Support NeoGAF

[Quartet]

we all know about video chipset, but what about sound chipset. I guess Sony will have something in-house, but what will the revolution have and who make the 360 one?

of course that kinda don't matter anymore from the dreamcast and is more than competant yamaha chip but i'm still curious.

 

[BlueTsunami]

I believe the PS3 will be using Cell or something for sound and the Xbox360 I believe is using emulation or something (not sure) basically I think theres no physical chip dedicated to it.

 

[Quartet]

so they are using unified memory for sound sample?

 

[BlueTsunami]

so they are using unified memory for sound sample?

*O_O

Not to sure about that, i'll let someone else take that question

 

[godofcookery]

yknow for all the video enhancements that are made, noone ever talks about the aural ones. I know the Saturn's sound chip was a big deal back then wasnt it?

 

[Eric_S]

That makes me wonder, how much CPU *oomph* would it take to do real time sound wave tracing? Wouldn't it take less CPU grunt, as the sound wouldn't propagate instantanously as opposed to light (when having the same number of light and sound sources)?

 

[Panajev2001a]

I believe the PS3 will be using Cell or something for sound and the Xbox360 I believe is using emulation or something (not sure) basically I think theres no physical chip dedicated to it.

Not actually true as far as the Xbox 360 is concerned... there is a WMA decoding chip in there, but yes 3D sound is all software on both Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3.

 

[ourumov]

Oh that would explain why many X360 games have 4.1/4.0 instead of 5.1... (from what I read in other forums.

 

[AtomicShroom]

Sound chips are pretty much a moot point nowadays. CPUs are powerful enough, so everything is done in software. (except for stuff like real-time WMA decoding, which requires its own chip. Otherwise it would be too costly CPU-wise).

 

[Andrew2]

Sound chips are pretty much a moot point nowadays. CPUs are powerful enough, so everything is done in software. (except for stuff like real-time WMA decoding, which requires its own chip. Otherwise it would be too costly CPU-wise).

Not true as its always good to have a dedicated hardware sound chip on-board to free-up system resources. The only reason you don't see it in the 360 or PS3 is because its more cost and space added to the PCB couple with the fact the respective CPU's are powerful enough to process audio.

As for the next-gen consoles, the PS3 overally has the best audio sampling capabilities simpily because it the only console that could sample audio a rate of 96 khz(LPCM). So you know, LPCM is what most music studios sample thier stuff at.

 

[Quartet]

so, all in all seem the next gen audio part will be unsignificant. I was expecting to see more interesting sound that actually fit what is on screen and not just an "atmospheric" loop of sound. For exemple, having each object in a scene generate is own sound.

 

[hie]

you already can have 'each object generate it's own sound'. all audio needs is more room so we can use 44.1.

 

[BlueTsunami]

all audio needs is more room so we can use 44.1.

Theres actually an resolution called "Ultra Definition" developed by the Japanase (I believe) that has 22.1 audio as its audio standard :lol

 

[hie]

seriously? i wonder how they figure that! in the future i hope consoles will be powerful enough to go 24bit/96k. really though, 44.1 will make a HUGE difference.

 

[qirex]

so, all in all seem the next gen audio part will be unsignificant. I was expecting to see more interesting sound that actually fit what is on screen and not just an "atmospheric" loop of sound. For exemple, having each object in a scene generate is own sound.

No, it seems like it's up to the developers. When even half the "enthusiasts" out there own home theater in a box setups with 2" paper cones there's not really much impetus to go whole hog and push the limits as far as equipment goes. There's nothing preventing developers from taking on a challenge like you described themselves though. It just seems like that sort of thing would require a lot of specialized work on the console makers' part.

 

[Hooker]

I reckon we're going to hit 10.2 first

 

[Dr_Cogent]

With processors getting so fast, I doubt there is a need for newer sound chips.

 

[Particle Physicist]

Oh that would explain why many X360 games have 4.1/4.0 instead of 5.1... (from what I read in other forums.

wow. so the 360 has been downgraded from the xbox in that department?