[PD] a3d spatialisation for Pd on Windows (98?)

[Iain Mott]

Dear pd list

Have placed the bleeding bones of an A3D project on my web site. I did this
work 2 years ago - better late then never.

As far as I know it works only for Win 98 but it may work for other Windows
platforms - sorry I don't know.

What it does is this: 	lets you send signals (ie PCM) to the Vortex II
chipset sound card and perform hardware binaural spatialisation.
			Spatialise wav and mp3 files
			Adjust listener location and orientation.
			A couple of other tricks
			Loads more functionality if you hack into the code and further implement
the API

You require a sound card with the Vortex II chipset and the latest Vortex II
drivers including the A3D drivers. Might be an idea too to have the A3D SDK
in case you need to compile - or work the code - as far as I know you don't
need the API to run this thing - but you never know (haven't tried running
with the sdk uninstalled). Info on these sources is given in the README
file.

Some words of warning:

1. Aureal (developers of a3d and the vortex chips) no longer exist.
Apparently "No one is continuing the development of the Aureal A3D API or
Vortex series chipsets, Creative Labs owns Aureal's technologies now but
show no interest so far in making any use of them."
2. The mechanism I have used to maintain sync between Pd and the card is
rather crude (there are some notes in the readme)
3. On my machine - CPU usage gradually increases with time when I run the
externals (I never got round to working out the cause)
4. The externals do not have any cleanup mechanism - so be prepared for
crashes when editing or re-opening patches.
5. It can only be used with a disabled version of Pd (input disabled) with
other modifications - I have provided a modified  version of Pd .30 with my
files with notes on what was done.

Note: It may be possible to use an unsullied version of Pd if you are only
using a3dfile and not a3dpcm~ - but I haven't tried this (you will still
need a3dconnect).

I have a demo of the sound on my site demoPdA3D.mp3 - so check this first to
see if you like the sound (2 sources are spatialised one interactive
responding to location with a3dpcm~, the other an mp3 using a3dfile - but
the system can do many more ). Remember to have your headphones on and the
right way round - and bear in mind it aint art!

Hope it's useful to someone out there - let me know if you make any
developments or fixes or whatever.

See: www.reverberant.com/Pd/a3d.htm - total download is over 5 meg.

Happy Year of the Horse!

Iain

_________________________
Iain Mott
phone: +61 3 9639 2959
mob: +61 403 989470
email:   mott at reverberant.com
http://www.reverberant.com





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