Veterans of audio industry

Guillemot/Hercules

Although the Game Theater XP (GTXP) is the first sound card under the Hercules banner, the product was designed by its parent company Guillemot with the help of Cirrus Logic and Sensaura. Although Guillemot is better known for their top-quality video cards and budget sound cards, the Maxi Sound Fortissimo and the Maxi Sound Muse, they are true veterans of the audio industry, particularly the high-end market. The much less popularized Maxi Studio ISIS remains an excellent card for budding musicians, and indeed, during the era of the original Monster Sound, Guillemot had a number of ISA 4-speaker positional audio sound cards.

The GTXP is the hybrid born from Guillemot's consumer and professional line. The breakout box certainly reflects the high-end studio mentality, and the Hercules branding and Game Theater moniker obviously caters to the gaming market. As you probably guessed from the board shot, the GTXP is not following a simple reference board design.

The Game Theater XP

The backplate

Cirrus Logic/Crystal

Cirrus Logic/Crystal provides the CS4630 SoundFusion Audio Accelerator for the Game Theater XP and has an equally rich history. Once famous for their value graphics chips, their audio division also dates back to the Pro Audio Spectrum 16 and Sound Blaster 16 era and had a reputation for reliable and solid OEM performance. When it comes to other audio equipment such as D/A converters and digital receivers, Cirrus Logic products are even found in many audiophile-grade devices. The CS4630 is also used in the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz and VideoLogic Sonic Fury.

Sensaura

Finally, providing the 3D positional audio equations for Cirrus Logic are the math gurus at Sensaura, a spin-off from Central Research Laboratories in London, EMI's former research center. This of course is the same EMI we associate with the Beatles and, of course, every time we mention Sensaura, we also think it's important to list a few of the major contributions CRL has made such as the invention of stereo sound recording, public TV broadcasting, and even the head CT scanner. Sensaura's algorithms were developed using custom-built microphones shaped like human ears and had the contribution of recording studios such as Abbey Road, and Capitol. They were one of the first companies to have 4 speaker HRTF as well as near-listener positioning, the infamous Unreal "flies buzzing around one's head."

World War

On one side we have a partnership between Guillemot, Cirrus Logic, and Sensaura. On the other, Creative Labs and its fully owned American subsidiary E-MU Systems (makers of the EMU10K1). Are we going to see a revitalization of the sound card industry, or will we again return to the world of Sound Blaster?

I must warn you in advance that this article is detailed, but what's at stake is not just the success of one sound card, but the future of all non-Creative sound cards. Go ahead and skip to the Final Verdict now if you want, but hurry back!

In the box