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LGR - Creative Labs Surround System (Patreon)

Published:
2023-01-05 05:17:05
Imported:
2023-01

Content

https://youtu.be/bRWWEuNNq14

Happy 2023! I hope you had a nice and enjoyable new years. I basically just spent mine working, ha. And by that I mean continuing to sort through LGR storage and uncover items I've had set aside to cover for a while. Like the thing today!

What we've got here is the Creative Surround System from 1999, which is really nothing more than a metal framework thing for mounting rear channel speakers to foldable hollowed-out arms. It's neat! But it's not much without some surround sound speakers, so this is also an unboxing and test of the classic Cambridge SoundWorks FPS1000 4.1 speaker kit from 1998. Heck yeah, just a classic late 90s quadraphonic surround experience right here.

It's a simpler video but one that I certainly had fun slapping together the last few days after sleeping off the usual NYE hangover, heh. I'm hoping to get to a couple of build/restoration projects in the coming weeks but their completion depends on variables that are always varying in their variability. Old tech is tricky. Otherwise I also have quite an usual piece of Oddware that just showed up and is so darned odd in such a unique one-off way that I'm not even sure it qualifies, so we'll see what kinda video that turns into.

Either way, see y'all again in a week or so. Oh and of course, $5+ patrons can expect the usual LGR Wrap Up video pretty soon here. Have a good one!

Files

Creative Surround Station: Late 90s Quadraphonic PC Gaming!

In 1999, Creative Labs released the SurroundStation – a metal framework for mounting rear channel speakers onto foldable hollowed-out arms. It's neat! But it ain't much without speakers. So this is also an unboxing and test of the classic Cambridge SoundWorks FPS1000 4.1 speaker kit from 1998! ● LGR links: https://patreon.com/LazyGameReviews https://twitter.com/LazyGameReviews https://facebook.com/LazyGameReviews ● Music licensed from Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com 00:00 The Creative Surround Station 03:53 Cambridge SoundWorks Speakers Unbox 07:34 Setting Up the Station and 4.1 System 12:11 Counter-Strike 1.6 16:37 Unreal Tournament GOTY 19:07 Need For Speed High Stakes 21:47 Retro 3D Surround Sound is NEAT #LGR #Computer #Audio

Comments

CubicleNate

I agree that surround sound is STILL cool. It has been on my list to have surround sound for my home theater but... well... it's pretty low on the list. I should check out what current options there are. 🤔 Do you have a neato home theater setup?

Anonymous

I used to have my dads old pioneer surround sound system in my room, this is exactly the kind of janky but awesome setup I would have killed to have

LazyGameReviews
>>98960808

Not yet but I’m working on it! I’m still building out and remodeling the living room in my new place but I have Atmos plans :)

LazyGameReviews
>>98962410

One of their old quadraphonic setups or something newer? I used to have a vintage Pioneer receiver that could do that, though I got rid of it since I didn’t have anything else that could take advantage of it. Always thought the idea was neat though :)

Anonymous
>>98962410

Oh yea it was newer, some 90s home theater in a box style system I cant remember the model of. I do have a pioneer SX-780 now, not a surround of course but Its great for my records. I love vintage pioneer receivers, very classy styling and they still hold up

Kris Asick

As I understand it, "3D Sound" wasn't really done well in early software, which may explain some of the weirdness you were encountering. The whole concept of sound effects having a position in 3D space which updates as the player moves around was still a very primitive thing and thus there was kind of a disconnect between DirectX, which was handling the positional aspects of the audio, and the sound cards trying to produce audio based on that. Things like EAX are also often mistaken as being a part of that, while EAX was more about ambience and trying to make environments feel more "real" as it were. Positional audio is definitely a lot more accurate on modern systems though now the problem is reversed, in that some devs don't put proper stereo solutions in their games anymore, relying on the positional audio to be translated to stereo by hardware and there's often severe audio balancing issues because of that... and then you have Dolby and DTS throwing proprietary crap into the mix and audio is just a freaking mess now. It's why I had to buy a modern Sound Blaster card for my brand new gaming motherboard and yet STILL don't have an ideal audio setup. >_<

LazyGameReviews
>>98975005

I can certainly appreciate that positional audio was in its infancy. It sure is a confusing mess though. Like UT99 separating Hardware 3D Sound and Surround Sound options, poorly explaining what either option really activates. It states "richer environmental effects" are enabled with the Hardware 3D Sound option, so I assumed it meant EAX. But the rear channel issues persisted even with that disabled so eh And then it's even more perplexing when seeing menus like the one in High Stakes here showing "D3D/EAX" as the only option for anything beyond stereo sound. Argh!

Alyxx the Rat

Makes me want to set up a late 90s PC with surround as well.

Bryan McIntosh
>>98975005

UT99 had a special patch released to do EAX properly, and it wasn't part of the normal 436 update. Send me a message and I can hook you up with the file that I've kept for well over 22 years!

GadgetBlues

I sent this to Clint so I'm super stoked to see the video! I'll be waiting anxiously for the public release so I can share with friends, particularly those who remember me using this setup at Microsoft to play Counter Strike & Half-Life deathmatch after hours back in the day.

Kris Asick
>>98975005

Mmm! If you still have things set up and have some time before you plan to bring the video out, maybe give Descent 3 a try as that game made a big deal about its surround sound features including having all the cinematics done with Dolby surround encoding! :o

LazyGameReviews
>>98976918

More worth it than I would've thought before this setup, makes me wish I'd done it sooner! Goes a long way towards bringing more life to old favorites.

Alyxx the Rat
>>98976918

One day I will have a late 90s era system running Need for Speed III Hot Pursuit with a surround system and a steering wheel.

Anonymous

In my experience, the "surround sound" options were never as immersive as hardware 3D audio if they weren't from discrete 5.1 sources to begin with (e.g. DVDs). I believe the Audigy 2 should do a great job with positional audio via CMSS 3D, output to 4 speakers. In fact, I wonder if choosing a surround option with 4.1 was actually the cause of some of your issues. The game may have been counting on those extra two outputs (center and sub - your setup isn't really 4.1, since it just uses internal crossovers to separate out the lows, vs. a 5.1 speaker setup with 6 inputs).

CubicleNate
>>98960808

Good luck on all the remodeling. I know how much of a pain that is. Good tools go a long way!

Gareth P

I really appreciated the concept and execution of the station, great stuff! It all reminded me of a setup I had at university where I had a pretty decent Yamaha 2.1 system behind me on the window-sill connected by a long extension cable to my Soundblaster Live! 1024, with the front speakers being linked to my better-than-average Sony hifi system (fake separates) mounted either side of my Belinea 17" CRT. While I wasn't a gaming fiend I was big into watching DVDs and remember that the first thing I tried out was watching The Hunt for Red October, it worked really well with the surround setup!

Anonymous

I think some of those later games assumed you had a center channel, even if you didn't. The drop out occurs when it would be fully in the center.

Anonymous

The calibration lady’s voice reminded me of the voice of the computer in Star Trek the next generation

Chad Armstrong

Love that the wallpaper on the computer looks like one of the new images taken by the JWST. And what is in that teal Apple box as seen in the background near the end of the video?

LazyGameReviews
>>99122790

A PowerBook G3, as unboxed here: https://youtu.be/7YzwTRCDLWg?t=2919 And tested here :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRREwptaDCI