Sonic Vortex 2 Sound Card

Reviewed by: Stuart Fairclough (stuart@mpcc.org.uk)

Hardware	Sonic Vortex 2 Sound Card
Manufacturer	VideoLogic

To compliment the DigiTheatre, those very nice people at VideoLogic also kindly sent me the Sonic Vortex2 sound card (sadly it had to go back). If you are considering buying a new or replacement sound card for the trusty beast and you can't quite stretch it to get one of those more pricey bit cards but nevertheless demand the same, if not better sound quality, thank you very much, then I would suggest you cannot do better than the Vortex2. The number '2' at the end suggests a predecessor and indeed the Vortex2 builds on an already well proven track record but with a completely new and up to the minute designed board.

SonicVortex2 brings you superb 3D positional effects, more responsive game play, great quality sound and a software bundle that contains everything you need to start making music on your desktop: right here, right now. Based on the Aureal 3D (A3D) 2.0 technology used in flight simulators and amusement rides, SonicVortex2 immerses you in compelling 3D sound from two or four speakers. SonicVortex2's on-board processor turbo charges your game play by relieving the strain on your PC, making more of its CPU power available for higher frame rates and more involving game play.

SonicVortex2 supports up to 320 MIDI voices and is shipped with great music-making and game play applications including:

• Making Waves, a 128-track Digital Audio Music Sequencer and Sampler. Making Waves from Perceptive Solutions is a complete sequencer package that allows sophisticated songs to be created. "This isn't just another piece of fun music software, but a serious music making tool," said Computer Music magazine (September 99) of Making Waves. Making Waves' features include professional quality output up to 48kHz; creation of bass lines and melodies; support for any WAV sound samples and exporting of music to CD.

• Top 3D game Descent 3: Sol Ascent. This is a special version of Descent 3 which contains five vertigo inducing levels with all the action players have come to expect from the Descent series. These include the first few levels from the retail version and a unique level only available in this version.

• Soft Karaoke Lite. Eatsleepmusic's Soft Karaoke Lite turns the SonicVortex2 equipped home PC into a full-featured karaoke machine. The built in Song Searcher enables users to find their favourite songs and singers in seconds on the Internet. The volume, pitch and tempo of the performance can all be controlled with a click of the mouse for simple to use karaoke fun and Soft Karaoke Lite's Fade-out feature gives smoother, more professional transitions between songs. Two free karaoke songs are included.

• Trial versions of d-lusion's MJ Studio, DrumStation and RubberDuck. - MJ Studio from d-lusion interactive media is a virtual mixing console for the digital DJ based on cutting edge MP3-technology. MJ Studio offers all the features of professional DJ equipment using wav and MP3 files with functions like pitching, scratching, volume and 3 band equalizer, all independently for each deck and in real-time. The speed of the tracks can be matched with a supporting BPM (Beats Per Minute) detector and MP3s are mixed with a cross fader on the fly. MJ Studio also includes an 'automix' function that fades each song into the next.

• DrumStation DT-010, also from d-lusion, is an easy-to-use software drum machine. based on the concept of the legendary drum computers TR-909, TR-808 and TR-606 whose throbbing bass drums and crashing hi-hats sent generations of dance-music enthusiasts into ecstasy. DrumStation combines cool vintage drum machine features with cutting-edge software synthesis technology.

• d-lusion's RubberDuck H30+ is a real-time software synthesizer dedicated to electronic dance music. Roughly based on the well known TB-303, the RD H30+ synthesis model consists of a dual oscillator with a resonant filter sweep applied to it combined with a simple hardware sequencer design which results in the typical twisted, screaming, bubbling bass sound that is often used in Acid House, Goa Trance, or Techno productions.

• Yamaha Software (Full Versions) - Yamaha XG soft synthesiser runs at 44.1 kHz 16-bit resolution with full effects processing on MMX PCs, or standard PCs with CPU speeds in excess of 166MHz. The software offers 676 fully programmable voices, 21 fully programmable drum kits and a staggering three parallel 24-bit resolution effects busses. Yamaha XG STUDIO is a compact MIDI file player with support for up to 100 songs loaded at any one time.

In addition you also get the following enhanced multimedia add-ons:

• Jet Audio (Full Version) - Jet-Audio is a comprehensive home audio system interface from COWON Systems, Inc. Jet-Audio features independent A/V components for Digital Signal Processor, Audio CD Player, Digital Audio (WAV, MP3, RealAudio), MIDI (MID, MOD, XM, S3M, etc.) and Digital Video (AVI, QTW, MPG, RealMovie), along with a Mixer and on-screen Remote Controller. Jet-Audio is simply the only media player users will need, whatever their playback requirements.

• FutureBeat 3D (Full Version) - FutureBeat 3D is the first song-creation program to offer the user a full 3D sound-stage via DirectSound 3D. FutureBeat 3D is a remarkably intuitive song creation suite which lets you build your own tracks out of wave samples (over 450MB supplied on the CD!)

Cool features, like the built in drum machine or the ability to sync-trigger samples from keyboard or mouse to build the song in real time, are only the tip of the iceberg. FutureBeat 3D is the first song generator to let you place your instruments on a fully 3D soundstage. Just click on a sample to highlight it, then drag the 'X-marks-the-spot' icon in the 3D sound-stage window to where you want the instrument to be.

In all the Vortex2 is a quality sound card that includes a 128-track sequencer; an on-board digital sampler; a 128-track stereo mixer; a selection of free loops and samples; a full range of DSP effects and a drum sequencer.

Installation of the card was a doddle although it is advisable to remove all trace of any existing cards first as I found out to my frustration and which is no fault of the card. The card supports the most popular audio standards. There's full support for Aureal A3D, DirectSound and it is Sound Blaster (EAX) compatible.

For just £59.99 VideoLogic's SonicVortex2 is an outstanding soundcard which no matter how loud you shout about it, the Vortex2 will sound better and louder!