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By James E. Powell
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For quite some time, sound has quietly taken a back seat to graphics and video. But now, with a spate of announcements, audio is making a roaring comeback.
Some 20 companies, including Intel, Creative Labs, Prodigy, AT&T, Cirrus Logic and U.S. Robotics, have licensed TrueSpeech, an audio-compression technology that offers high-quality, low-bit-rate speech-compression algorithms. TrueSpeech is also built into Windows 95 and NT, allowing you to record, play back, store and post audio files on the Internet.
Meanwhile, Analog Devices is working on Multi Audio, a motherboard sound controller that supports Intel's new MMX capabilities. The single-chip controller enables audio and V.34-class modem capabilities for about the cost of a Sound Blaster-only chip. MMX allows sound streams (such as .WAV files, OPL-3 synthesized sound effects and CD multimedia) to be mixed and played synchronously. The chip will be compatible with Microsoft's forthcoming Direct-Sound extensions, which include digitized 3-D sound and low-latency mixing of audio streams.
The most interesting new application may be Computer Friends' Aristotle, which uses voice for entering data, then stores your thoughts and notes in a unique database. You use a mike to create a voice record, then type in a title. A 500MB disk can store 350 hours of messages, or about 42,000 one-minute thoughts. Sound from one note can be edited and inserted into another.
Other products, meanwhile, offer a symphony of features. Users of Hewlett-Packard's Pavilion PC line, for instance, will enjoy the addition of Spatializer 3-D stereo technology. A competitor, QSound, is making inroads in Europe with Electronic Arts' PC titles. While these actually "trick" the ear into hearing in 3-D, Altec Lansing and Dolby Labs are developing more authentic 3-D sound. For true fidelity you'll want Dolby Surround Multimedia, or Dolby Digital AC-3-you'll get sound through six channels on Altec speakers through the forthcoming Universal Serial Bus.
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