3rd February 2010, 7:22 AM
Dark Jaguar Wrote:Programming in Doppler Effect is a nice idea there lazy, and I've played a few games that actually do try to emulate that effect. The problem is making it accurate requires a lot of extra processing power. It's the same reason why 5.1 speakers exist. It's just easier to program in 5 different channels to simulate it than actually calculate the difference that one sound should come from the left or from the right and add that timing in (which in actuality would be far more accurate and only need two speakers if done right).
Ideally down the line we'll be able to do that without much extra processing cost, but that'll mean taking sound processing to a new level, and Creative, aside from being the only contender these days, seems perfectly content with their several year old X-Fi sound cards. It'd sure be nice to say goodbye to the ever increasing number of speakers and just directly do what our two ears use naturally. Not like ears can tell the difference between above/below and front/back anyway.
Very true, have you seen those weird mini woofers? If they could get low tones out of tiny speakers, that would change everything. They (yunno, THOSE people) developed a screen that's actually a speaker, there's also these bizarro speakers that are as thin as paper and will be used in movie posters to catch your ear before it catches your eye. But the whole poster is a speaker, it just sounds like krap, no low tones. There was an experimental accordion style subwoofer that was actually just a tiny amplifier with a 'vacuum seal' accordion that you pull out, creating the space to generate resonance to produce low tones, but i've also seen tiny, like smaller than a computer mouse, cardboard boxes that house two tiny speakers and actually produces low tones. That would be perfect for hand held devices.
I suppose I could see a device that you pull out like an accordion when you want to play music and then push it back together for portability. But would it be worth it to have such a goofy thing so you can have full-range audio?
Imagine holding a DSi. Would it be worth it to you if the DSi was made thicker temporarily to allow for low tones, bass and a larger range? Then snap back together so it fits in your pocket. Like if the back of the top screen actually puffed out about two or three inches to create a subwoofer, or would that be incredibly goofy?
As far as getting doppler or any kind of radiant in sound, the answer is MIDI or computer generated sound effects. You can create a truly interactive sound effect, but the problem is that you have to sit down and code the damn thing. Would you actually need more processing power for that? Wouldn't it be just as intensive as MIDI playback in general just with added parameters of velocity, volume, pitch, etc?
But yeah, stereo low tone capable speakers on a portable system with proper timing to create surround would be amazing.