SB16 Software Wavetable:

[Francis Li]

This was in a news item on CNET Gamecenter:

Finally, another new Creative Labs announcement should be music to your
ears if you own a Sound Blaster 16. Thanks to a partnership between
Creative Labs and Seer Systems, Creative is offering its new software
synthesizer, Creative WaveSynth, to OEMs. This software solution will offer
32-bit wavetable audio capabilities to Sound Blaster 16 cards.

Interesting. Will end users ever get to see (hear) this?

Francis

[Francis Li]

Here's the press release:

CONTACT INFORMATION

Tina Wilmott Bobbi L. Keene
Creative Labs, Inc. Copithorne & Bellows
twil...@creaf.com bobbi...@cbpr.com

Creative and Seer Deliver Low-Cost Wave-Table Audio to Sound Blaster 16

Creative WaveSynth - First Feature Rich Audio Enhancement Solution for OEM
Market

MILIPITAS, CA -- September 24, 1996 -- Creative Technology Ltd. (NASDAQ:
CREAF), the world's leading provider of multimedia products for personal
computers, has partnered with Seer Systems, Inc. to deliver a high quality,
software synthesizer that gives wave-table audio capabilities to the Sound
Blaster® 16. Creative WaveSynth™, combined with Creative's entire line of
audio products, now gives PC makers the best complete audio solution for
their customers.

Creative WaveSynth provides OEM customers with an excellent
price/performance upgrade option for the Sound Blaster 16. When used in
conjunction with Sound Blaster 16, Creative WaveSynth software performs
MIDI synthesis and acts like a multi-channel audio mixer with high-quality
reverb. Creative WaveSynth also gives high-quality reverb capabilities to
digital audio so that the overall sound when playing games and using audio
applications is notably improved.

Creative WaveSynth supports Direct Sound giving end users the ability to
play games utilizing Direct X and at the same time enjoy the benefits of
the software wave-table. In addition, Creative WaveSynth also takes up
relatively little memory and makes relatively few demands on the CPU. For
customers who don't currently need all of the advanced features of the
Sound Blaster 32 and Sound Blaster AWE32™, which offer a wide range of
impressive high-end audio capabilities for the PC, Creative WaveSynth will
enable end users to experience a significant difference over FM synthesis
at a very affordable price to the OEM. "Creative is very committed to
addressing the needs of our OEM customers by providing them with the most
comprehensive and technically advanced line of products available," said
H.G. Tan, vice president OEM business of Creative Labs. "By offering a
variety of options backed by solid product offerings like Creative
WaveSynth, Creative will continue to remain the worldwide leader in
advanced audio technology for the masses."

Creative WaveSynth was developed through a partnership with Seer Systems,
Inc. In its commitment to develop and deliver next generation audio
solutions, Creative has entered into an exclusive licensing and development
with Seer. "This is just the first step in what Seer and Creative can
accomplish with our extensive resources and technology," said Stanley
Jungleib, founder and CEO of Seer Systems. "Seer's unique software-based
synthesis technology is far ahead of the pack and we are quickly moving
forward with Creative to develop other ground breaking technologies and
musically expressive tools."

Creative WaveSynth is now available to OEM, Private Label and VAR
customers. Customers can receive the synthesizer bundled with the Sound
Blaster 16 chipset or boards. Creative WaveSynth supports Windows 3.1 and
Windows 95.

Creative Technology Ltd. is the world's leading provider of advanced
multimedia solutions for personal computers, including sound, graphics,
communications and video conferencing products. The company's Sound Blaster
technology has been accepted as the worldwide standard sound platform for
PCs, and the company's global distribution network is the most extensive in
the multimedia industry. Creative is focused on enhancing the overall user
experience by providing powerful, enabling, high-value technology for the
mass market.

# # # #

This announcement relates to products whose launch are in the United States
of America. The product names, contents, prices and availability may differ
elsewhere in the world according to local factors and requirements.

Sound Blaster and Blaster are registered trademarks and 3D Blaster is a
trademark of Creative Technology Ltd. E-mu is a registered trademark of
E-mu Systems, Inc. All other products mentioned herein are trademarks of
their respective owners and are hereby recognized as such.

[Jacob Poon]

On 2 Oct 1996, Francis Li wrote:

> Here's the press release:

>=20
> CONTACT INFORMATION=20
>=20
>=20

> Tina Wilmott Bobbi L. Keene
> Creative Labs, Inc. Copithorne & Bellows
> twil...@creaf.com bobbi...@cbpr.com

>=20
>=20
>=20

> Creative and Seer Deliver Low-Cost Wave-Table Audio to Sound Blaster 16

>=20
> Creative WaveSynth - First Feature Rich Audio Enhancement Solution for OE=
M
> Market
>=20
>=20

> MILIPITAS, CA -- September 24, 1996 -- Creative Technology Ltd. (NASDAQ:
> CREAF), the world's leading provider of multimedia products for personal

> computers, has partnered with Seer Systems, Inc. to deliver a high qualit=
y,
> software synthesizer that gives wave-table audio capabilities to the Soun=
d
> Blaster=AE 16. Creative WaveSynth=99, combined with Creative's entire lin=

e of
> audio products, now gives PC makers the best complete audio solution for

> their customers.=20

Isn't software mixing has already been done by mod players/editors long
time ago?
=20

> Creative WaveSynth provides OEM customers with an excellent
> price/performance upgrade option for the Sound Blaster 16. When used in
> conjunction with Sound Blaster 16, Creative WaveSynth software performs

> MIDI synthesis and acts like a multi-channel audio mixer with high-qualit=

y
> reverb. Creative WaveSynth also gives high-quality reverb capabilities to

> digital audio so that the overall sound when playing games and using audi=
o
> applications is notably improved.=20
>=20

> Creative WaveSynth supports Direct Sound giving end users the ability to
> play games utilizing Direct X and at the same time enjoy the benefits of
> the software wave-table. In addition, Creative WaveSynth also takes up
> relatively little memory and makes relatively few demands on the CPU. For
> customers who don't currently need all of the advanced features of the

> Sound Blaster 32 and Sound Blaster AWE32=99, which offer a wide range of
> impressive high-end audio capabilities for the PC, Creative WaveSynth wil=

l
> enable end users to experience a significant difference over FM synthesis
> at a very affordable price to the OEM. "Creative is very committed to
> addressing the needs of our OEM customers by providing them with the most
> comprehensive and technically advanced line of products available," said
> H.G. Tan, vice president OEM business of Creative Labs. "By offering a
> variety of options backed by solid product offerings like Creative
> WaveSynth, Creative will continue to remain the worldwide leader in

> advanced audio technology for the masses."=20

Software mixing is a CPU-demanding work, especially for high quality
mixing. Using CPU to mix music takes away a lot of available bandwidth
which are better served for other processes, especially in Win95 and/or
games. Besides hardware-based solutions are much cheaper than before
anyway. I hope this is not an attempt for CL to make a SB 32 Value
Edition PnP soundcards. :P

> Creative WaveSynth was developed through a partnership with Seer Systems,
> Inc. In its commitment to develop and deliver next generation audio

> solutions, Creative has entered into an exclusive licensing and developme=

nt
> with Seer. "This is just the first step in what Seer and Creative can
> accomplish with our extensive resources and technology," said Stanley
> Jungleib, founder and CEO of Seer Systems. "Seer's unique software-based
> synthesis technology is far ahead of the pack and we are quickly moving
> forward with Creative to develop other ground breaking technologies and

> musically expressive tools."=20

Is it one of those 'technology goes backwards' things? First we have
Rockwell selling software-based RPI modem, now software-mixing wavetable
soundcard? Give me a hardware-mixing wavetable soundcards anyday.=20