CONTENTS I. Overview A. Windows 9x system requirements B. New features II. Quick start III. Software Installation A. Driver installation B. DirectX installation C. Uninstalling the drivers IV. Legacy audio compatibility A. Checking your hardware configuration B. Changing the hardware configuration C. DOS Boxes D. Real-mode DOS E. Compatibility List
======================================================================= I. Overview =======================================================================
A. WINDOWS 9x SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
* 100MHz Pentium-compatible CPU. * 16MB RAM (the Vortex hardware wavetable engine uses a native 4MB sample set. Samples are stored on disk and swapped to RAM as required. Typical DRAM footprint is <2MB. * 15MB hard disk space * CD-ROM drive * Access to Microsoft Windows 9x Installation CD-ROM. * Good-quality speakers or headphones and connecting cables. * Joystick and MIDI keyboard (optional). B. NEW FEATURES: This section lists new features incorporated into the Vortex drivers.
(i) New and improved Icons on the A3D Settings test button. (ii) Added S/PDIF 44.1kHz support on AU8830. (iii) Updated the system tray program to reflect new output mode names: Satellite speakers, Monitor Speakers and Quad Speakers. (iv) Added full support for SPDIF PCM support on all of the 8830 cards that support SPDIF. (v) The user interface on the Control panel has a fader on the A3D Settings page, which allows the user to Fade between the front and rear outputs. The fader is only functional on boards that have four outputs with speakers connected to them. (vi) Added support for a one step uninstall. (vii) AC-3 support works through the waveout interface. (viii) Added new A3D 2.0 Demo App : "A3D 2.0 Rooms" (ix) Hardware Detection for Quad and Stereo Codecs. (x) Full Quad support for all playback modes:
Quad support for Non 3D streams: They are distributed equally to the front and rear channels.
Quad support for A3D: Full A3D rendering and crosstalk on front channels plus panning on the rear channels. This includes A3D SuperQuad which is a quantum leap over standard quad solution used by 4 speaker 3D audio systems (discrete 4 channel panning). Vortex 2 significantly improves upon that solution by introducing A3D SuperQuad: the combination of discrete 4 channel panning with HRTF support. The result is better 3D positioning coverage for the locations where there are no speakers: above/below listener, in between speakers, and inside / outside of the circle formed by speakers.
Quad support for DS3D: Full rendering on front channels plus panning on the rear channels.
