Aureal Vortex and OpenAL
by Sabrecyd · in · 08/01/2003 (3:35 am) · 4 replies
Just wondering if anyone has a Aureal Vortex card and noticed that most of the wav sound effects don't work well in the torque engine. They sound fine using any external audio player but in torque they sound more like mice on crack. I'm guesing that OpenAL (or something with torque) doesn't work well with Aureal cards. On my Sound Blaster Audigy card and every other sound card I've tried the same wav files sound perfect.
I did install OpenAL btw.
Edit: Just thought I'd let people know I just put in a $30 Philips Sonic Edge 5.1 sound card in place of the Aureal card and it works perfectly. Might want to avoid using any Aureal Vortex cards with TGE. I recommend taking a look at this card for those shopping around. Low cost, it doesn't install a bunch of extra crap, and it sounds great. Best of all it works with Torque :)
I did install OpenAL btw.
Edit: Just thought I'd let people know I just put in a $30 Philips Sonic Edge 5.1 sound card in place of the Aureal card and it works perfectly. Might want to avoid using any Aureal Vortex cards with TGE. I recommend taking a look at this card for those shopping around. Low cost, it doesn't install a bunch of extra crap, and it sounds great. Best of all it works with Torque :)
About the author
#2
For starters, Aureal went bust some time ago.
"I would stick to Creative Labs when it comes to computer audio. They were the first and reign the best"...
They were not the first, and they were defiantly not the best. Creative still hasn't come close to the kinds of audio goodies Aureal/A3D developed many moons ago, even though Creative managed to acquire Aureal's IP. Creative's EAX was basically just a hardware reverb engine up until EAX 3.0 when creative added occlusions, obstructions, reflections, and environment morphing (and I think this was after they acquired Aureal's IP). The one biggest thing still missing that Aureal had since A3D 2.0 is geometry based wavetracing - occlusions, obstructions and reflections calculated based on the actual geometry of the 3D space (EAX is still "room" based AFAIK).
Aureal fell by the way side because as soon as Creative realized someone had a better product than them, they didn't try to up their game, they just pored on the marketing until Aureal (and the A3D tech) went bust. Actually, that's not the only reason. A lot of the early Aureal cards were buggy and Aureal never managed to fully shake off that bad image. But it still doesn't excuse Creative IMHO.
However, in 2005, Creative is the only company that currently produces EAX 3.0 capable hardware - so we're kinda stuck with em.
p.s. My most recent *attempts* at "customer service" with creative may well be colouring this rant somewhat.
04/16/2005 (4:52 pm)
Way to drag a post up from the dead, with some poor assumptions to boot.For starters, Aureal went bust some time ago.
"I would stick to Creative Labs when it comes to computer audio. They were the first and reign the best"...
They were not the first, and they were defiantly not the best. Creative still hasn't come close to the kinds of audio goodies Aureal/A3D developed many moons ago, even though Creative managed to acquire Aureal's IP. Creative's EAX was basically just a hardware reverb engine up until EAX 3.0 when creative added occlusions, obstructions, reflections, and environment morphing (and I think this was after they acquired Aureal's IP). The one biggest thing still missing that Aureal had since A3D 2.0 is geometry based wavetracing - occlusions, obstructions and reflections calculated based on the actual geometry of the 3D space (EAX is still "room" based AFAIK).
Aureal fell by the way side because as soon as Creative realized someone had a better product than them, they didn't try to up their game, they just pored on the marketing until Aureal (and the A3D tech) went bust. Actually, that's not the only reason. A lot of the early Aureal cards were buggy and Aureal never managed to fully shake off that bad image. But it still doesn't excuse Creative IMHO.
However, in 2005, Creative is the only company that currently produces EAX 3.0 capable hardware - so we're kinda stuck with em.
p.s. My most recent *attempts* at "customer service" with creative may well be colouring this rant somewhat.
#3
I make it a point to drive by the Creative offices in San Jose (or Milpitas, or whatever Silicon Valley suburb they are in) and honk the horn while showing them they're "number 1" whenever I'm out there...
04/17/2005 (1:25 am)
Creative has the worst driver packages of any sound device I've used. I have an Audigy (original) and when I downloaded the latest "complete drivers" the piece of crap wanted the original CD-ROM to pull files from (this was back when the disc had Win2000 drivers and I was trying to install to XP -- WTF is with their "XP drivers" wanting W2K files???)I make it a point to drive by the Creative offices in San Jose (or Milpitas, or whatever Silicon Valley suburb they are in) and honk the horn while showing them they're "number 1" whenever I'm out there...
#4
Creative cards at the high end can be nice, but sadly Creative defines "drivers" as "marketing and sales opportunity" -- they bundle in a lot of companion applications and elements that border on spyware (and stray well into bloatware) and none of it delivers any value users appreciate. Sadly, it is often difficult to get a driver from them that lacks this crap, and the downloads seldom fall below 20MB. The Space Shuttle probably has 1MB drivers :)
At the low end, there is not less compatible card on the PLANET than a soundblaster, particularly those models based on old Ensoniq crap. Sadder yet, we discovered that sometimes cards bearing the same model name (as told to customers, e.g.: Soundblaster PCI64) would have FLAGRANTLY different hardware (e.g.: different chip). That is to say, the name did not identify the hardware, per se, as much as it represented to Creative "one of a wide assortment of cheap leftovers that play Doom 2 without killing the user and fits in our lowest price category". You want a PCI64? They'd reach into a hopper of 20 types of old cards and pack one off and send it to ya.
If any soundcard is working fine for you, that's one to stick with. But I don't steer people to Creative these days.
tone
08/11/2005 (11:21 am)
I mourn the passing of Aureal. When we created Roger Wilco and people had compatibility issues, Aureal was our preferred brand BAR NONE. Any issues with their gear these days is attributable only to their great age and lack of attention (it happens when you go bust!)Creative cards at the high end can be nice, but sadly Creative defines "drivers" as "marketing and sales opportunity" -- they bundle in a lot of companion applications and elements that border on spyware (and stray well into bloatware) and none of it delivers any value users appreciate. Sadly, it is often difficult to get a driver from them that lacks this crap, and the downloads seldom fall below 20MB. The Space Shuttle probably has 1MB drivers :)
At the low end, there is not less compatible card on the PLANET than a soundblaster, particularly those models based on old Ensoniq crap. Sadder yet, we discovered that sometimes cards bearing the same model name (as told to customers, e.g.: Soundblaster PCI64) would have FLAGRANTLY different hardware (e.g.: different chip). That is to say, the name did not identify the hardware, per se, as much as it represented to Creative "one of a wide assortment of cheap leftovers that play Doom 2 without killing the user and fits in our lowest price category". You want a PCI64? They'd reach into a hopper of 20 types of old cards and pack one off and send it to ya.
If any soundcard is working fine for you, that's one to stick with. But I don't steer people to Creative these days.
tone
Torque Owner Travis Eddlemon
I would stick to Creative Labs when it comes to computer audio. They were the first and reign the best. Pound for Pound.