Aureal Semiconductor

Lore & Background

Aureal Semiconductor was founded in May 1996 from the remains of Media Vision Technology, which had incurred approximately $104 million in aggregate losses in 1995 and was involved in a financial scandal that led to CEO Paul Jain stepping down. The new company sustained further losses of $17 million in 1996 and $18 million in 1997. In May 1996, Aureal acquired Crystal River Engineering, which had originally developed the A3D technology for NASA's Virtual Environment Workstation Project (VIEW). Crystal River had commercialized it through products like the Convolvotron and Acoustetron; Aureal rebranded the technology as A3D.

The Vortex audio accelerator chipset line was designed to improve performance of A3D. The first member, the Vortex AU8820, was announced on July 14, 1997, and used by manufacturers such as Turtle Beach and TerraTec. The Vortex AU8830 (Vortex 2) was announced on August 6, 1998, and won numerous industry awards. It was used in the Diamond Monster Sound MX300, which achieved near-cult status. Later budget and high-end models included the Vortex Advantage (AU8810) and the SQ3500 (AU8830 with a Turbo DSP daughter-board).

On March 5, 1998, Creative Labs sued Aureal for patent infringement; Aureal countersued. After numerous lawsuits, Aureal won a favorable ruling in December 1999 that vindicated it from the infringement claims, but the legal costs were too high. Aureal filed for bankruptcy, and on September 21, 2000, Creative acquired Aureal's assets for US$32 million, including a release from all claims of past infringement by Creative upon Aureal's A3D technology. The purchase effectively eliminated Creative's only competition in the gaming audio market.

Reader's Guide

Aureal Semiconductor's significance lies in its development of A3D, a positional audio technology that used head-related transfer functions (HRTF) to deliver three-dimensional sound through headphones, two speakers, or four speakers. Unlike discrete surround sound, A3D required only two speakers and was particularly effective for interactive environments such as games and simulations. A3D 2.0 could perform up to 60 first-order reflections, using actual in-game 3D world data to model direct and reflected sound streams, whereas the competing EAX 1.0 from Creative Labs simulated the environment with adjustable reverb without calculating actual reflections.

The Vortex chipset line, especially the Vortex 2 (AU8830), became highly regarded among audiophiles and gamers. A3D was supported by many late-1990s titles including Half-Life, Unreal, Quake II, Soldier of Fortune, Jedi Knight, SiN, Quake III Arena (up to version 1.25), Unreal Tournament, and Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force. Following Creative's acquisition, support for the A3D API was discontinued. All Vortex sound cards remain functional with Windows 2000/XP drivers in Windows Vista and Windows 7 (32-bit editions only); a modified XP driver provides basic audio functionality in Windows Vista. Aureal's legacy is that of a pioneering but ultimately outmatched competitor whose technology was absorbed by its rival.

Did You Know?

• Aureal Semiconductor was formed from the bankrupt Media Vision Technology in May 1996.
• A3D technology was originally developed by Crystal River Engineering for NASA's Virtual Environment Workstation Project (VIEW).
• Creative Labs acquired Aureal's assets for US$32 million in September 2000, effectively ending competition in the gaming audio market.