Aureal Semiconductor
Encyclopedia
Aureal Semiconductor Inc. was an American
electronics
manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-late 1990s for their PC sound card technologies including A3D
and the Vortex
(a line of audio ASIC
s.) The company was the reincarnation of the, at the time, bankrupt Media Vision
Technology. Media Vision
was a developer and manufacturer of multimedia peripherals such as the Pro Audio Spectrum 16.
. On September 21, 2000, Creative acquired Aureal's assets from its bankruptcy trustee for US$32 million. The purchase included patents, trademarks, other property, as well as a release to Creative from any infringement by Creative of Aureal's intellectual property including A3D
. The purchase effectively eliminated Creative's only competition in the gaming audio market. It also eliminated any requirements for Creative to pay past or future royalties as well as damages for products which incorporated Aureal's technology.
for NASA's Virtual Environment Workstation Project (VIEW). Crystal River later commercialized the technology with a series of products including the Convolvotron and the Acoustetron. Aureal acquired Crystal River in May 1996 and rebranded the technology A3D.
Contrary to OEM companies (such as Creative which builds, brands and sells their own devices), Aureal was a fabless semiconductor company. This changed with their final product: the Aureal SuperQuad. However, to not anger the middlemen, Aureal did no marketing of its self-branded product.
On the software side, A3D was supported by 3DMark
along with many other software titles of the late 1990s, including Half-Life, Unreal
, Quake II
, Jedi Knight, and SiN.
While Windows XP will recognize and work with the 8830 Vortex 2 chipset, there is an official Final Beta (v5.12.2568.0) available for download from a variety of sites which can be found via most internet search engines.
There is also a modified version of that XP driver that can provide basic audio functionality for the Windows Vista operating system. It may also function with Windows 7 beta releases as well.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-late 1990s for their PC sound card technologies including A3D
A3D
A3D was a technology developed by Aureal Semiconductor for use in their Vortex line of PC sound chips to deliver three-dimensional sound through headphones, two or even four speakers. The technology used head-related transfer functions , which the human ear interprets as spatial cues indicating...
and the Vortex
Aureal Vortex
The Vortex audio accelerator chipset line from Aureal Semiconductor was designed to improve performance of their then-popular A3D audio technology. The first member of the line, the Vortex AU8820, was announced on July 14, 1997, and was used in by a number of sound card manufacturers, like Yamaha...
(a line of audio ASIC
Application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit is an integrated circuit customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. For example, a chip designed solely to run a cell phone is an ASIC...
s.) The company was the reincarnation of the, at the time, bankrupt Media Vision
Media Vision
Media Vision was an American electronics manufacturer of primarily computer sound cards and CD-ROM kits, operating from 1990 to approximately 1995 in Fremont, California...
Technology. Media Vision
Media Vision
Media Vision was an American electronics manufacturer of primarily computer sound cards and CD-ROM kits, operating from 1990 to approximately 1995 in Fremont, California...
was a developer and manufacturer of multimedia peripherals such as the Pro Audio Spectrum 16.
History
On March 5, 1998 Creative Labs sued Aureal for patent infringement. Aureal countersued because they believed Creative was guilty of patent infringement. After numerous lawsuits Aureal won a favorable ruling in December 1999, which vindicated Aureal from these patent infringement claims, but the legal costs were too high and Aureal filed for bankruptcyBankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. On September 21, 2000, Creative acquired Aureal's assets from its bankruptcy trustee for US$32 million. The purchase included patents, trademarks, other property, as well as a release to Creative from any infringement by Creative of Aureal's intellectual property including A3D
A3D
A3D was a technology developed by Aureal Semiconductor for use in their Vortex line of PC sound chips to deliver three-dimensional sound through headphones, two or even four speakers. The technology used head-related transfer functions , which the human ear interprets as spatial cues indicating...
. The purchase effectively eliminated Creative's only competition in the gaming audio market. It also eliminated any requirements for Creative to pay past or future royalties as well as damages for products which incorporated Aureal's technology.
Technologies and products
Aureal's 3D audio technology was originally developed by Crystal River EngineeringCrystal River Engineering
Crystal River Engineering Inc. was an American technology company best known for their pioneering work in HRTF based real-time binaural, or 3D sound processing hardware and software...
for NASA's Virtual Environment Workstation Project (VIEW). Crystal River later commercialized the technology with a series of products including the Convolvotron and the Acoustetron. Aureal acquired Crystal River in May 1996 and rebranded the technology A3D.
Contrary to OEM companies (such as Creative which builds, brands and sells their own devices), Aureal was a fabless semiconductor company. This changed with their final product: the Aureal SuperQuad. However, to not anger the middlemen, Aureal did no marketing of its self-branded product.
On the software side, A3D was supported by 3DMark
3DMark
3DMark is a computer benchmarking tool created and developed by Futuremark Corporation to determine the performance of a computer's 3D graphic rendering and CPU workload processing capabilities. Running 3DMark produces a 3DMark score with higher numbers indicating better performance...
along with many other software titles of the late 1990s, including Half-Life, Unreal
Unreal
Unreal is a first-person shooter video game developed by Epic MegaGames and Digital Extremes and published by GT Interactive in May 1998...
, Quake II
Quake II
Quake II, released on December 9, 1997, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake; it merely uses the name of the former game due to Id's difficulties in coming up with alternative names.The soundtrack for Quake II...
, Jedi Knight, and SiN.
While Windows XP will recognize and work with the 8830 Vortex 2 chipset, there is an official Final Beta (v5.12.2568.0) available for download from a variety of sites which can be found via most internet search engines.
There is also a modified version of that XP driver that can provide basic audio functionality for the Windows Vista operating system. It may also function with Windows 7 beta releases as well.
External links
- Aureal vs Creative - Timeline of Aureal and Creative's legal battle and its purchase by Creative.
- Arstechnica Audio Review
- Vista Driver For Vortex 2 (AU8830) Chipset
- Crystal River spinoff from NASA
- 3D Audio Revolution - A legacy web site featuring news about Aureal and its A3D technology.