VideoLogic Launches SonicVortex PCI
Sound CardAimed primarily at games, but offers some
features for musicians
February 23, 1999
VideoLogic - the international company which develops, designs and supplies
market-leading 2D/3D graphics accelerator, video and audio products for PCs, games
consoles and arcade entertainment machines - has launched the SonicVortex2, a
high performance, advanced audio add-in card for gamers. The card is available
now from VideoLogic's network of resellers and dealers with a max RRP of just
£64.99 (inc. VAT).
SonicVortex2's 3D positional audio, using the acclaimed Aureal A3D 2.0 standard,
brings game environments to life. Now the level of acoustic realism matches the
immersive 3D worlds of the latest, greatest games.
Key features of the SonicVortex2 include: the latest Aureal Vortex2 technology
for realistic 3D audio; four speaker support for an enhanced 3D audio experience;
high performance audio for games, including full hardware acceleration which frees
the CPU and speeds up gameplay; legacy audio support for compatibility with A3D
1.0 and DOS based PC games; high quality audio for music/entertainment; PCI audio
performance and S/P-DIF output for digital recording.
Kevin Dale, marketing and sales director, VideoLogic Systems, says: "It's
time for gamers to demand 3D sound that's on a par with the immersive 3D graphics
found in new games such as Half-Life. With support for the latest Aureal 2.0 API,
SonicVortex2 delivers the ultimate in features and performance for gaming along
with stunning 3D positional audio, all with low CPU usage to keep gameplay fast.
"When SonicVortex2 is connected to one, or even two, sets of our award winning
Sirocco speaker system you really do have the ultimate in PC audio."
High Quality Game Sound
Whether using four speakers, headphones, or even stereo speakers, SonicVortex2
gives the gamer excellent 3D audio effects. SonicVortex2 realistically models
the acoustics of the game world to provide the gamer with the experience of 'being
there'. 'Wavetracing' acoustic modeling ensures that the game's sound effectively
replicates the sound properties of the real world.
Thus, a gun shot in a cavern will sound different from a gun shot in an open-space,
or a rocket engine in front of a player will sound different from a rocket located
off-screen behind the player.
A3D 2.0 takes into account the position of the listener, the sound source
and environment geometry, using reflections, occlusions and the acoustic properties
of different surfaces, so that the game world - whatever it is - can now be realistically
modeled to enhance the player's immersion in the game. Different algorithms are
deployed for headphone, two speaker and four speaker configurations.
SonicVortex2 uses the advanced Aureal Vortex2 AU8830 audio processor for high
performance, high quality audio with 92 stream DirectSound acceleration. A3D 2.0
provides amazing sound effects for the next generation of 3D games. Microsoft
DirectSound and DirectSound3D support is provided for all DirectX games too. EAX
support will be provided in a future driver release. (Target date is early Q2
1999). SonicVortex2 is PC 99 and AC 97 compliant.
SonicVortex2 also provides legacy API support for SoundBlaster Pro (for compatibility
with the majority of DOS games) and A3D 1.0.
Games using Aureal A3D Positional Audio technology include: Unreal, Heretic
II, SiN, Myth II, Wargasm, Thief: Dark Project, StarSiege: Tribes and Half-Life,
with many more to come.
Studio Quality Audio
The SonicVortex2 is not just for gamers. Also excelling at music, the SonicVortex2
provides a 320-voice wavetable synthesizer (64-voices in hardware), with a superb
4MB sample set, for high quality MIDI and in-game music scores. Two independent
channels are supplied for effects including Delay, Reverb, Flange, Distortion
and Wah-Wah.
For users seeking even more musical power, expansion capability is included
for hardware wavetable daughter-cards and Downloadable Samples (DLS) support allows
custom MIDI sample sets to be downloaded in place of the supplied sample set for
maximum versatility.
Digital Recording
An optical S/P-DIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format) output is provided
for digital output at 32, 44.1 or 48 kHz sample rates. Digital output allows direct
digital stereo recording to DAT or miniDisc.
Software Provided
SonicVortex2 is provided with an excellent selection of computer audio software
including Yamaha XG soft synthesiser and Yamaha XG Studio for professional quality
MIDI playback and Jet-Audio for media playback.
Yamaha XG soft synthesiser runs at 44.1KHz 16bit resolution with full effects
processing on MMX PCs, or standard PCs with CPU speeds in excess of 166MHz. The
software offers 676 fully programmable voices, 21 fully programmable drum kits
and a staggering three parallel 24 bit resolution effects busses. Yamaha XG STUDIO
is a compact MIDI file player with support for up to 100 songs loaded at any one
time.
Jet-Audio is a comprehensive home audio system interface from COWON Systems,
Inc. Jet-Audio features independent A/V components for Digital Signal Processor,
Audio CD Player, Digital Audio (WAV, MP3, RealAudio), MIDI (MID, MOD, XM, S3M,
etc.) and Digital Video (AVI, QTW, MPG, RealMovie), along with a Mixer and on-screen
Remote Controller. Jet-Audio is simply the only media player users will need,
whatever their playback requirements.
A graphic equaliser for all audio output (from MIDI, wave, MP3 and CD audio
sources), with a range of presets for common music types is accessible via SonicVortex2's
audio control panel.
SonicVortex2's midi/joystick port enables the use of an additional keyboard
for music or joystick for games. When used for joystick connection the port's
low latency via the PCI bus gives significant improvements in game responsiveness.
Visit the VideoLogic web site at www.videologic.com.
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