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Posted by Thomas
McGuire on November 14, 2001
Manufacturer: Terratec Product:
SoundSystem SiXPack 5.1+
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API
Support
The SiXPack 5.1 (Much like every other CS4630/4624 Soundcard I’ve
tested) supports EAX 1/2, A3D 1, I3DL2, Sensaura's
MacroFX, MultiDrive, ZoomFX (Under development according to
the TerraTec Website) & EnvironmentFX. While you are
probably familiar with the first 3 the other 4 may not be so
familiar to you. As per usual with most modern Soundcards,
A3D 1.x support is provided by conversion to DirectSound3D.
MultiDrive is
Sensaura’s own 3D positional audio Multi-speaker
technology. Currently MultiDrive supports 4 Speakers &
provides better-integrated front/rear hemispheres. Sensaura
is working on a 6 Speaker MultiDrive as well, although
whether or not the SiXPack 5.1 (Or other CS4630 Soundcards)
will support this is unknown at this moment (Currently
Hercules have developed their own 5.1/6.1 implementation for
the Game Theater XP, whereas the Santa Cruz/SonicFury offer
only a Virtual 5.1). In comparison the SiXPack 5.1 offers
only the 4 Speaker MultiDrive, i.e. no 6 Channel
Gaming/Music mode is available – similar to the Game
Theater XP with older Drivers.
MacroFX allows for
greater positioning of near-field
proximity effects (1 meter or less from your virtual self),
which gives the perception of sound sources being very close
to you, a common example being that of bullets whizzing past
your head or perhaps wind blowing in your face/ears in some
sports games. For greater positioning accuracy MacroFX uses
several zones depending on where the source is located.
ZoomFX is a
DirectSound3D extension that simulates the acoustic energy
from large sound emitting objects. Essentially it provides a
way to realise that a (large) object will most likely
consist of multiple sound emitting sources, e.g. from a
train there will be noise from the engine, wheels, etc. It
also realises that as such objects get closer that their
volume can increase rather significantly, e.g. a train
passing beside you is far louder than one some distance
away.
EnvironmentFX is
Sensaura’s own 3D Audio Environment modelling technology.
Much like EAX, EnvironmentFX provides a variety (26) of
environment presets to use & supports EAX 1.0, EAX 2.0
& I3DL2 (Support for any of these APIs in an
Application/Game will automatically mean EnvironmentFX is
supported, it is not an independent API as such).
Later on I’ll go into
whether or not all these actually provide any benefits over
other Soundcards at my disposal, i.e. Philips Acoustic Edge,
SoundBlaster Live! Platinum, Videologic SonicFury, Hercules
Game Theater XP & Fortissimo 2. Although for the most
part you can ignore the SonicFury, Game Theater XP &
Fortissimo 2 as these Soundcards use Sensaura technology
(&support everything the SiXPack 5.1 does basically).
The SiXPack 5.1 also
provides support for Microsoft’s (under-utilized)
DirectMusic format. This was tested using the dxdiag
utility.
As you can see, all tests
for DirectMusic support were successful. The benefit of
Hardware DirectMusic support, as you can probably guess, is
that it offers lower CPU usage than were the Microsoft
Software Synthesizer to be used instead. I’d test out the
benefit of this in a Game, but I’m not aware of owning any
DirectMusic supporting titles.
Course,
only time will tell whether or not anything will come from
this. But overall the SiXPack 5.1 supports a fairly
versatile range of APIs; with Sensaura’s own DirectSound
3D extensions offering something extra over the Creative
Live! & Audigy range.
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