The Week in Review: December 31, 2001 - January 6, 2002

Last week's features at 3DsoundSurge

Happy New Year
I would like to take the opportunity on behalf of the entire team at 3DsoundSurge to thank you for your support in 2001. We plan to not only bring more of the same this year but also several new features making the site a much better resource to find the latest info and reviews of PC audio related products. We are looking forward to a great new year with lots of great stuff in store for audio and wish you all the best for the year ahead.

Drivers and bugs

• New CMedia CMI-8738 beta drivers
  CMedia has released new beta WDM reference drivers (v0632beta) for the CMI8738 based cards. No details what's new. The drivers will work in Windows XP/2000/ME/98SE. Thanks to Slider72 for the pointer.

• Fortissimo II Drivers info
  Paul Blackburn passed on the following interesting post from Hercules Fortissimo II forum

  Hello,

  The following issues, some of which have been mentioned on the forum, have been resolved and will be released with the next driver update (scheduled for early February, 2002):

  Some VxD issues resolved are:
  -Fixed MS Flight Sim 2002 pagefault issue.
  -Headphone detection/support handled correctly after APM resume.
  -The center and LFE playback mixer controls are initialized to their proper, scaled values on bootup.
  -New mp3 filter resolves hardware mp3 volume initialization problem.

  Some WDM issues resolved are:
  -Fixed Far Gate BSOD issue.
  -Fixed IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD which occurred in certain games.
  -Fixed Thief 2 BSOD issue.
  -New mp3 filter resolves hardware mp3 volume initialization problem.
  -S/PDIF output eq/small-spkr issue resolved.

  Additional enhancements to the drivers:
  - Sensaura library updated to version 2203.
  - All analog inputs are fully virtualized and sent to the S/PDIF output port when the "main out" option is selected.
  - Digital In recording performance enhanced.

  The Audio Dev Team.

New games, demos, patches and bugs

• Serious Sam: the Second Encounter Goes Gold
  Gathering of Developers, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, along with PC developer, Croteam, has announced that "Serious Sam: The Second Encounter" has gone gold. The game is due to arrive on store shelves February 5, 2002.

  Serious Sam: The First Encounter featured support for 3D sound and EAX. It got plenty of positive reviews both overall and when it comes to the aural aspects of it. I expect the Second Encounter to feature the same sound support and similar game play.
  News Source: Press Release

• Underworld: Crime Does Pay Will feature 3D sound
  A preview of Underworld: Crime Does Pay House O Spank reveals that the game will feature "Full 3D positional sound system utilizing Microsoft® DirectSound®". Here's the intro of the preview

  The Underworld: Crime Does Pay™ is the revolutionary 3D game currently being developed by Phoenix Entertainment™. The Underworld: Crime Does Pay seamlessly combines the key features of a real-time strategy game, a first person shooter and a role playing game, providing the player with the ultimate gaming experience. Can you handle arcade-style intensity while matching wits with your opponents? If so, prepare to enter . . . The Underworld. How is this game shaping up? Check out our preview and see for yourself.

• MW4: Black Knight Multi-Player Demo
  There is a 98.7 MB Mechwarrior 4: Black Knight Multiplayer Demo on FilePlanet (registration required) that allows you to try out the recent expansion pack by Cyberlore Studios for the big bot game by FASA Studios and Microsoft. The demo offers deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Siege Assault modes of play and expires on June 1, 2002.

• Medal of Honor SP Demo
  The single-player demo of the recently gone gold World War II first person shooter Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is now available for download. It's 175MB (150MB without DirectX8) and you can grab a copy from Blue's News.

  Not tried this one yet but the MP version of the demo featured speaker setup options which I assume means it support 3D sound even though the only miles Sound system files included are MP3 decoding, reverb and fast miles. The SP edition may be different. One other thing worth noting is that the MP demo had known issues with the MX400 and Audigy card but again this may have changed with the SP edition.

  We got an e-mail from quakegeek saying the demo features "the best sound of any game/demo I've ever heard" so worth to check it out if you have the bandwidth.

• Battlecruiser Millennium Patch
  3000AD has released yet another (v1.04) patch for Battlecruiser Millennium. Check the Version Control page for what's new in this one.

Reviews of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3 players.

• Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II
  GideonTech has done a review of Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II. The review which includes CPU usage benchmarks and sound quality tests (unfortunately without any comparisons to other cards) concludes that the $50 card performs very well, better than the Live when it comes to sound quality (based on subjective listening to MP3s). Could add that I don't share this reviewers experience of the Live causing distortion issues.

• Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
  SL Central has posted a very positive review of Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Some comments/corrections to follow: The Acoustic Edge does NOT use the same chip as the Santa Cruz, MacroFX and MultiDrive are not APIs but rather fancy names for good near positioning and 3D sound algorithms for 4-speakers respectively, the MP3 acceleration doesn't work with the later versions of Windows Media Player (7.0 and later).

• Videologic Sirocco Pro
  Review Makers has done a review of VideoLogic's $900/£549 Sirocco Pro. In the review they found it to be an excellent speaker, not only compared to the much cheaper multimedia systems but also a similarly priced system (the Mordaunt-Short MS40i floorstanders). For second (but also very positive) opinion you can check out our review

• Hercules XPS510 5.1 Speaker System
  Tweaktown has posted an overall very positive review of Hercules inexpensive ($89) XPS510 5.1 speaker system. I am not sure what other systems the review has heard for context (none are listed). It's clear from the pricing that Hercules is putting the system directly against Creative's $99 Inspire 5300 5.1 speaker system.

• Klipsch ProMedia 5.1
  IGN has done a review of Klipsch ProMedia 5.1. They think it's an excellent system, clearly better than the ProMedia 4.1, but in the end still think the steep price tag will make the Z-560 a better option for those that don't really need a 5.1 system. Worth noting the Watts specs is measured as RMS as they say in the review but it's not really correct to say continuously. Klipsch only claims the specs to be Maximum Burst Output. In practice it should be no difference according to Klipsch but at least in theory different. For more details about this see our Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 review. Thanks to Kuen Foo for the pointer.

• Logitech Z-560
  HardcoreWare.net has posted a review of Logitech's $200 4-speaker system Z-560. They compare it mostly to Klipsch $100 more expensive ProMedia 4.1 found the Z-560 to offer excellent performance. Thanks to Linh Pam for the pointer.

  When it comes to their THX comments I think it's worth noting that THX charge for this certification so not all companies want to pay for this even if they have a speaker system that would pass the THX quality tests. Moving on to the RMS comments the ProMedia 4.1 400 Watts specs are really still measured as RMS it's just that they don't claim to do it for more than 30 seconds. It's very different than the (pointless) PMPO specs some still use. I'm not sure if the Z-560 really can do 400 Watts RMS continuously either. Creative/Cambridge SoundWorks has now also started with their MegaWorks to use Watts RMS with the disclaimer it's only for 30 seconds.

• JBL Sonnet speaker system in Video Review
  3DGame Man has posted a very positive video review (#104) of JBL Sonnet speaker system. It's a $80 3-piece system.

• Grado SR60 Headphones
  PC Game Central has posted a very positive review of Grado's SR60 Headphones with the only weak point being poor bass performance. It was still good enough to earn a rating of 89% and for the review to conclude "in all, the Grado SR-60's are the best headphones I've ever had the chance to use".

• MPIO - DMK 128MB MP3 Player in Video
  3DGameMan has posted yet another video review (#105). This time it's MPIO - DMK 128MB MP3 Player they checked out. They found it to offer great sound quality at an affordable price and being ultra light and tiny.

• Top 5 Ground Breaking MP3 Players
  CNET has made their pick of the top 5 Ground Breaking MP3 players with a short overview as well as a link to a full review of each. None of the reviews are new. The 5 they picked are Kodak mc3 (includes camera), Imation RipGo (burns own Mini-CDRs), Terapin Technology Mine TX2000 (20GB hard drive; advanced network support and display photos on TV), Apple iPod (FireWire connection) and as the top pick they went with HP Digital Entertainment Center DE100C.
  

• Setting up a home studio guide
  EXHardware has posted a guide about how to set uo your own home studio. The guide will give you a basic overview of all the components and how they work together to form your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).

• So You Want to be a Game Designer?
  Part II of Raven Software's "So You Want to be a Game Designer?" article is now up on CGO Online. The topic this time is "The structure of a game company and where you fit". Here's a bit from the sound department section:

  Sound Designers compose and implement a game's music and sound effects. If you hear anything while playing a game, odds are that a sound designer is responsible for it (unless it's those voices in your head). They use tools like Sound Forge, Cakewalk, Vegas, Awave Studio, Protools and other sound library collections and software. For music composition and recording, many use a multi-track recording program called Cubase VST made by Steinberg. For sound effect recording and editing, there are Sound Forge 4.0 and Vegas, both made by Sonic Foundry, and of course you'll need to use basic recording equipment.

  Having an extensive knowledge of computer and sound hardware such as synth modules, controllers, mixers, etc., plus an ear for music is critical. You also must have knowledge of video games and their sound limitations. The ability to compose in a wide variety of music genres is also helpful since you never know what the game may call for.

• Soule Music Interview
  There was  an interview with composer Jeremy Soule on XGR.COM. Topics were among other thing Jeremy Soule's work on Dungeon Siege and Impossible Creatures. At the end of the show you will be able to download a sample of the soundtrack for Dungeon Siege in mp3 format.

• 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.
  

As always if you have any ideas for products we should review or features we should do, please let us know.

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