The Week in Review: June 2-8, 2003

Last week's features at 3DsoundSurge

Last week's sound news

Drivers and bugs

• Aureon Sky/Space BETA drivers
  There are version 5.1.2600.12 Beta drivers for Aureon Sky/Space on Terratec's FTP site. Here's the direct link and here's the change list:

  Build 12
  Bugfix: Looped Buffer when pause AC3 streams (e.g. Soft DVD Player)
  Bugfix: Mic Gain was not working properly
  New: Samplerate locked (e.g. for Voice over IP)
  New: Sensaura update

  Build 11
  Bugfix: "Blue Screen of death" of some (nVidia) systems

  Thanks to +fallen_angel for the pointer and build information. Note that I don't see these drivers mentioned on Terratec's site so if you are not comfortable with beta builds then you might want to wait for a non-beta release.

   

   

New games, demos, patches and bugs

• News from Bill Brown, Composer - New Music from Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle
  New music from the upcoming online game Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle by NCSoft has just been posted featuring the orchestral Intro and Outro music and the Lineage II E3 Trailer score. A link to download the newly released E3 Trailer has just been added to the Lineage II music page as well. Check it out here.

• AnarchySoundSoftware Has Moved
  We just got an update to day that the URL for AnarchyEffects, a suite of vst plugins has been changed as the plugins are no longer sold through STL, they are now at www.AnarchySoundSoftware.co.uk. Plugin author Leighton Hargreaves also reports that there are two new products:

  AnarchyRhythms, a hybrid between an effect and a drum machine. It takes an audio input and applies a user-controlled matrix of amplitude modulation, bandpass filtering, feedback loops, internal oscillation and compression"

  SwarmSynth, which uses a flocking algorithm to control a bank of oscillators as they move through an envelope-constrained 5 dimensional parametric hyperspace.
  
  Lastly he notes that there are also two free plugins on the site.

Reviews of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3 players.

• M-Audio Revolution 7.1 Audio Card
  Digit-Life has posted an overall positive review of the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 sound card.

• M-Audio Revolution 7.1 Sound Card
  Furturelooks has posted an overall very positive review of the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 sound card.

• PowerPak USB Headphone Amp
  EXHardware has posted an overall positive review of the PowerPak USB Headphone Ammplifier that we mentioned via a press release in May. The only issue they found with the unit was a slight background hiss, noticable primarily between music tracks.

• Frontx Front Panel Port Extension
  Techtastic has posted an overall very positive review of the Frontx Front Panel Port Extension system.

• iAudio CW300
  SubZeroTech has posted a very positive review of the iAudio CW300 digital audio player

• Samsung SM352 CD-RW DVD Combo Drive
  Technoyard has posted an overall positive review of the Samsung SM352 CD-RW DVD Combo Drive.

• TDK Dual Format +/- 4x DVD Writer
  Hardware Zone has posted an extremely positive review of the TDK Dual Format +/- 4x DVD Writer.

• Plextor PX-504A
  Gamer's Depot has posted an overall very positive review of the Plextor PX-504A DVD+R/RW drive.

Other sound news

• Philips combines high performance and appealing design in PC sound
  We missed this one from back on March. Philips has introduced a new external (USB) Sound Processor and two new flat speaker systems. The new products are the PSC805 Aurilium, a 24-bit external Sound Processor that can easily be added to PCs and notebooks without opening the PC box, plus two new Acoustic Fusion speaker systems featuring Philips’ unique Flat Panel speaker technology: the A3.610, 5.1 channel system for Dolby® and EAX® multichannel reproduction; and the A3.310 3-piece stereo system. More details can be found in the press release. Note that the same PR on Philips' site includes some product images and links to additional information. Thanks to Rusk Reeder for the pointer.

• SRS Labs Welcomes Denon to Growing List of Home Entertainment Licensees
  SRS Labs has announced that it has signed a technology license agreement for its patented TruSurround® technology with Denon, Ltd., one of the premier names in home entertainment. The first product to ship under this new agreement is Denon's DVD-2900 DVD- Audio/Video/Super Audio CD player, Denon's first-ever all-format universal optical disc player. The new player began shipping in the United States in May with an estimated retail price of $999. This is the first Denon DVD player to offer TruSurround technology, the established standard for creating surround sound over two-speaker systems and headphones. For details check out the full press release.

Upcoming features at 3DsoundSurge

• Reviews that we are currently working on:
  Updated Santa Cruz/Sonic Fury and GameTheaterXP reviews
  Hercules Fortissimo II
  Terratec DMX Xfire 1024
  CMedia CM8738 Reference Review
  Full Audigy Review
  Full Philips MMS305 Review
  
• There are several other hardware reviews in the pipeline including, but not limited to the following:
  Guillemot Maxi Sound MUSE
  Terratec m3po
  DigMedia MusicStore
  Philips Seismic Edge
  Lots of other stuff on the go in including several guides and major site revisions that we will soon be releasing more details on.
  

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