Aureal A3D is the landmark 3D audio technology which enables a realistic, natural and immerse audio experience by surrounding the listener with sounds in all three dimensions using only a single pair of ordinary speakers or headphones. Using advanced HRTF (head related transfer function) algorithms, A3D allows for interactive positioning of individual sound streams and listeners in true 3D space. Application developers can easily utilize this powerful audio technology via the A3D API - a straightforward extension of the Microsoft DirectSound API.
A3D is the standard in PC system 3D sound, and is supported by many hardware platforms. This growing list of hardware products include Aureal’s own line of PC audio semiconductors - the Vortex PCI-based digital audio accelerator - as well as licensee products such as the Diamond MonsterSound, and Crystal SoundFusion.
1998/03/??
The Aureal SDK was designed to be simple to use, given an understanding of DirectSound API. In particular, A3D is a superset of the DS/DS3D API – the added functionality is supported through extensions to DS/DS3D. This means you can use Microsoft’s industry standard DirectSound3D API, and with minimal modification to your code, enable the extended features of A3D Interactive.
- A3D 1.2 API Documentation
- A3D drivers (a3d.dll, A3D.vxd)
- A3D logos
- Release notes
- Code support files (Including CA3DRenderer, CA3DListener, and CA3DSource classes and some more sample applications running A3D with source code available)
1999/03/08
Welcome to A3D 2.0, the industry-leading 3D audio standard. The Aureal A3D 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) includes everything necessary to build a complete sound engine including 3D positional audio and other features into your next software application. Included in the kit are the following:
- A3D 2.0 API Reference Guide
- A3D 2.0 User’s Guide
- Source code and sample A3D 2.0 applications
- Code support files
- Release notes
- A3D drivers
- A3D logos
- Portable A3D demo
- Aureal Wavetracing technology demo
- Minerva test application
- Marketing presentation
- Vortex audio controller data sheets
2000/02/11
Welcome to A3D 3.0, the industry-leading 3D audio standard. The Aureal A3D 3.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) includes everything necessary to build a complete sound engine including 3D positional audio and other features into your next software application. Included in the kit are the following:
- A3D 3.0 API Reference Guide
- A3D 3.0 User’s Guide
- A3D drivers
- A3D logos
- Source code and sample A3D 3.0 applications
- Debug Viewer
- Code support files
- Release notes
- Aureal Wavetracing technology demo
- Minerva test application
- Vortex audio controller data sheets
This is the heart of the SDK. The A3D API Reference Guide contains a complete list of A3D functions, their descriptions, structures, and error codes. This is where you find the actual code that makes A3D work. As new features are added to A3D 3.0, the release notes will be updated and you will find the actual code in the reference manual. An index of A3D functions is included for easy reference.
This document contains all the information you need (aside from the actual API reference manual, which details specific code) to add support for A3D into your application. It has been separated from the actual A3D API reference for your convenience.
Also known as tutorials, we have included some very simple applications which utilize A3D 3.0, along with the source code used to compile them. This enables you to see what complete A3D code looks like up front. Starting from the sample code, you can make changes and recompile to experiment with settings and other parts of the code.
A tool to visually display all the geometry, sources, reflections, and occlusions that are currently being rendered.
Included with the SDK are the necessary static library files (with source) and header files to compile with your application.
This is where you will find the latest information regarding the status of the A3D SDK and its contents.
Included with the SDK are the latest available drivers (debug and release) that A3D uses to interface with your sound card. These drivers are updated often and are also available on our website (www.a3d.com) for your convenience. To see exactly what the A3D code is doing at a given time, you can use the debug drivers to step through the code and receive valuable debug information.
Included with the SDK are various versions (MAC, PC, PhotoShop, Illustrator, etc.) of the A3D logo. Although A3D works on any audio hardware, it works best with A3D-enabled hardware. Let your customers know that you support their hardware to the fullest by displaying this logo on the box and on your web site.
Optimally supported by Vortex2-based A3D cards, this demo works on any A3D sound card. It very clearly demonstrates the benefits of Aureal Wavetracing technology, a key feature of A3D Move sound sources, the listener, and walls around to dynamically affect the A3D experience. (Available only on the SDK CD)
Minerva is a testing and profiling tool for audio drivers and cards. Minerva tests for compatibility with and features of DirectSound, DirectSound3D, and A3D. (Available only on the SDK CD)
These documents detail the specifications and features of Aureal's popular PCI audio controllers and A3D accelerators, the Vortex chipset. (Available only on the SDK CD)
https://sigmaco.org/aureal-a3d
This software was taken as part of the history of computer games and is now archived and being preserved by the cybercultist museum of the Federação SIGMA.
Federação SIGMA, formerly doing business as SIGMA Co. (contraction of SIGMA Collective), is a cybercultist conglomerate, of public interest and private law, established to bring together, organize and orchestrate, in a single mass, all societies, service boards, operational columns, and their respective resources, assets and rights under the common authority and singular ownership of SIGMA, the Latin American science, technology and cyber engineering collective.
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Technical contact: culture@sigmaco.org.