very interesting to see since we don't all sit around listening to 1 kHz test tones in our spare time. Still on the topic of SPL, its worth noting that its not just the ProMedias and BA4800s that can pump out high volumes. If you read our review of Videologic Crossfire and DigiTheatre you will see what I mean. The same is true of Altec Lansing's ACS56 (full review coming soon) and several other systems that can pump out high volumes. What separates the systems is not just loudness but how good they sound at those high volumes. The BA4800 review also reports that the subwoofer registered 120 dB when watching a DVD but don't say if they had the sound level meter stuck 6 inches from the sub or if it was at a normal listening level. Anyway, enough griping about testing methodology. Here is a snip which gives their answer to the question many of you will be asking:

On some musical material, the ProMedias demonstrated a deeper sound stage; but on other material, the Boston Acoustic speakers seemed to have greater definition and clarity. Interestingly, despite the beefy amplifier on the ProMedias, it was easy to drive them into distortion at levels more than 100db. If you're contemplating slightly more expensive speakers, either will satisfy - but the BA4800s take up less room and sell for $50 less.

Live Linux FAQ updated - Mikael @ 18:20 EST

Creative's Open source site posted the following bit a couple days ago

February 11, 2000: Updated the links and docs pages with some new URLs. Also updated the FAQ

3D audio for Linux? - Mikael @ 18:12 EST

Loki's Scott Draeker had the following to say about it in an interview with Game Daily

We've got an announcement coming up at [Game Developers Conference] with several other people in the traditional gaming world for a open-source cross-platform 3D positional audio API and library. I think this is just the beginning. I believe we will see more and more of the gaming industry driven by things coming out of open source. In the future, I see compiling games on Linux and doing all the animation on Linux. If there is a Windows version of the game, I think it will have been ported over to Windows. Loki would like to play a part in that.

A3D 3.0 SDK available for download - Mikael @ 17:53 EST

Just saw at A3D.com that you can now download the A3D 3.0 SDK in case you are interested to develop some games supporting A3D 3.0 or just want to know a bit more about A3D 3.0 (5 MB). Could also check out Aureal's developer site.

New wHeretic Build - Mark @ 10:05 EST

Thanks goes out to Rob of Raven-Games for letting us know that he has posted a new wHeretic build (build 7). He says that this new build has added support for looping sounds which greatly improves performance over the previous build. In case you missed it before wHeretic uses the A3D 2.0 engine for sound (no wavetracing) if you have Heretic can now play it in full 3D sound glory! For lots more on wHeretic and build 7 head over to the offical site.

With new tools, the song is not the same - Mark @ 09:57 EST

Thats the title of a interesting article on the changing face of digital by Tom Moon, the Philidelphia Inquirer Music Critic. The article looks at the growing popularity of music creation programs like Mixman, ACID and what impact its having on the music you can find on the net. Here's a snip:

With the help of a new generation of easy-to-use software programs, this musical decoupage artist simply snipped and rearranged bits of pre-existing sounds, fashioning an original work from a menu of options.

"The current technology allows someone without any musical knowledge to effectively collage together music out of other people's music," says Thomas Dolby Robertson, the recording artist and software pioneer whose company, Beatnik, develops Web music applications.

Forget about home studios and samplers. Increasingly sophisticated software and a slew of new beat-generating synthesizers have further democratized music-making, putting professional production tools in the hands of anyone, no formal training required. It doesn't even cost much: Some of the software can be had for 49 bucks.

"It's trickled down to street level," Dolby says, explaining that five years ago, studio gear that does what the new Mixman software does would have cost more than $20,000. "That is definitely empowering."

New Sound Cards - Mark @ 09:43 EST

Well I can't say how new they really are and in the case of the Addonics SV6000. This is a Fortemedia FM801 based card that has 6 analog outputs and comes bundled with PowerDVD to do the Dolby Digital decoding chores. Its also comes with 6 speakers to match (lower end). We are working on reviews of the Best Data Theatrix and Skywell Magic Sound Live which use the same board so will have more to say about these card in general in the near future. Addonics also has a range of other 2 and 4 channel sound cards based on chips like the Trident 4DWave NX and Yamaha YMF744, both of which we have covered in the following recent reviews:

Hoontech SoundTrack Digital-NX

Trident 4DWaveNX Reference Board

Hoontech SoundTrack Digital-XG

Anandtech Speaker Survey - Mark @ 09:22 EST

This survey is now complete but the results that are posted are interesting none-the-less with Cambridge Soundworks and Altec Lansing being the systems Anandtech readers expressed the most interest in seeing reviews for. We might run something here to see if and how the results differs when based on your views. I wonder if Klipsch was down in their poll because they already have a review posted or people don't recognize the name as something they should be interested in?
News Source: Alive

Altec Lansing Speaker Sale - Mark @ 09:13 EST

We have not heard these systems so can't comment on their quality but Altec Lansing is offering three of their older TV Set-Top home theater Dolby Prologic (ADA104) and Dolby Digital (ADA105 and ADA106) systems at greatly reduced prices. You can check it out at their site.
News Source: ALive

Friday, February 11, 2000

A3D 3.0 and A2D Drivers Released - Frank @ 23:45 EST

Aureal today released A3D 3.0 drivers for A3D based cards and A2D drivers for non A3D based cards. You can check out more info at their drivers page.

Two new A3D games - Mikael @ 12:10 EST

Aureal has added Psygnosis' Overboard! and Activision's Return to Castle Wolfenstein to their A3D list. Return to Castle Wolfenstein uses the Quake3 engine and will support A3D 2.0 when it ships late 2000 according to Aureal while Overboard is already available and supports A3D 1.X. You can grab the demo of Overboard from Psygnosis.

Better music in Final Fantasy VIII? - Mikael @ 12:03 EST

Topper made a post in our forum about a project of making a better soundbank than the one that's included with Final Fantasy VIII. Hyun Min Park gave us the pointer to the original source for this message, a thread on the Final Fantasy Online forum, where you will find a lot of people that already thinks the new soundbank is much better than the one included with Final Fantasy VIII.

Thursday, February 10, 2000

Jake Simpson on SofF, etc. - Mark @ 20:17 EST

Raven's Jake Simpson made a rather large .plan update today covering lots on the upcoming Soldier of Fortune and then some. The .plan includes the following bit on sound:

I think in terms of hardware compatiblity we are pretty well there. A3D is now going to be A3D 3.0 rather than just 2.0, and
we are tweaking out the sound maps for EAX listeners.

Teac Powermax 2000 Reviewed - Mark @ 18:21 EST

Another review in French for you from Hardware.fr. This time they test the Teac Powermax 2000 which is a Dolby Digital 5.1 system with the front, surround and center speakers having 3" drivers powered by 15 watts RMS each and a subwoofer with a 6 1/2" driver powered by 45 watts RMS. If you don't speak much French you could try Altavista's Babelfish but as Mikael noted the other day, I wouldn't suggest you buy anything based on reading a review using Babelfish :-).

Clusterball will support A3D 2.0 - Mikael @ 08:21 EST

Vortex of Sound found out that Clusterball from Daydreams (booring ones if you ask me :-) will support A3D 2.0.
Check out the official website for more info about this game.

Creative's DeskTop Theater 5.1 vs. Altec Lansing's ACS 48 - Mikael @ 08:14 EST

Sort of odd round up but this is exactly what 3D GameForces has done, posted a comparison between Cambridge Soundworks (part of Creative) DD 5.1 system, DeskTop Theater 5.1 (not DTT2500) and Altec Lansing's 3-piece system ACS48. I doubt either one of these systems are still widely available, they are certainly not what Altec Lansing and Creative are spending any marketing on now anyway.

Not surprisingly he come to the conclusion that the DeskTop Theater 5.1 was better for Dolby Digital 5.1 movies and 4-speaker gaming but not an audiophile system while the ACS48 was great for music and other basic stereo sound. I disagree a bit on his Desktop Theater 5.1 comments since I don't think the sub is that bad, not that great for music but certainly ok for gaming and DVD movies. When it comes to the sats it's important to note that the center is of clearly better quality than the other and as I recall they don't have much high-end. Could check out my almost a year old review of the system if you want to know more of my impression.
News Source: Anandtech

Aureal SQ2500 Review - Mark @ 08:07 EST

Gamefan has posted a review of Aureal's Vortex 2 SQ2500 and they were quite impressed. Just a couple of comments. First off, EAX does not require four speakers to be effective because its not a positioning API. EAX is an extension to DS3D which in turn uses what ever hardware you have to do the positioning. They also note that Descent 3 only supports EAX. That's not the case as Descent 3 supports A3D 2.0 with wavetracing as well as EAX. Its also worth noting that Aureal is very close to releasing new drivers that will add EAX and I3DL2 support to all Vortex 2 cards. For more on the SQ2500 you can also check out our own review.
News Source: Aureal A3D Central

Hy-Tek Personal Jukebox Review - Mikael @ 07:34 EST

GameWire has posted a review of Hy-Tek Personal Jukebox which is an MP3 player with 4.86 GB storage and carries a price tag of about $700-800. Here's a snip

It weighs 10 ounces, which is about 4 times as much as the Diamond Rio p500. It's also quite a bit larger than any other mp3 player; almost the size of a palm pilot at 150 x 26 x 80mm (width x height x depth). It's not unwieldy though, it can fit in almost any pocket, and the leather case has a strong clip on it, so you can clip it to your pants and not have to worry about it falling off.

Demo of The Rift - Mikael @ 07:26 EST

A demo of The Rift has been released. The full game is slated to support DS3D but not sure about the demo. You can grab the 16.6 MB small demo from 3dfiles. Here's a description of the game

Either Earth was wrong, or they lied.......
As ex-black marketeer Jacob Viscero, stowaway aboard the colony vessel Copernicus, your 15 year journey has just completed. Now aboard your temporary home, the space station Deliverance, the sensor data has been analyzed.

The habitable world that was your destination does not exist.

Take command of 75 unique vessels from 3 radically different races. Your mission is to lead the Proximan colonists to safety, back to Terra to bring your vengeance to bear on those who have betrayed them.

Mortyr Patch - Mikael @ 07:20 EST

HD Interactive released a patch for Mortyr with only one fix. If you have a Pioneer CD/DVD drive and are having problems with the game this patch should fix it. You can grab the patch from HD Interactive's site. If you haven't bought this A3D 1.x and DS3D with EAX supporting game yet you can grab it from Gamestop where you will also find quite a bit of info about the game.
News Source: 3dfiles

Wednesday, February 09, 2000

Hype: The Time Quest Patch - Mark @ 19:11 EST

Ubisoft has released a patch for the A3D 1.x supporting, Hype: The Time Quest. This 4 MB patch corrects some Voodoo3 issues and some graphical D3D issues. You can grab it from 3Dfiles. You can also grab the 33.8 MB demo from 3Dfiles or buy it online for only $29.95 from Gamestop where you can also read lots more about the game.

Cirrus Logic Supports New Intel Communications Interface - Frank @ 14:14 EST

Cirrus Logic Inc. announced yesterday the unveiling of its CNR audio reference design board. Deployed to support the use of the popular Crystalr AC 97-compliant audio codecs in a CNR-compatible design, the immediate availability of the new reference board highlights Cirrus Logic's commitment to maintain its worldwide market leadership in audio ICs.

Whole World Listens as New DVD Arrives - Frank @ 14:09 EST

Dolby Laboratories today announced in its press release, the long awaited distribution of its new DVD, ``We've Got the Whole World Listening.''

Following on the heels of the incredibly successful ``DVD Demo and Test Disc,'' Dolby Laboratories has created a brand new disc specifically designed for the consumer. The new disc contains six of Dolby's theatrical trailers and the Dolby Digital ``Game'' trailer included in PC titles utilizing that technology.

Voyetra Turtle Beach Buys Digital Array Software and Hardware Technology - Mark @ 13:42 EST

This PR sheds some light on what else will be inside the box that contains Turtle Beach's upcoming Santa Cruz 5.1 soundcard.
Andrea Electronics Corporation announced yesterday that Voyetra Turtle Beach, Inc. has agreed to purchase Andrea Electronics' patented Digital Super Directional Array (DSDA(TM)) microphone and digital speech enhancement software technologies to operate with the next generation Turtle Beach proprietary digital signal processor (DSP) based Santa Cruz sound cards. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Andrea Electronics will supply differentiating microphone technology and Turtle Beach will act as the marketing and distribution arm to its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and retail customer base, providing end-users a high-quality audio input processing solution for various speech-centric applications. Andrea Electronics and Turtle Beach will also dedicate product development resources toward the integration of Andrea Electronics' AudioCommander(TM) microphone control software with Turtle Beach's sound card user interface. In addition, the two companies will work together to incorporate versions of Andrea Electronics' proprietary digital software algorithms powered by either a Pentiumr processor or the Santa Cruz DSP sound card. For some quotes from both parties and some additional information on Andrea Electronics you can check out the press release.

CD-ROM & DVD drive optimization tips - Mikael @ 07:49 EST

3D Spotlight just let us know they put up a 5 page article that will optimize your CD-ROM & DVD drive performance. The CD optimizations are mostly about using CD-Quick cache and enable DMA mode while the DVD optimizations they use DVD Genie which is a program that allow you to tweak the settings of your DVD player. In the DVD setting they mention

Use LFE decoding - Used with high quality speakers this will give a more dynamic sound. On low quality speakers it could damage them."

Live and Win2k - Mikael @ 02:38 EST

Thanks To Anthony and Ruben for letting us Know about the following post in the Creative newsgroup

Hi, Anthony

We will be publishing a FAQ with detailed information on the status of our
driver development under Win2K in a few more days.

There will be a Live!Ware 4 before too long, as well.

Chris Owens
Creative Labs, Inc.

Croc 2 demo - Mikael @ 02:38 EST

A 31 MB demo of the DS3D with EAX supporting Croc 2 has been released. You can grab the demo from Avault where you will also see the following description of the game

Croc's back in an exciting new adventure as he searches for his long lost parents. But the search soon becomes a showdown as Croc's archenemy, Baron Dante, is magically resurrected by his evil Dantinis. Join Croc's journey as he explores over 40 levels within four Gobbo tribe villages, each packed with unique Gobbos, mischievous monsters, and tons of surprises.

Creative Technology news from CNET Singapore - Mikael @ 02:34 EST

CNET Singapore has the following 3 articles that you may find interesting

1. Creative Technology opens Aust & NZ office
   
2. Creative Technology shares post biggest gain in three years
   
3. Creative expects US$100m sales from new MP3 player

Tuesday, February 08, 2000

Scientists show off plastic muscles - Mark @ 23:58 EST

Thanks again goes out to Thanks to Josh of The Tech Report for pointing an article on MSNBC titled, Scientists show off plastic muscles. Aside from the general interest nature of the story there actually is a tie in to sound! According to the article the new research, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, focuses on electroactive polymers - plastics that can expand or contract in response to an electrical charge. SRI researcher Ron Pelrine, the study's lead author, said the findings could bring the development of low-cost plastic actuators to a whole new level. Pelrine and his colleagues - Roy Kornbluh, Qibing Pei and Jose Joseph - said the new materials and techniques could improve existing devices, such as pumps and motors, valves and generators, robot actuators, inkjet printers and yes you guessed it...flat-panel loudspeakers. According to Pelrine, if the technical and business issues are resolved, commercial applications using prestrained plastic could be on the market in as little as two or three years. There is lots more non-sound related stuff to this interesting article.

Rainbow Six and 3D sound - Mikael @ 23:31 EST

I earlier mentioned that I wasn't sure if Rainbow Six supported DS3D or not but Greg Stelmack (Software Engineer at Red Storm Entertainment) just dropped a note confirming that Rainbow Six shipped with support for DirectSound3D as of DirectX5 while the sequel Rogue Spear shipped with DX6 DirectSound3D & EAX2 support.

Drakan 445 Patch - Mark @ 23:13 EST

Sureal has released the 445 patch for the A3D 1.x and DS3D with EAX supporting Drakan: Order of the Flame. Nothing audio related but a full list of the changes/fixes is available at Surreal. WARNING: This patch will invalidate your old saved games. If you want to continue to use your old single-player saved games and still get the single-player fixes, please keep the 444 patch. Patch 445 is recommended mainly for multiplayer users. Grab it from 3Dfiles.

DTT2500 Review - Mark @ 22:59 EST

TBreak has posted a review of Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 Dolby Digital system. Just a couple of minor comments. The reviewer notes that he would have liked to have seen 8 meter wires for the rear speakers but IMO the DTT2500 is not well suited for use in a room large enough to need 8 meter wires as its just not powerful enough to fill a large room. It appears the review would disagree with me as he concludes that:

Again, the DTS proved that it's a great companion to your computer's DVD player, producing audio as good as any 5.1 home theater solution. I compared the speakers to my Sony 5.1 setup in my living room and to tell you the truth, I couldn't tell the difference between the two. Full marks to the DTT2500.

Best Data Theatrix Review - Mark @ 22:15 EST

Thanks to Josh of The Tech Report for pointing out a review of the Best Data Theatrix sound card over at Got Apex. This card uses Fortemedia's FM801 chip and the one thing we should make clear up front is despite the impression you will get from reading the review, this card has no Dolby Digital decoding capabilities. Given that its not even bundled with software DVD player (unlike Skywell's Magic Sound Live that comes with WinDVD) Best Data IMO should not make the claim of offering Dolby Digital 5.1 support since it does not give you anything more than two channel discrete playback for DVDs out of the box! The card offers 6 analog outputs plus a COAX SPDIF out. Once you have the appropriate software DVD player (which I can only assume is what the reviewer at Got Apex has since its not mentioned in the review) the AC3 decoding will take place via that software DVD player (and not via the card) and if you have one that supports the FM801 then you get to use its 6 analog outputs or alternatively you have a Dolby Digital / DTS receiver that you connect via the Theatrix's COAX SPDIF output. Based on my testing of the similar Skywell Magic Sound Live I can say that the 6 speaker output only works for DVDs - that is for gaming you just use the normal 4 speaker outputs. Its also worth noting that while its not a top notch gaming card its not as bad as the reviewer makes it out to be. Mikael now has the Theatrix so look for lots more from us on this and the Magic Sound Live in the coming weeks.

J. River's Media Jukebox is the Fastest Player - Mark @ 21:56 EST

Thats what J. River says in today's announcement. Specifically they announced that the latest version of Media Jukebox (Vers.2.1), a player/organizer for mp3 and other media files, now launches up to 2 1/2 times faster and imports files at least 14 times faster than its closest commercial competitors, MusicMatch(TM) and RealNetworks RealJukebox(TM). This responsiveness is the same, even with a large number of files. Internal tests were completed on a variety of PC's running Windows. Media Jukebox has the distinction of being free, yet has features and functionality that exceed those of similar players costing over $100 (according to the release). A complete list of Jukebox features and a free download of the software can be found at www.musicex.com. The one problem with these tests or at least the details presented in the announcement is it looks like they were done in-house. Thats not to say the results are wrong but they lack the creditibility that clear 3rd party testing would offer. I am also not sure just what software players are out there that cost over $100 but perhaps they are looking at CD burning software as well MP3 ripping and playing since the Media Jukebox does include a CD writer tool that "burns CD's with two clicks of a mouse".

Top selling games at Gamestop - Mikael @ 05:02 EST

Here's the top selling games at Gamestop last week that support some form of 3D sound and/or EAX. The links will get you to Gamestop's page for the game where you can find a lot more info about the game.

1. Final Fantasy VIII (EAX)
   
2. Unreal Tournament (A3D 2.0 with wavetracing and DS3D with EAX)
   
3. Planescape: Torment (EAX)
   
4. Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear (DS3D with EAX)
   
5. Quake III Arena: Elite Edition (A3D 2.0 with wavetracing)
   
6. EverQuest (DS3D with EAX and A3D 1.X)
   
7. Half Life Game of the Year Edition (A3D 2.0 with wavetracing and DS3D with EAX)
   
8. Rainbow Six Gold Edition (DS3D)
   
9. Half-Life: Opposing Force (A3D 2.0 with wavetracing and DS3D with EAX)
   
10. System Shock 2 (A3D 1.x and DS3D with EAX)
    

Sony MZ-R55 MiniDisc Recorder Review - Mikael @ 04:47 EST

Sharky Extreme has posted a review of Sony's MD, MZ-R55. They complain a bit about the price [$350) and short battery life (4 hours) but still thinks it's one of the best options in Nort America. The review also includes some details on why you should consider buying a portable MD player instead of a portable MP3 player.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Creative Nomad 64 MP3 Player Review - Mikael @ 04:46 EST

PC Game World has wrote down their impressions of the Nomad 64 MP3 Player from Creative. Here's a snip

Basically, the Nomad is near perfect, and compared to the competition, it offers the most bang for the MP3 buck. Though some MP3 players have more memory, and others use the USB port, none have both a voice recorder and a FM tuner. At least, none that I have come into contact with. If you are looking for a MP3 player, the Nomad is, in my opinion, one of two choices. Compared to its #1 competition, the Diamond Rio 500, the Nomad is a lot smaller, has more features, and has a bit better sound. Sure, the Rio has USB connectivity and a backlit display (the Creative people's quote must be, "Doh!" on forgetting that), but the Nomad is much easier to handle, sounds better, and, yes, looks cooler. That's enough for me.

Liveware 3 for Windows 2000 update - Mikael @ 04:13 EST

NT Compatible has posted yet another update on how to install Liveware 3 for Windows2000.
News Source: 3DAI

Digitally Enhanced Headsets Turn PCs into Audio Control Center - Mikael @ 04:08 EST

Plantronics yesterday unveiled the first digitally enhanced microphone and stereo speaker USB headsets for the PC. The new family of headsets will utilize Digital Signal Processing technology and software features/tools to offer crystal clear sound that makes listening to CDs and MP3 music files, using voice chat and Internet telephony, playing games online, and using speech recognition software totally new audio experiences. The headsets will connect to the USB bus and a soundcard won't be required. Plantronics will be offering four new digitally enhanced PC headsets that will all be available this fall: Speech Headset, Music Headset, Traveler Headset and a Gaming Headset. The gaming headset will come bundled with software for voice recognition, Internet telephony and Internet chat, as well as software for playing CDs, MP3 files and a popular multimedia game. For more about this headset and the 3 others check out the press release.

New DJ Mixing Boards with SRS Labs' 3D Sound Technology - Mikael @ 03:58 EST

SRS Labs 3D Sound technology has won a design implementation in a new product set -- professional DJ Sound Mixers. The 3D Mix and 3D Mix Pro, designed/developed by Peavey Electronics Corporation, represents the first SRS 3D Sound implementation in a DJ Mixer product. Peavey is one of the nation's largest manufacturers of musical instruments and portable sound equipment. You can check out the press release for more details.

Altec Lansing ATP3 review in French - Mikael @ 03:33 EST

Hardware fr has posted a review of Altec Lansing's 3-piece system ATP3. I think this is the first review of the ATP3, it's the first I've seen anyway. The same site has posted several other speaker reviews including DigiTheatre, Crossfire, Sirocco Spirit, FPS2000 and DTT2500 for those of you that don't mind/prefer reading reviews in French. If you don't speak much French you could try Altavista's Babelfish but I wouldn't suggest you buy anything after reading a review using Babelfish :-).

If you want some English info about the ATP3 you could check out the press release from last month when Altec announced the shipping of the ATP3. You can then check out the review to at least see how a system "designed and engineered for the new millennium" looks like.

Week in Review - Mikael @ 03:17 EST

We have posted our latest edition of the 3D Audio Week in Review covering January 31 - February 6. This weekly newsletter covers new driver releases, games, patches and demos that support 3D sound including information on any new bugs, bug fixes and other tips. The newsletter now also includes links to all sound related hardware reviews on the web as well as updates on what we did and what we plan to do in the coming week. The 3D Audio Week in Review is a great way for busy people to be right on top of all latest in the PC audio world.

Monday, February 07, 2000

SB Live! Platinum Review - Mark @ 21:46 EST

Cole 3D has posted a very positive review of Creative Labs' SB Live! Platinum. You can also check out our own review of the Live! Platinum Americas Edition or European Edition.
News Source: AGNHardware

UT Voices Tutorial - Mark @ 21:26 EST

The German site UT World has published the English version of their tutorial on how to use your own sound files as voices in the A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX supporting Unreal Tournament.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Indiana Jones Patch - Mark @ 21:20 EST

LucasArts has released a new patch (v1.2) for their DS3D supporting Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. Here's the scoop on the patch from Lucas Arts:

This update incorporates Update 1.1. Installing this update will solve problems regarding RETURN TO PERU and catching
that rascal Volodnikov in NUB'S TOMB.

- Possible failure of the control configuration dialogue box to function properly has been repaired.
- Possible failure of all levels to open properly and to display the correct field of view when they do open has been repaired.
- Possible failure of Infernal Machine Part sounds to end properly when the parts are put away has been repaired.
- Several important action and display anomalies have been resolved in the following levels:

BABYLON
SHAMBALA SANCTUARY
V.I. PUDOVKIN
MEROE
NUB'S TOMB
INFERNAL MACHINE
AETHERIUM
RETURN TO PERU

DVD Genie 3.29 - Mark @ 21:04 EST

Version 3.29 of DVD Genie has been released adding the following:

New "Extra Features" tab with options to Add/Remove shortcuts for DVD Genie on the desktop, start menu and windows-startup.

New option to minimize DVD Genie to the system tray when the minimize button is clicked.

When DVD Genie loads up as a tray icon (using the /minimize command line parameter if anyone was wondering) it no longer flashes the menu.

Can now import registry files with spaces in their name.

Some of the Zoom buttons have been iconified to save GUI space.

New Zoom feature, you can now grab a windows position into the current settings.

Fixed a bug with registering/unregistering of the WinDVD filters, hopefully it should work on all systems now.

The capture directory path entry was fixed to work with PowerDVD v2.5x

I've placed a sort of Easter Egg feature, it's actually in plain sight, but I didn't quite write down anywhere what it does, see if you can figure it out.

Several small bugs fixed.

A3D in Quake 2 - Mark @ 14:37 EST

You may already know about Earsound's IAS patch for Quake 2 that adds 3D sound and EAX support (single player only). Well now you have another option courtesy of Jenya 'HMage' Bujak. I have not had a chance to check it out yet so if you do try it out we would appreciate feedback, either by email or in the forum. You can read all about the proxy that Jenya is working on at the A3D in Quake 2 page.

Monsoon MM-700 Review - Mark @ 14:27 EST

The Tech-Zone has posted a positive review of the Monsoon MM-700 flat panel speakers. The MM-700 is Monsoon's mid-priced model and when combined with a $40 rebate that the company is offering you can pick them up for a cool $109.00. Just like every other review I have read of this system, the reviewer is impressed with what they get for the money. They do note that they found the sub a bit boomy and they did not like the black colour of the speakers because they don't match their PC! Most PC speakers that have come across my desk have been black so IMO that's a bit of an odd con but I guess they were searching for something negative to say ;). We will be covering Monsoon's full line of PC speakers over the coming weeks beginning with their top of the line MM-1000.

Altec Lansing ACS-45.2 Review - Mark @ 08:07 EST

Target PC has posted a pretty nice review of Altec Lansing ACS-45.2's including lots of technical detail on just what components make up the system. One comment I would make is they say that "a 3" driver simply cannot muster the speed necessary to wiggle back and forth 10,000 to 20,000 times per second and if the satellites have one major downfall, this would be it.". Thats a rather dangerous generalization to make given that companies like Boston Acoustics seem to think it can be done. For example Boston Acoustics' top of the line MediaTheater system has satellites with 3 1/2" drivers and no seperate tweeter. Anyway, the review is nicely written and a good read where they come to a positive conclusion.

Quadzilla review - Mikael @ 08:01 EST

Extreme3D has posted a review of TB Vortex2 card, Quadzilla. They think it's an excellent choice for those that want a Vortex2 card for a low price. Not sure if actual retail prices is much below other Vortex2 cards but regardless there are some advantages and disadvantages with this card compared to the others available. The major disadvantage is that you can't use the reference drivers if you want to take advantage of the SPDIF (Coaxial) out and/or rear speaker out found on the bracket board and TB's drivers are still stuck on the 2016 reference drivers. The major advantage is if you later want to replace the current bracket board with the one that comes with the HomeStudio (Optical and Coaxial in/out) or Montego 2 Plus (Coaxial and Optical out). Other important difference is that it uses a coaxial RCA SPDIF out just like the SQ2500 instead of the Optical out found on all the other 4-speaker Vortex2 boards except the MX300 that has no SPDIF out.

The benchmark in this review is a bit odd since in some cases the 32 3D streams are faster than 16 3D streams. Also worth noting that X-Wing Alliance that comes bundled with Quadzilla is an OEM version and not the full game unless the bundle was recently changed.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Slow News - Mark @ 07:48 EST

You won't find too much on the news page this morning. Its a case of there being little news combined with a bug running through the 3DSS team preventing us from generating our usual internal news and reviews. The external news and likewise our coverage of it should pick up today, even if our own bugs don't disappear. In the mean time, if you have read all there is to read of the news on the front page and have not visited for a few day, head to last weeks news archive or check out the forum for lots more good stuff.

News from January 30 - February 6, 2000

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