News:  April 17-23, 2000

Sunday, April 23, 2000

Did the last SoF patch actually include any EAX fixes? - Mikael @ 22:07 EST

That's the question I would like to know the answer to considering the following bit in Raven's Rick Johnson .plan file:

The SoF V1.04 BETA patch will be out shortly. Unfortunately, there was a last minute problem patching the main PAK file, so I had to remove those changes as well as the EAX changes (which required new data). RTPatch seems to crash on Win98 machines when I included that PAK file - I have to wait until Monday to get technical support from the people who make RTPatch.
Remember that this version is a beta patch.

It mainly addresses DM server crashes. We haven't done that much testing on this yet

News Source: Vortex of Sound

BA 4800 review - Mikael @ 21:45 EST

CGO has posted a short review of Boston Acoustics' 4-speaker system, BA4800, and they were quite impressed, only complaining of lack of headphone output. I know Mark is impressed with this system as well but I don't think he would describe the volume as room shaking which is the description this reviewer used.
News Source: Our Forum

Sound Control Plus v1.55 (BETA) released - Mikael @ 15:41 EST

Paul McKnight have just released a new (v1.55) BETA of Sound Control Plus which is a freeware replacement of Windows Sound Mixer apple. 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

1. Fixed - On Screen Display now many times faster and responsive
   
2. Fixed - Thin On Screen Display Volume Bars
   
3. Added - About taskbar button

How to Work with a Third-Party Sound Designer - Mikael @ 14:34 EST

That's the title of an interesting article at Gamasutra that describes the process of determining what a producer will need from a third-party sound designer and will briefly describe the process audio contractors go through to create high-quality sound effects.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

VideoLogic DigiTheatre Review - Mikael @ 04:31 EST

FiringSquad has posted a review of VideoLogic's DigiTheatre system and found its sound quality to be better than Cambridge SoundWorks DTT2500 but behind the ProMedia. The review is one of the more detailed reviews of the DigiTheatre. For a second opinion you can check out our review where I compare them to the DTT2500.

Daikatana is finally finished - Mikael @ 03:52 EST

Eidos has announced that the game that was supposed to ship Christmas 97 finally is finished. The game was expected to support A3D 2 with wavetracing and DS3D with EAX but since the demo doesn't it's possible the full game doesn't support it either. For more about the game you can check out this review of the demo at Evil Avatar that trash the demo and has the following to say about sound

The sounds in the game range from only average to outright annoying and the "bionic man" sound you get when the player jumps is a pinnacle of mediocrity. I heard several sounds I have heard in other games, leading me to believe that instead of creating custom sounds, they may have licensed out several commercially available sound libraries. As Snoopy would say, "How gauche"

If you want to read a bit more about all the delays you can check out this article in Washington Post. If you still want to buy the game you can pre-order it from Gamestop, which says it will ship late May.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Saturday, April 22, 2000

DVD Genie 3.43 - Mark @ 19:55 EST

Yet another version of this little tool that allows you to tweak your DVD player has been released. The new version adds support for NVIDIA GeForce and more. You can check out the list of new features/bug fixes here.
News Source: 3Dfiles

No 3D sound in Daikatana Demo - Mark @ 08:19 EST

Thanks goes out to PascaL for the following on the newly released Daikatana Demo (that you can read about in yesterdays news):

Daikatana doesn't appear to have any 3D sound and it's quite obvious. The sound is very "frontal". All the music and most of the sounds are recorded in MP3 format - which is good, but that's about all I found that was interesting about the game.

The Future of 3D Sound and a bit on Aureal's future - Mikael @ 02:45 EST

GameCenter has posted a pretty nice 8 page article titled "The Future of 3D Sound". The title is a bit misleading since it's very thin on the future and focus on what we have today, covering Dolby, A3D, EAX, Sensaura, QSound, DS3D and a bit of history. It's relatively basic so you may not learn anything new. Probably should write our own article but for now we go with the easy way of just adding a couple of clarifications/corrections to Gamecenter's article :-).

1. Not all DOS based games after 1990 required a SoundBlaster card, many supported other cards as well.
2. DS3D as we know it today (that is support of hardware acceleration) was introduced in DirectX 5.0.
3. A3D 2/3 doesn't provide software support for all its "proprietary technologies". What it does do is pass on 3D positioning info as standard DS3D calls, geometry reverb as standard EAX calls and do occlusion in software. Only the Vortex2 cards offers support for reflections using wavetracing. When it comes to performance the Vortex2 isn't really faster than the Live in A3D2 games, it's actually in most cases slower since the wavetracing is what requires most CPU cycles.
   
4. There is currently not any special "Sensaura supporting games" AFAIK. The only "exclusive" API calls Sensaura soundcards may support will be ZoomFX but don't think any games or shipping driver support it yet. I would guess it's not impossible non Sensaura cards could support the ZoomFX extension as well but then of course using other algorithms.
   
5. When they talk about Dolby Digital DVD games in the works they mention Shiny's Messiah, which is true. Just want to clarify that Messiah currently doesn't support it. What's new to me in this article (if it's true) is that Dolby Digital support is said to automatically detect if the user have a 4-speaker soundcard. Earlier it was said to require the user to have Dolby Digital decoding software installed that supported that feature, that is if you bought a DVD player that supports it and installed a filter with that support.

Gamecenter also have the following interesting bit about Aureal's current situation

Aureal is not dead yet, however. "We still have product, we still have technical support, we still have driver support," says spokesperson Eldy Nodal, "so we're still a functioning company."

Even if the company doesn't survive, the technology probably will. Aureal may sell A3D and its Vortex technology. "[A3D] will still be around," says Nodal. "The companies that are looking at it are very interested in that, and our cards, and...everything will still be there. I don't think it's an end-of-life kind of thing; it's just going toward another area." She does confirm, however, that plans for the next Vortex card, the SQ3500, are on hold.

Investors wary as Napster lawsuits loom - Mikael @ 01:47 EST

CNET has posted a huge coverage of Napster and its legal problems. In case you missed it Metallica recently sued Napster and several of the universities that hadn't banned Napster. Soon after Yale and Indiana University decided to ban the software that many uses to illegally share MP3s with their friends. Metallica's lawyer says it's 10 other bands that are considering to sue Napster as well. This has caused many analysts and investors to question if Napster is a good investment.

Friday, April 21, 2000

Daikatana Demo - Mark @ 23:09 EST

After all of this time we have...another Daikatana demo! I know how much you have been holding your breath for this one ;) Ion Storm has included three maps, each from the first three time periods of Daikatana. The fourth time period is not represented in this demo because, well, they would rather have you play the full version to see it. Unlike the first deathmatch / MPlayer only demo released last year this demo allows you to play each of the three included maps in Single-Player, Deathmatch and Cooperative mode. There are two extra Deathmatch maps, one is a new and improved version of the Gibbler on the Roof map from last year's MPlayer Deathmatch Demo. The other map is a Dark Ages castle/arena (it does NOT have the Nharre's Nightmare weapon on the map if you go looking for it). The full game is supposed to have A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX support but not sure about this demo. I know that last years MPlayer demo did NOT support any of the above audio APIs so if you download it please let us know what you find in the way of audio. You can grab the 104 MB demo from 3Dfiles where you can also get some more info on the demo.

Soldier of Fortune 1.04 Beta Patch - Mark @ 22:59 EST

Raven Software has released a version 1.04 beta patch for the A3D 3.0 and DS3D with EAX 2.0 supporting Soldier of Fortune. Unfortunately, there is no mention of a fix for the problems that people have been having with A3D but there are a number of fixes related to EAX support. These are:

Fixed crash in EAX sound code when playing old sounds

EAX performance optimizations

Also included in this version is a DLL from Creative Labs. This emulates EAX2.0 on any card that supports EAX1.0. This would include SB PCI cards, Vortex2 cards, and older Sensaura based cards. To install this feature, run the batch file in the SoF directory called "installeax.bat"

Star Trek: Klingon Academy Demo - Mark @ 22:44 EST

A prequel to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the A3D 1.x supporting Star Trek Klingon Academy stars Christopher Plummer as General Chang and David Warner as Chancellor Gorkon. Under the tutelage of Chang, you will learn battle tactics and the code of the Klingon warrior. Complete with 3-D space terrain, a Gunnery Chair and the ability to command capital ships, Klingon Academy has set a new standard in space combat. General Chang, the Empire's greatest living warrior, has established an Elite Command Academy to prepare a new generation of warriors for the inevitable conflict with the United Federation of Planets. As your mentor, Chang will instruct you in the ways of battle tactics and teach you the rigors of warship command. Prove yourself worthy and you may be recruited to fight with Chang in an even greater, real-life conflict - a conflict that will decide the fate of the Klingon Empire. I am not sure if the demo has the A3D 1.x support that the full game is supposed to have. You can grab the demo (which is available in 82.4 & 106 MB sizes with and without video footage) from 3Dfiles.

Labtec Spin 70 Speaker Review - Mark @ 22:39 EST

GA-Hardware has posted a review of Labtec's low cost (40 dollar) 2 piece speaker system. Just a couple of general comments. The "3D sound" feature of the speakers might be nice for non-3d audio games but its of course damaging to the HRTFs of sound cards and games that support 3D sound. When it comes to bass response, I very highly doubt that this system actually achieves its stated 55Hz low end at anywhere near to + or - 3 dB. For all the details check out the review.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Altec Lansing ATP6 Dolby Digital Has Been Canceled? - Mikael @ 19:55 EST

I just saw this now 2 day old post by James Watkin in Creative Labs speaker newsgroup

Today I was told via E-mail from Altec Lansing Support that Altec Lansing has canceled their proposed ATP6 Dolby Digital speaker system.

Weapons Factory mod news - Mark @ 13:27 EST

A3D may be messed up in Q3A with the latest build but we can still hope it gets fixed. Ironically, non-a3d cards like the SB Live, when using the A2D drivers supplied by Aureal still get 3D sound (and some rather odd reverb effects). I mentioned all of that as a Weapons Factory beta (mod for Quake III: Arena) is set to be released tonight at 9PM Eastern. You may recall that prior to the release of Q3A we interviewed Anvil.Chorus, the sound designer for Weapons Factory. Its a rather interesting interview that will offer some insight into the sounds you will hear in the upcoming mod. Its also worth noting that Anvil Chorus has started his own MP3 site where you can download songs he created. You can check out a post in our forum for more details.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Win a Cambridge SoundWorks FPS2000 Digital System - Mark @ 13:16 EST

Just a reminder that Creative Labs is sponsoring a contest where (if you live in North America) you can win a Cambridge Soundworks FPS2000 Digital System if you click on the banner that frequently appears on top of the page. If you don't see the Creative Labs banner you can refresh the page a couple times or click this link instead. You will also find some other info about Creative Labs products on that page.

TechnoWarp Visualizer (Winamp, Sonique or UltraPlayer) - Mark @ 13:12 EST

Warp your mind with this spinning frequency graph. The 3D graph dances on a stage of flashing lights beneath a moving sky. Spin the graph by grabbing a corner and giving it a gentle push or a whirl. Quieter songs generate an interesting ripple affect. Cycle through the textures with the space bar. Build your own visualizers, games, screensavers and more using the WildTangent Audio Driver SDK or grab the plugin from the 3Dfiles WinAmp plugin page.
News Source: 3Dfiles

Thursday, April 20, 2000

Henry Lai Interviewed (Composer for The Opera) - Mark @ 22:48 EST

Fragmusic.com has posted their latest addition to their "Ten Questions" interview series. In this session they interview Henry Lai who is writing music for the HalfLife mod, The Opera.

Update: Next Live chip and LW 4.0 rumours are false - Mikael @ 19:02 EST

Earlier this week we mentioned some info that iXBT received from Creative Labs about the next chip and LW 4.0 release date. According to Creative Labs US the info posted by iXBT is inaccurate. They didn't gave me any more info than that.

MX400 review - Mikael @ 18:57 EST

GameFan has posted a review of the MX400 and the reviewer didn't like it very much. Considering that Diamond still hasn't bothered to ship a MX400 to us I really don't feel the need to defend them but still would like to make a few clarifications when it comes to Sensaura. Sensaura is a 3D sound and reverb engine. Games using DS3D and A3D 1.0 will use the 3D sound engine which both Mark and I think are great for headphones, 2 and 4-speakers. Games using EAX 1.0, 2.0 or I3DL2 will use the reverb engine which is ok but clearly behind the Live IMO. When it comes to A3D 2/3 it will support 3Dsound using DS3D API on all DS3D hardware, it's not A3D 1.0. That it's slow in Quake3 is more the fault of the A3D 2.0 SDK/Quake3 sound engine than the MX400. Can also be worth noting that with the latest patches Quake3 isn't working at all on Vortex2 hardware so if anything the MX400 is now better than the Vortex2 for Quake3! Finally a bit unrelated I can say that A3D 3.0 is fully supported by the Vortex2 cards. The SQ3500 will do some of the stuff (reverb and AC3 decoding) in hardware which should improve the performance and maybe quality. As you know the SQ3500 will probably never ship.

When it comes to the reviewers problems with getting EAX to work I have no idea why. Some of the games mentioned certainly works on other cards using Sensaura's technology anyway.

Best Data CABO Portable MP3 Player Review - Mark @ 09:52 EST

In this review we take an in-depth look at the CABO portable MP3 player from Best Data. It features 64 MB of memory, a memory slot for a Smart Media card, a parallel port interface, an equalizer, voice recording capabilities and a phonebook that can store up to 250 names. It also comes bundled with some software, earphones, PC connecting cable and a user's manual. So is it worth $240?. We put it through a variety of tests to find out! For all the details check out the full review

S3/Diamond Monster Sound MX400 Review - Mark @ 09:50 EST

Extreme Hardware have posted a nice review of the S3/Diamond Monster Sound MX400. A few comments. One is while Aureal is most definitely in serious trouble, they are still breathing and as long as that's the case I would not totally write them or their technology off. When it comes to the MX400, I think its bundle and future MP3 expansion capabilities makes it much more a competitor to the SB Live MP3+ than the X-Gamer as the MX400 game bundle is really nothing to write home about. I would agree that MX400 (and other cards using Sensaura's latest drivers) have fantastic support of the EAX 1 and 2 API and for some games I even prefer the reverb to the Live but in general Mikael and I would place the reverb (quality, not compatibility) behind the Live as well as Aureal's and Qsounds reverb quality (but its still more than good enough for an enjoyable EAX experience). Where Sensaura (and the MX400) shines is with excellent compatibility thanks to full EAX 2.0 and I3DL2 support as well as what Sensaura calls the best A3D 1.x to DS3D compatibility on the market (this side of Aureal of course)! I would also agree with the reviewer that a SBLive! can occasionally overdo the environmental effects but its worth noting that the latest drivers for the Live have an option to run "EAX Lite" which essentially tones down the effects. When it comes to 3D sound technology I agree that thanks to Sensaura, the MX400 offers excellent 3D audio but I would add that any card that uses the latest Sensaura drivers, and not just the MX400, should offer the same quality 3d algorithms as well as support for MultiDrive and MacroFX. As of today that means the MX400 and one of these days it should include all the other Canyon3D based products like the Terratec DMX. It also includes any Yamaha YMF744 based card running 2013 based drivers such as the Hoontech Digital XG and the Guillemot Maxi Sound Fortissimo. Where differences are most likely to manifest are in the CODEC and DAC quality, through differences in CPU usage and through the number of 3D streams supported. That may seem like a lot of comment but they are relatively minor and mostly in agreement with the reviewer. If you are looking for a new sound card you really should check out the Extreme Hardware MX400 review as its very well written with lots of diagrams, technology descriptions and impressions.

Microsoft Releases Next-Generation PDA, the Pocket PC - Mark @ 08:03 EST

Yesterday Microsoft announced the immediate availability of the Pocket PC and joined industry partners to "herald in a new era of truly personal computing". Microsoft President and CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled new Pocket PC designs from hardware partners Casio Computer Company Ltd., Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Symbol Technologies Inc. while putting the devices to the test through demonstrations showcasing their wireless, enterprise and "cutting-edge" gaming and video capabilities. More than 60 companies showcased their Pocket PC solutions in the launch Partner Pavilion so you will be seeing lots more of these devices. From our perspective, what is particularly interesting is support for MS Windows Media Player which means support for both the MP3 and Windows Media Format. For lots more details you can check out the press release.

Cambridge SoundWorks Debuts Compact Music System - Mikael @ 01:47 EST

Cambridge SoundWorks yesterday announced the introduction of its new Model 88(TM)CD AM/FM music system. Derived from the Model 88 AM/FM radio designed by industry veteran Henry Kloss, the Model 88 CD is much more than a ``table radio.'' It is a one-piece music system, combining a CD player, advanced electronics, and a sophisticated stereo speaker system with built-in subwoofer. It's available from Cambridge SoundWorks' stores and Hifi.com. The SRP is $349.99. You can check out the press release for more features and specs of the system.

AudioPix Plus to be Offered to over 1.8 Million X:drive Users - Mikael @ 01:42 EST

QSound Labs yesterday announced a distribution agreement with X:drive, the first company to transform the Internet into a virtual hard drive. The marketing agreement will see X:drive provide free virtual hard drive space to AudioPix Plus (TM) users. They will also conduct an email marketing campaign that will offer AudioPix Plus, at a reduced price, to their database of over 1.8 million active users. For more details about this deal and AudioPix Plus check out the press release

VideoLogic DigiTheatre in Comet Stores Now - Mikael @ 01:25 EST

VideoLogic Systems has announced that Comet, after a highly successful trial in its top stores, has made VideoLogic's award winning DigiTheatre Dolby Digital home cinema audio system available through 150 Comet stores across the UK. For more about the DigiTheatre system you can check out our review

Wednesday, April 19, 2000

Two Starlancer MP3 tracks - Mikael @ 23:58 EST

Lancer News has released two Starlancer tracks in MP3 format.

NASCAR Racing 3 Patch - Mikael @ 23:56 EST

Sierra Sports today also released a patch for their A3D 2.0 and DS3D supporting Nascar Racing 3. No mention of what's new but probably a good idea to grab the patch anyway.
News Source: AGN

Evolva Demo Updated - Mikael @ 23:15 EST

An updated demo for Evolva has been released. Not sure if it includes any other update than movies. If you are interested to watch the movies you can grab the new 102 MB demo from 3dfiles. Evolva is on Creative's list as a yet not shipping EAX title, which also means the last demo didn't support EAX (assuming the list is upto date). Anyway if you want to you can pre-order Evolva from Gamestop

Nascar Legends 1.2.04 Patch - Mikael @ 23:04 EST

A new patch (1.2.04) for the DS3D and A3D 2 supporting Nascar Legends has been released. You can grab it from 3dfiles where you will also find a list of what's new.

Build your own "ultimate" subwoofer for $300 - Mark @ 20:21 EST

Build your own "ultimate" subwoofer for $300 is the title of a forum post (that I should really call a forum article) by BrianL. For all you DTT2500 owners out there, you can use the DTT2500's additional subwoofer out for a powered subwoofer to take advantage of a project like this and its also applicable to your home stereo system as this is definitely not your basic multimedia subwoofer. Some excellent information that is really worth a read and your own follow-up questions and suggestions.

Drakan Postmortem - Mark @ 13:04 EST

Gamasutra has posted another one of their excellent postmortem articles. This one is written by Surreal Software's Stuart Denman and covers their DS3D with EAX and A3D 1.x supporting third-person action/adventure, Drakan: Order of the Flame. Here's a snip:

The engine also has an efficient caching system, so it's able to handle hundreds of megabytes of data on our minimum system requirement of 32MB RAM. The two main characters, Rynn and Arokh, total more than 20MB of animations, plus 12MB of sounds (including in-game cutscenes). To pull this off, the system keeps the most recently used sounds or animations in the cache and can flush memory that it hasn't used in a long time.

Thief II Editor - Mark @ 12:50 EST

Looking Glass Studios has released DromEd, which is their editor used to create levels in the recently released DS3D with EAX 2.0 and A3D 2.0 supporting Thief II: The Metal Age. For some impressions on Thief 2 you can check out a review of the game that was posted over at Thresh's Firing Squad and if it sounds like your cup of tea you can grab the game online from Gamestop for only $37.99.
News Source: Vortex of Sound

Oni Music & Interview - Mark @ 12:43 EST

eUniverse has posted an interview with Paul Sebastien, co-founder of Power of Seven, the music/audio team behind the soundtrack for Bungie's anime-inspired A3D 1.x supporting action game, Oni. Here is a snip from the interview:

Q: What type of feel are you going for with the music in Oni?

A: Bungie really wanted hard, aggressive, dramatic techno/electronica for much of the in-game music, but then we're also doing some more ambient atmospheric work as well, so it'll be a mix of things. The main thing for us is to accentuate the amazing visuals, storyline and aesthetic of the game, to really give every level of it the impact that it deserves. It's going to be a very wild, visceral gaming experience and it's exciting to be involved with it.

More on the Sound Site MIDI Albums - Mark @ 08:03 EST

A couple of days ago I posted news from the Sound Site where they announced "The Sound Site Best Of" MIDI Albums and SoundFont. The press release noted that the Sound Site Best Of Albums are created in TRUE Surround Sound. Well, I still have not tested them by according to "The Music Man" over at the Sound Site each song in the albums has been tuned so that instruments pan to the correct room position for best possible listening enjoyment. I followed on the panning and was told that this was done in a manner that gets a matrixed surround to the rear channel in a controlled manner when used with a Dolby Prologic system. I also checked on the custom soundfont that is used for the albums and they noted that the custom soundfont uses 61.56 meg of Static Caching with a SBLive Sound Card. The soundfont has been compressed with SFPack to a size of 30.4 meg for free downloading. They also noted that all the materials on their site are free. The do sell a set of soundfont CDs but the only reason they sell the CD's (4 cd's in the set) is because so may people in Europe told them that phone charges stopped them from downloading large soundfonts. Its a pretty fair deal considering you get 4 CDs full of soundfonts sent by registered mail for $39.00. If you are into MIDI music you might want to pay them a visit.

Not much profit in 39.00 after burning 4 cd's and then sending registered mail. A shameless plug for another upcoming project now follows :) - Look for my review of the excellent Utopia Live! soundfont coming soon.

A-Open DVD-1040 Pro Review - Mark @ 07:52 EST

PCExtremes has posted a review of the A-Open DVD-1040 Pro which is a 10x slot-load drive. The retail kit includes WinDVD but I doubt that this particular OEM version supports 4 speaker downmixing (without using DVDGenie). The review notes that no frames were dropped with the drive and I just wanted to add that their CPU would also have a big role to play when it comes to software MPEG decoding.

Bass Fix for SB-Live! / ADA885 Quad Mode - Mikael @ 03:29 EST

Thanks to ML for letting us know that Dell has fix for the bass issue we mentioned below when you use the ADA885 in Quad mode with the SB-Live. You can grab it from Dell where you also find additional details about the problem.

LG is launching a new MP3 player, the MF-PD360. - Mikael @ 02:43 EST

LG is launching the MF-PD360, one of smallest, lightest and most portable players on the market today with a weight of only 60g without batteries. It features 64 MB of memory (2 x 32 MB MMC slots), back- lit LCD wired remote control on the earphones instead of the player, Windows NT/95/98/2000 compatibility and USB Port Connection. You can find a few more details if you read the press release.

ESS Reports Record First Quarter Revenue - Mikael @ 02:38 EST

ESS Technology yesterday reported that revenues for the first quarter ended March 31, 2000 were a record $83.6 million, compared with $79.3 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company earned $8.7 million or $12.1 million prior to a one time acquisition charge versus $12.6 million in the same quarter of last year. In case you don't know ESS makes audio chips with their high-end one being the Canyon3D that you find in the MX400 and Terratec's DMX soundcard. In the earnings report they mostly talk about their success in the DVD and PC V.90 softmodem market though.You can check out the press release for all the important numbers.

S3's MP3 plans - Mikael @ 02:29 EST

If you are interested in S3's plans for future MP3 products you should check out this Cnet article. In the article they mention that S3 plans to introduce a stereo-like player dubbed RioRack this summer. Later we will see S3 introducing MP3 players for cars and integration of MP3 functions into cell phones and handheld organizers. The article also have some analysts quotes about the MP3's market future and the Asian threat to S3's current position.

New version A3D WinAmp plugin released - Mikael @ 01:36 EST

Denis has released a new version of his A3D 3.0 WinAmp plugin. Here's what's new:

1. Added the audio buffer size setting in the plugin configuration dialog.
   
2. Fixed: sometimes after the end of a song the playback jumped back for ~2 sec. which caused some odd sounds at the end.
   
3. Fixed: on some machines the A3D General plugin didn't work.
   
4. Fixed: If the plugin window was initially hidden, the hot key to display it didn't work

Rio 500 review - Mikael @ 01:11 EST

MPlayer has posted a review of Diamond's new MP3 player, Rio 500 which features 64 MB memory, USB connection, an equalizer that offers a custom option and not just presets. The review covers a bit of the MP3 history, the Rio's UI, the speed of the Rio 300 vs Rio 500 and also mentions that the audio quality is great.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Yepp YP-E32 review - Mikael @ 01:11 EST

Hardware Zone has posted a review of Samsung's Yepp YP-E32 MP3 player which features 32 MB memory, Parallel port connection, voice recorder and some DSP options (I assume that refers to equalizer presets). All this for a S$299 which I assume is Singapore dollars, not sure what the current exchange rate is.

The reviewer compares the audio quality of the MP3 player with a CD-player using both the supplied earphones and the Sennheiser HD575 headphones. One bit missing is that he doesn't mention what bitrate he used but most likely 128 kbps, increasing the bitrate would probably have given a better result.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Tuesday, April 18, 2000

Vortex Windows 2000 drivers are still in development (update) - Mikael @ 17:21 EST

Update: Checked with other source at Aureal and driver development is indeed one of their priorities. The resources are of course more limited now than before and what will happen with Aureal is anything but clear.
PC Gaming network asked Eldy Nodal, the Marketing Communications Manager, at Aureal about the current status of driver development and future cards (SQ3500). You can check out their post for the full Q&A but to be short drivers are still in development but no plans for shipping SQ3500 at the moment.

ADA885 offers poor bass in 4-speaker mode? - Mikael @ 16:56 EST

Your Chin just sent the following e-mail

Having seen this speaker in action in a 4 speaker environment with SBLive!, I have seen an issue with the analog jacks on the speaker causing the bass to cancel out when in Quad mode.

When both analog jacks are connected, the bass(sub) goes to almost no volume.

New drivers from Terratec - Mikael @ 11:22 EST

Terratec just sent us the current drivers for all their products. This is something they do each quarter. Here's what's new since the January update

1. AudioSystem EWS88 MT
   
   1. Windows 95/98: 4.2.16 Build 98
      
   2. Control Panel for Windows 95/98: 4.2.16 Build 98
   
   
2. M3PO
   1. Firmware: 2.01

ADA885 for $150 - Mikael @ 10:23 EST

Neal Chace let us know that Western Discount Center offers Altec Lansing's THX certified Dolby Digital system, ADA885 for just $150. You'll find it under "Monitors, Drives and Accessories". For those that visit our forum you will know there is plenty that disagree with their claim that "the THX certification is earned only by the highest quality audio systems". Anyway I've not heard the ADA885 but based on the ADA880 it should be a nice system for anyone that can live without a center speaker. This is especially true for those that like room shaking bass. Compared to the ADA880 the system in addition to some changes to get the THX certification includes a rear input for 4-speaker gaming and a headphone output for night gaming.

If you don't like to buy from Western Discount Center you can buy it for $246 from Dell's online shop Gigabuys.

MX400 Review - Mikael @ 10:10 EST

Thanks to GTaudiophile for letting us know that Sharky Extreme has posted a review of Diamonds MX400. The MX400 uses Sensaura for 3D sound and the chip is ESS' Canyon3D. The review covers most aspect of the card including the Windows 2000 drivers but is a bit thin on exactly how well the 3D sound and EAX works. I also think they make too big deal of the difference between analog and digital output on these cards. Overall the review just like pretty much all other MX400 review thinks the card is a good but not great soundcard. No idea when we will do a review of it, S3 promised we would get one soon but that was a few weeks ago now.

MidiLand S4/7100 vs Altec Lansing ACS-56 - Mark @ 08:01 EST

Extreme Hardware has posted a head to head article where they look at the 5.1 ready MidiLand S4/7100 and compare it against the 4.1 Altec Lansing ACS-56. A couple of comments. When it comes to gaming, I must completely disagree with one statement they make about the S4-7100. If you are using the S4-7100 with a normal quad output sound card like the Live or Vortex 2 you will most definitely want to disconnect the center channel as it simply a mono mix of the left and right channel. This unwanted output has a very detrimental impact on imaging when listening to music or positioning when playing games. Its not a big deal as all you need to do is pull the jack from the rear of the center satellite. When it comes to DVD testing, I might agree that the 7100 comes out ahead but only if its used with a system that has 5.1 outputs or if its used with a system that requires a separate LFE input. As a side note, the MidiLand ADS-2000 Dolby Digital decoder will retail for $99. The last comment I will make is I think that MidiLand expected more 5.1 ready soundcards like the Best Data Theatrix (see feature post above) to be already on the market and its with these types of cards and with devices that require a separate LFE input that the 7100 stands out beyond a standard 4.1 system when it comes to some aspect of sound quality. I would assume that Turtle Beach's Santa Cruz (if it works as anticipated) is eagerly anticipated by MidiLand. Overall this is a nice review worth checking out. You can also check out our own ACS-56 Review where you can get Mikael's very detailed impressions of that system. You can also look for our MidiLand ADS-2000 and S4-7100 reviews in the next couple of weeks.

New hDVD Format Brings High-Definition Video and DVD Interactivity to the PC Desktop - Mikael @ 03:57 EST

Sonic Solutions announced yesterday a technology partnership with RAVISENT Technologies to bring High-Definition DVD to content developers and consumers for the first time. Called hDVD, the new format expands DVD beyond standard definition video to include any of the 18 ATSC video formats, including 1080i and 720p. Sonic plans to ship hDVD-ready authoring systems in July 2000. You can check out the press release for more details

Motorola announces the Symphony Surround Module - Mikael @ 03:51 EST

Motorola yesterday announced the Symphonyr Surround Module (SSM), a complete, low-cost digital audio reference design, for use in the development of new multi-channel, digital signal processor (DSP) decoder systems. The reference design centers around Motorola's DigitalDNA solution, the DSP56362 processor running at 120 MIPS and several components from AKM Semiconductor, who jointly developed the board. The module also takes advantage of Motorola's advanced software architecture that allows auto-detection and decoding of audio algorithms such as Dolby Digitalr, DTS, and MPEG. This software allows post processing phases from Motorola and third parties such as Graphic EQ, Karaoke, SRS TruSurround, Pacific Microsonics HDCD, Soundfields, and many others. You can check out the press release for more details

Week in Review - Mikael @ 03:44 EST

We have posted our latest edition of the 3D Audio Week in Review covering April 10-16.

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.

Terratec M3PO review - Mikael @ 03:03 EST

CD-R Info has posted a review of Terratec's M3PO. It's basically a stand alone CD-ROM player that can play MP3 files stores on a CD. You can also use a hard drive to store the files and have an OS to help you manage all the files stored on it. As usual CD-R info has done a lot of testing using several CD-R discs and pretty much every bitrate you could imagine.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Monday, April 17, 2000

wHeretic v0.5a Build 8 Released - Mark @ 23:06 EST

Thanks goes out to Rob of wHeretic fame for letting us know that he has released wHeretic v0.5a Build 8. Rob reports that this new release should show a significant improvement in the performance of the sound engine through better management of sound sources in wHeretic. Included in the release is the latest A3D library (v3.12) although wHeretic is still built with the A3D 2.0 API. For lots more details head on over to the official site. BTW in case you don't know, wHeretic is a W32 port of the original Heretic from Raven Software.

The Sound Site Releases "Best of" MIDI Albums - Mark @ 22:48 EST

The Sound Site has taken MIDI Music to what they say is a new level of excellence with "The Sound Site Best Of" MIDI Albums and SoundFont. The press release notes that the Sound Site Best Of Albums are created in TRUE Surround Sound but at this point I have no idea exactly what that means. They also note that all the songs in each album have been tuned so that you can set the volume level on your system once, and enjoy hour upon hour of great listening pleasure. Each individual song in the album is full length with a two second delay between songs. Each album has a total playing time of about one hour, and comes with a complete play list. The three albums that were release are:

The Sound Site Best Of Easy Listening Volume 1

The Sound Site Best Of Metallica Volume 1

The Sound Site Best Of The 50's And 60's Volume 1

Aureal SQ2500 Review - Mark @ 18:45 EST

The Hardware Pros have posted a very positive review of Aureal's Vortex2 SQ2500. The review is done using the fairly recently released 2048 reference drivers so its one of the few you will read that includes impressions of reverb quality. However, the review makes no mention of the recent, very serious, financial woes that leave Aureal's future in doubt and that's something to keep in mind as medium and long term support of the A3D API and the card is very much up in the air to say the least. A few general comments follow.

3D audio on its own does not have a significant impact on system performance. Its the geometric calculations associated with wavetracing A3D 2.0/3.0 that cause the hit when it comes to Vortex 2 performance. Speaking of that hit, the optimized Vortex 2 chip that powers the SQ2500 only shows those optimizations in applications that support wavetracing. This is why you see no significant differences in the DS3D scores in the Hardware Pros review (their differences are likely general system variability cause by something in the system tray or elsewhere). In terms of API support I would add that I think that lack of EAX 2.0 support will be an issue in the long term unless its addressed via a new unified EAX dll (from Creative) or updated drivers from Aureal. It already means no EAX support from the Vortex 2 from EAX 2.0 games like Final Fantasy VIII and Rogue Spear. Its worth noting that EAX 2.0 has support for occlusions and obstructions making it much more interactive than EAX 1.0 (but still not as interactive as wavetracing) and more than just about reverb presets.

When it comes to the review, its worth noting that while Aureal's 3D audio is excellent, they are certainly not the only company with excellent 3D audio. Like the reviewer, I think the SQ2500 is an excellent card and I really enjoy effective wavetracing implementation that all Vortex 2 based cards will deliver with the games that support it. However, I feel that the review paints everyone else into a corner of inferiority when compared to the SQ2500 (and Vortex2) and in my view that's simply not a reflection of reality. You can read more of our own reviews, including our SQ2500 review, if you are interested to know why I feel that way and you can head over to the Hardware Pros SQ2500 review to check out all their impressions.

Everquest: Ruins of Kunark - Mikael @ 13:44 EST

The expansion pack to Everquest, Ruins of Kunark is already shipping according to Gamespot. Just like Everquest it should support A3D and DS3D with EAX. The official release of the game is April 24. You can pre-order Everquest: Ruins of Kunark from Gamestop. It includes both Everquest and the expansion Ruins of Kunark.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

New Emu10k1 chip and LW 4.0 rumours (updated) - Mikael @ 10:10 EST

Update: iXBT offered a quick clarification of what Creative Labs said. There are no serious changes to the silicon but they are adding and improving some features. No additional details were given since it's still a work in progress.
iXBT got the following info from a Creative Labs presentation for the press in Moscow

Creative Labs is going to announce a new sound processor (DSP with a high level command set) by September. It won't be a new generation product but an improved version of EMU10K1.

New API is scheduled to the same time. But there are no additional details on it.

Live!Ware 4.0 with EAX 3.0 support and with downloadable via Internet Extras (program modules) is scheduled to June-July. EAX 3.0 will support early reflections but they will produced only by presets.

News from April 10-16, 2000

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