|
Guillemot
MaxiSound Game Theater 64 10.27.98
|
The MaxiSound GameTheater64 is currently one of the most advanced and
impressive offerings in the sound card market. This particular card is designed
specifically for gaming while its twin brother the Home Studio Pro is geared more
towards the electronic musician. The most remarkable aspect of this card is the fact
that it has been on the market for over a year, and yet offers some of the most current
technological innovations available today. |
Requirements
486DX 66 MHz or higher
16-bit ISA slot
4 MB RAM (8MB RAM required for Windows 95)
Windows 3.1, 3.11 or Windows 95
Pentium recommended
CD-ROM drive
Specs
3D positional audio on 4 separate speakers with DirectSound 3D™ APIs (under DirectX 5.0) from Microsoft
DirectSound™ and DirectSound 3D™ hardware acceleration (the best results are obtained with hardware
accelerator compared to softwareemulation)
Customizable surround and real-time effects on 2 or 4 speakers (change reverb, echo, chorus, delay and
flange in real-time)
64-Voice GM/GS wavetable hardware synthesis. Sounds included are granted with the express permission
of ROLAND Corporation 2 MB RAM on board, expandable to 18 MB RAM with standardSIMMs (60ns)
2 independent stereo outputs for 4 speaker connections
4 kHz-44.1 kHz 16 bit stereo sampling, CD-quality record and playback
Dream™ RISC-based 50 MIPS DSP on board
Windows © 95 Plug & Play, Sound Blaster™, Sound Blaster Pro™ compatible, ESS audio Drive Excellent
Signal-to-noise ratio : S/NR >85 db A
Fully compatible with: General MIDI, Roland™ MPU-401 mode UART, and General Standard™ 4-band
paragraphic equalizer
High-quality ADC/DAC 16/18 bit
Works with 486 DX 66 MHz systems and up
Built-in MIDI Interface (MPU-401 UART and General MIDI)
Enhanced full duplex, for simultaneous two-way conversation over the Internet - 100% Internet ready
Stereo pre-amplified output (ideal with headphones)
Input : microphone and stereo line-in
Software Bundle
1. CakeWalk Express
2. Midisoft Audio Works
3. Internet Phone
4. Mazi Bank Downloader
5. POD
Dream DSP and Sound Banks
The sound system is powered by a chipset from Dream featuring a RISC-based 50 MIPS digital signal processor
and 64-voice wavetable synthesis with 2MB of RAM on board. The RAM can be expanded up to 18MB by simply
adding a standard 72-pin 60ns SIMM. The card has a Sound Bank feature that allows either users to download or
create sounds for use with their MIDI music or for programmers or developers to allow for richer music in their
games. This is the exact same concept as the Sound Font technology offered by Creative. (see creative article?)
The more memory that is available to store sounds for the wave table, the fuller and more realistic the instruments
can sound. This would be pretty much analogous to more memory allowing for better textures for video cards. So
more memory equals better sounds for the MIDI. The MIDI for the GT64 was better than it's direct competitor the
AWE64, mainly because of larger amount of memory for built-in sounds, but when using the default MIDI the
quality sound for the two were the same. However, they were not as good as the newer Live! from Creative.
3D Positional Audio
One of the best features on this card is that it offers dynamic 3D audio through 2 separate
stereo outputs for a total of four channels. So it is possible to have a surround-sound setup with
front and rear speakers. Even better, the digital signal processor can allows for customizable
real-time effects, such as reverb, echo, delay, etc. Furthermore, you can save these custom
settings for different games. This 3D Audio system works with DirectSound3D from Microsoft.
This means that games programmed with DirectX 5.0 or higher will be able to take advantage
of the 3D sound capabilities of this card. Additionally, the card allows for hardware acceleration
of games programmed with DirectSound of DirectSound3D. Whether you have 2 speakers or
4, the real-time effects provided an added dimension to the sound. Games specifically
enhanced for the system (such as the bundled Pod game) can really give you a sense of
sounds coming from 360 degrees around your head. |
|
Installation
The GM64 is plug and play and Windows 98 was able to identify find the correct drivers without any problems at
all. You need to make sure than one of the Dream sound drivers is selected as the preferred device in the
multimedia properties of the control panel. Remember that certain games (such as Final Fantasy VII) might also
require you to select a sound driver in the configuration. Make sure you have the Dream driver selected to take full
advantage of the card. Finally, the GT64 is 100% with all the games that we have tried (most importantly
Quake2!).
Sound Quality
We were very pleased with the digital sound quality as well as the MIDI sound for the card. The card has a very
low signal to noise ratio, which for you means that you can record and play sounds without any of that hissing
noise. Another interesting feature on this card is that not only is it a full duplex card (meaning you can record and
play at the same time) but you can also play up to 8 digital tracks simultaneously. In other words, we opened up
eight different songs on Winamp (just to make sure it really worked), and instead of getting an "audio device in
use" error, we got eight songs playing simultaneously. Besides being cool, this could be of use to those who
might want to mix sounds real-time, but perhaps more importantly it shows the power of the Dream DPS in that it
process all that information without missing a note.
Conclusion
It should be obvious that we are very enthusiastic about this card. Everybody knows that Creative Labs is a giant
in the world of sound and multimedia. We are very happy to see in Guillemot a smaller guy who has the innovation
to give the big guy a run for his money! It's always good to have some nice competition between companies (e.g.
Intel, AMD, Cyrix, IDT, etc.), because in the end it results in better technology at lower prices, which benefits us the
consumers. So all these 3D sound features of the GT64 are very reminiscent of the Environmental Audio
Extension technology offered in Creative's Live! Card. The Sound Banks are reminiscent of Creative's Sound
Fonts. Some might be saying, "Ok, what's the big deal about this card?" Creative's Live! Launched not too long
ago, while this card has been on the market for almost a year. This is, of course, a significant amount of time
especially when technology is concerned. Therefore, in all frankness, the Live! is a newer, card withmore features.
However, in all fairness, the GT64 really should be compared to the AWE64, to which we feel it is clearly superior.
Bottom line, Guillemot seems to be a very innovative company, and the GT64 is a great product that was really
ahead of its time. However this card having come out so long ago has been overshadowed by some of the newer
sound cards such as the Creative's SB Live! and Diamond's MX300, but that is not to say that this card is
obsolete as it offers great performance and quality. It would be recommended as being a good card to have but if
you have the money and want optimum quality we would recommend looking into a Live!.
The company also currently produces other multimedia products, including DVD and 3Dfx Voodoo and Banshee
based graphics adapters. They will ultimately be producing a new generation of sound cards to replace this one. If
Guillemot is able to produce a product of the same quality of the GT64 then is should be something to look out for.
PS, for those of you who are wondering the name of the company is pronounce Gee-moe. (G as in good) if I recall
my French correctly.
Guillemot's Website
TechInfo Index | CoolInfo News | Message Board | Feedback |