OpenAL sound effect survey

The purpose of this survey is to investigate how the EFX effects extension to OpenAL, and the EAX Reverb effect, works on different sound hardware. Unfortunately the MacOS version of OpenAL doesn't support EFX at all currently, so the survey is only for Windows machines.

To participate, download the demo, extract the folder, and then run the OpenAL runtime installer ("oalinst.exe") and the demo ("The Killer sound challenge.exe"). The program will display a list of devices, typically including "Generic Hardware" and "Generic Software". If you have a Creative soundcard, a native device (something like "Audigy" or "X-Fi") will also be displayed. Use the native device if available. If not, try both the hardware and software devices. The demo will play two sounds from WWIIOL at increasingly large distances. If everything works, two things should be apparent in contrast with the in-game sounds: first, the high-frequency sound should be filtered out at large distances, leaving only a low rumble. Second, as the sound moves away, the echo/reverb coming after the sound should become more prominent. What I want you to determine is the following:

  1. Does it run without crashing? (If it does crash, please make sure you are running the latest sound drivers. If it still crashes, the exact error message and if anything is printed to the window is useful in figuring out what's happening.)
  2. Does it say it supports the EFX extension?
  3. Does it say it supports the EAX effects?
  4. Do the sounds get lowpass filtered with distance? (2500m should be practically inaudible, 1200m a very low rumble.)
  5. Does the reverb become longer in time and more prominent compared to the direct sound at large distances (300-600m)?
If there are problems, please make sure you are using updated sound drivers, OpenAL effects seem to require fairly recent drivers. (However, the demo should never crash, it should just fall back to playing the sounds like they sound in the game.) Send the report along with what sound hardware you have (if you don't know, open the sound control panel, go to "audio" and look under sound playback, default device) and which OpenAL device you used to lutorm-wwiiol@familjenjonsson.org for inclusion in the list.

Thanks for participating!

UserHardwareOpenAL deviceWorks
lutormX-Fi XtremeMusicNativeABCDE
lutormX-Fi XtremeMusicGen. HWABCDE
lutormX-Fi XtremeMusicGen. SWABCDE
lutormAudigy 2NativeABCDE
lutormAudigy 2Gen. HWABCDE
lutormAudigy 2Gen. SWABCDE
lutormSigmatel Audio (Macbook Pro)Gen. HWABCDE
lutormSigmatel Audio (Macbook Pro)Gen. SWABCDE
lutormTurtleBeach Santa CruzGen. HWABC-E
lutormTurtleBeach Santa CruzGen. SWABCDE
lutormRealtek HD AudioGen. HWABC--
lutormRealtek HD AudioGen. SWABCDE
veubiahAudigy 4NativeABCDE
sonarAudigy 4NativeABCDE
wongoneRealtek AC97 audioGen. HWABC--
wongoneRealtek AC97 audioGen. SWABCDE
mcalinRealtek AC97 audio?-----
Fredrik1Audigy 4Pro?A??--
gripfast??-----
saofeldAudigy 1NativeA----
rubbishRealtek AC97 audioGen. HWABC--
rubbishRealtek AC97 audioGen. SWABCDE
xanthusX-Fi Fatal1tyNativeABCDE
tobrukRealtek AC97 audioGen. HWABC--
tobrukRealtek AC97 audioGen. SWABCDE
meathedPlantronics GameCom Pro1Gen HWABCDE
meathedPlantronics GameCom Pro1Gen SWABCDE
stang461Audigy 4Native?ABCDE
qaRealtek HD audioGen. HWABCDE
qaRealtek HD audioGen. SWABCDE
bacon41X-Fi PlatinumNativeABCDE
bacon41X-Fi PlatinumGen. HWABCDE
ristaSoundmax digital integrated audioGen. HWABCDE
ristaSoundmax digital integrated audioGen. SWABCDE

lutorm-wwiiol@familjenjonsson.org
Last modified: Fri Feb 09 15:25:38 2007