File Type and Creator Codes for Sonic

A few notes on File Type and Creator Codes for Sonic.

Dolby Digital for Games

Activision Partners with Dolby to Optimize Its North American Game Development Studios for Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

BUSINESS WIRE — Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB) and Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATVI) today announced a groundbreaking partnership designed to bring rich, realistic surround sound experiences to gamers worldwide, by ensuring Activision's audio production facilities in North America are optimized for Dolby(R) technologies. Beginning today, Dolby will help optimize Activision's audio production facilities ….. …Read More »

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Sirius, XM Merge

The two satellite radio providers can’t go it alone: XM and Sirius will merge as “equals,” the press release says, with a combined value of $13b and net debt of $1.6b. The FCC chairman Kevin Martin has previously signaled that the existing licenses precluded this sort of merger. However, presented with a fait accompli and the potential for two spectacular bankruptcies, coupled with the robust competition of Internet radio, the future HD Radio challenges, and iPods–the FCC will likely give in, with conditions.[snip]

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Read more by following the link above. I think it’s a decent analysis. There will be much more to come. Whether satellite radio will survive even with this merger is still an open question. I’d like to think that the poor sound quality reported in many corners has something to do with the failure of either company to pull ahead but clearly there are bigger reasons.

Sonic EQ native Announced by Sonic Studio

Sonic Studio, LLC, the leader in ultra–fidelity production tools for audio engineers, announced the release of a new option for soundBlade, Sonic EQ native. Sonic EQ native reinvents the fabled equalizer aspect of the “Classic” Sonic System in the modern, extended precision context of soundBlade.

Wonderful that there’s another announcement from Sonic Studio. But with this press release (pdf) I realize that something which used to be included in the basic software (albeit software which sold at a much higher price) is not an option. Sonic EQ Native is a US$495 add on for soundBlade.

Dolby unveils stand-alone encoder for Media Producer suite

Dolby Media Encoder SE is designed for mastering and encoding audio at smaller post-production facilities.

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I read this story and then went over to dolby.com for more information. I was surprised (in a good way) to see that all of the software tools listed under “Mastering for DVD and HD Disc Media” run on OS X . . . as in only on a Mac. Here’s a pdf on the Dolby Media Encoder SE. With a list of US$2900 this isn’t prosumer stuff. But it does include MLP for DVD-A’s along with support for HD DVD and Blu-ray disc formats.

Coding Technologies Releases MPEG-4 Upgrade

Coding Technologies has released a significantly upgraded version of its MPEG-4 AAC Plus Audio encoder engine.
[snip]

One example of the new encoder’s advantages include the delivery of 5.1 Surround Sound at 128kb/s, as opposed to 160kb/s.

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128kb/s is the data rate of iTunes Music Store songs.
AAC is the file format.
Gosh, that looks pretty close to me. How about it Steve?

Manual DeClick II from Sonic Studio

DeClick II runs on soundBlade and the upcoming (nice) PreMaster CD version 2. New sensitivity controls. US$895.

More in the Press Release. [pdf]

Core Sound – TetraMic

At the Audio Engineering Society Convention in San Francisco
(AES-2006), Core Sound was proud to introduce its groundbreaking TetraMic, the first portable, single
point, surround sound microphone to be available for under $1000. Based
on the principles developed by Michael Gerzon during the 1970’s for
Ambisonics recording, TetraMic allows . . .

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It’s tiny!