Can we expected to see new gen of sound card in 2008 ?
- Thread starter NonNative
- Start date
no
why ?
eax is dead and the x-fi allready does everything in the openal spec plus dev's + gamers interest in openal is as of yet unkown i think cl + others are waiting to see how much interest there is before extending the openal spec + providing hardware to support it
i think openal should to come up with different levels eg: openal level 1,2,3 ect that way isv's could easily diferentiate their products + gamers could know what theyre getting big sticker on the box "supports openal level 3" or "supports openal level 2" would do that
or course i could be wrong
why ?
eax is dead and the x-fi allready does everything in the openal spec plus dev's + gamers interest in openal is as of yet unkown i think cl + others are waiting to see how much interest there is before extending the openal spec + providing hardware to support it
i think openal should to come up with different levels eg: openal level 1,2,3 ect that way isv's could easily diferentiate their products + gamers could know what theyre getting big sticker on the box "supports openal level 3" or "supports openal level 2" would do that
or course i could be wrong
Just wondering how year 2005 sound card support openAL 1.1 which released date July12 2007 ? :O
According from this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAL
According from this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAL
The real problem is marketing -- how do you convince people to spend the money on an even newer and "better" soundcard? Granted, there are those people who will be able to discern the difference between a high-quality 192khz 24-bit DAC and a el-cheapo 44.1khz/16-bit DAC, but that's not the majority.
The majority of generic users really don't have a lot of understanding of sound nor sound acceleration. And thanksroll to Vista's new sound stack, audio acceleration really doesn't exist for all but a slight few applications in production.
So, how do you sell "advanced sound" to the common denominator user class? You don't. The only group remaining is the enthusiast class, and even then you're gonna have to provide something to get them off the X-Fi's and Audigy's that are alreadly cheap and plentiful.
We need an entirely new paradigm for sound functionality, which I really just don't see... And of course, with any major shift like what's needed here, you'll need both hardware and software support, meaning some form of OS-agnostic, open and extensible API + framework to make this newfangled sound functionality really work and be worth using.
Creative certainly isn't gonna do that, their R&D budget on the PC platform is dwindling at a very rapid pace. I don't know of any other players that have enough clout and money to fund such an endeavor. So, yeah, I really don't see nor expect anything new on the horizon.
The majority of generic users really don't have a lot of understanding of sound nor sound acceleration. And thanks
roll to Vista's new sound stack, audio acceleration really doesn't exist for all but a slight few applications in production.So, how do you sell "advanced sound" to the common denominator user class? You don't. The only group remaining is the enthusiast class, and even then you're gonna have to provide something to get them off the X-Fi's and Audigy's that are alreadly cheap and plentiful.
We need an entirely new paradigm for sound functionality, which I really just don't see... And of course, with any major shift like what's needed here, you'll need both hardware and software support, meaning some form of OS-agnostic, open and extensible API + framework to make this newfangled sound functionality really work and be worth using.
Creative certainly isn't gonna do that, their R&D budget on the PC platform is dwindling at a very rapid pace. I don't know of any other players that have enough clout and money to fund such an endeavor. So, yeah, I really don't see nor expect anything new on the horizon.
What games actually use OpenAL? I can't recall any, so I don't really follow the hype this API has received (other than being open).
I know there are several, arg can't think of any right now. I also know that EAX was being at least partially "emulated" by way of OpenAL for some older games under Vista -- as that's the only available acceleration option now.
Part of me wants to hate Microsoft for making the new sound stack in Vista completely un-acceleratable. I mean, they went out of their way to allow even more and better offloading capabilities for network, storage and video controllers -- why go backwards for audio? It just doesn't make sense.
But then, part of me wants to give Microsoft a big hug for the HUGE amount of redesign they did on the new sound stack in Vista -- it's FAR FAR better than anything we had in previous Windows operating systems. Ignoring the acceleration issue, of course
However much I feel I need to loathe Microsoft for gutting acceleration from Vista's audio stack, no part of me feels sorry for Creative. They've been basically rehashing the same tech now for years, bordering on a decade. Sure, EAX has made some baby steps forward, but what about all the other good technology they completely crushed on their way in? Meh. I would've felt more sorry for them five years ago, but I just can't muster it today.
This is what happens when there's no competition -- the entire segment just dies. We need some more competition in this arena, but I have no clue who would bring it, nor how they'd sell it.
Part of me wants to hate Microsoft for making the new sound stack in Vista completely un-acceleratable. I mean, they went out of their way to allow even more and better offloading capabilities for network, storage and video controllers -- why go backwards for audio? It just doesn't make sense.
But then, part of me wants to give Microsoft a big hug for the HUGE amount of redesign they did on the new sound stack in Vista -- it's FAR FAR better than anything we had in previous Windows operating systems. Ignoring the acceleration issue, of course
However much I feel I need to loathe Microsoft for gutting acceleration from Vista's audio stack, no part of me feels sorry for Creative. They've been basically rehashing the same tech now for years, bordering on a decade. Sure, EAX has made some baby steps forward, but what about all the other good technology they completely crushed on their way in? Meh. I would've felt more sorry for them five years ago, but I just can't muster it today.
This is what happens when there's no competition -- the entire segment just dies. We need some more competition in this arena, but I have no clue who would bring it, nor how they'd sell it.
i hope so as openal + openal supporting games are the only hope for a nexgen sound card
/davros waits for soundcards to support holophonics
like i said different levels of openal would help at the moment practically every card can can support openal
/davros waits for soundcards to support holophonics
like i said different levels of openal would help at the moment practically every card can can support openal
I can't disagree on technical merit, but how would you (as a brand new, or even an existing) sound card provider sell that to a general customer base? And then, would the performance be attractive enough to be marketable?
I'm likening it to something like PhysX, a $100 add-in board isn't "expensive" in the grand scheme of things, but if all it can do is accelerate (mildly) a dozen or so corner-case apps, is it worth your money? To some, sure. But is that "some" going to be enough to fund your company, the payroll, and continued R&D?
It's a precarious place to be
I'm likening it to something like PhysX, a $100 add-in board isn't "expensive" in the grand scheme of things, but if all it can do is accelerate (mildly) a dozen or so corner-case apps, is it worth your money? To some, sure. But is that "some" going to be enough to fund your company, the payroll, and continued R&D?
It's a precarious place to be
There are lots of games that use OpenAL. Almost everything on Unreal Engine 2 and later, I believe. UT2003/4/UT3/Unreal 2 for certain. Later Quake3 powered games, such as JK2 and JA.
Doom3 (post-patch), Quake 4, Prey.
Just look around in the game folders for a file with "openAL" somewhere in the name.
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EAX5 functions are fully accessible through OpenAL.
I want to see Roland SC-55/SCC-1 (or perhaps some new version) sound synthesizers hardwired into every new sound card for the best midi playback available. I mean, this should be standard issue already instead of the stupid bundled General Midi sound canvas drivers we get from Windows. Nothing beats MT-32 when it came to general midi synthesis. Go here to see what I mean. (Also Creative's soundfonts just don't cut it.)
Of course, nobody probably cares about midi anymore because they "cheat" by using streaming audio.
Of course, nobody probably cares about midi anymore because they "cheat" by using streaming audio.
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Programable DSP.
That's like asking how a year 2002 CPU can support .NET 3.5 which might be released in 2007 or 2008.
Blazkowicz
Legend
a software synth can also do a good job, I remember using the Yamaha XG one which came both on my motherboard's CD and with final fantasy 7, that ran on an intel P166.
I'm not a midi audiophile though.
Integrated sound ftw, at least until something really cool comes along.
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