Razer Barracuda Q&A
Also on GameCloud today is this Q&A with Robert Krakoff of Razer. The company recently announced its plans to enter the gaming audio market, with a soundcard and headset arriving in stores some time in May.
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replyI actually got more than this, but I was asked not to share all of it.
Seawolf wrote:
I've been depressed about gaming audio almost forever, and NVIDIA jumped in which seemed like a great step! Then they weaseled out of it. (Really didn't expect that )
Razerguy wrote:
Good point regarding nVIDIA, I believe that Creative had something to do with that. I figure if we weren't afraid of Logi and MS when we launched the Boomslang in '99 then we shouldn't worry about Creative now.
Seawolf wrote:
Does the product have onboard RAM? (I ALWAYS thought sound cards should...just like video cards)
Razerguy wrote:
There's no onboard RAM. Right now we're not convinced it's anything more than an expensive white elephant. There's a lot more work to do yet in the areas of research regarding rendering/pre-rendering of 3D sound, and RAM will become appropriate once these techniques require more processing. Simply adding RAM to store sound samples is not something Razer feels is necessary at this time.
Seawolf wrote:
What are the plans for Vista support?
Razerguy wrote:
Barracuda will support Vista. The drivers are already in development.
Seawolf wrote:
Will this product support current versions of EAX?
Razerguy wrote:
EAX is an open standard, and the Barracuda does have EAX support. Note that EAX comprises mostly of pre-programmed environment effects like reverb, echo, making sounds metallic etc which developers may choose to offload to the sound card drivers. Although this takes some development load of game developers, most new games opt to handle such tasks themselves for more control.
Seawolf wrote:
Is the product using AC'97, HDA, or something else for codecs?
Razerguy wrote:
Intel's AC'97 and upcoming High Definition Audio (HDA) are standards and software codecs that help describe a soundcard's capabilities to the host computer. The AC-1 supports the AC'97 standard. The HDA standard will be supported in future, but perhaps on different hardware.
