For more information: EMAIL: SS_NSI@Sounds.wa.com ============================ NEXTSTEP Audio Driver released for ENSONIQ Soundscape multimedia sound cards BELLEVUE, WA- April 25 - Sound Consulting is shipping Release 3.30 of the EnsoniqSoundscape Audio Driver for NEXTSTEP. Current support includes all of the shipping ENSONIQ sound cards plus several third-party compatible sound cards which are based on the ENSONIQ chip set. There is currently no bundle of the hardware together with the driver. However, the combined price from separate sources is still quite affordable and more than competitive. BACKGROUND The combination of the EnsoniqSoundscape Driver with any of the supported sound cards is currently the only solution available for NEXTSTEP providing support for both Audio and MIDI features on one Intel-compatible bus adaptor board. The EnsoniqSoundscape Driver is compatible with the currently shipping MusicKit MidiDriver, enabling Intel machines running NEXTSTEP to allocate a single ISA or EISA slot to the combined functions of Audio and MIDI. According to the archives of the NeXTmusic mailing list: "Sources at NeXT say the most reliable sound card for NEXTSTEP-Intel is the Microsoft card. Microsoft [...] have stopped production, [...]" The ENSONIQ Soundscape hardware is based on the same quality CODEC chip as the Microsoft Windows Sound System, and is therefore the only shipping option available to NEXTSTEP users which meets or exceeds the same quality and reliability standards. Considering that the Microsoft product did not include MIDI support and has since been discontinued, the ENSONIQ Soundscape should be the multimedia sound card of choice for NEXTSTEP now that a Driver is available. ABOUT THE DRIVER The currently shipping version of the EnsoniqSoundscape driver is designed to work with both the jumpered I/O hardware as well as the newer software-configurable Plug-and-Play versions. Detection and support is provided for the Soundscape line plus many third-party compatibles, such as the NEC Harmony sound card. Installation and configuration are made simple by a full-featured custom interface for the Configure application, with driver-specific online help. The driver has hooks to support a mixer application for managing the hardware's on-board ten channel stereo mixer. The mixer application is still in its beta phase of development and is not currently shipping. EnsoniqSoundscape requires NEXTSTEP Release 3.3 or higher on Intel-based computers (486 or Pentium). WHERE TO OBTAIN THE DRIVER For additional information, please first visit http://nwlink.com/cyberartists/br ianw/ss_nsi.html For pricing and ordering information, please contact "Soundscape under NEXTSTEP for Intel" ABOUT THE HARDWARE More information on the Soundscape line of multimedia sound cards, featuring 16-bit stereo I/O and on-board General MIDI Synthesis, can be obtained from ENSONIQ Corporation at http://www.ensoniq.com/ WHERE TO OBTAIN THE HARDWARE The following cards are available directly from ENSONIQ via http://www.ensoniq.com/mmd/fax/direct.htm * ENSONIQ Soundscape * ENSONIQ Soundscape Elite OTHER SUPPORTED HARDWARE The first few of the following cards are manufactured by ENSONIQ as OEM for Gateway, and may be found pre-installed on newer Gateway multimedia computers * Soundscape 2, 2000, SS2000 * Soundscape (OPUS Based) * Soundscape Plug-and-Play (Revision 0, Revision 1, et al) * SoundscapeOFFICE Plug-and-Play The remainder of the cards are not available from ENSONIQ, but are instead manufactured by third-party hardware vendors and are found on the retail market. * Reveal SC-600 * Spea Media FX 16 * NEC Harmony Plug-and-Play ================ Sound Consulting has been providing quality software to the NEXTSTEP community for over four years, and is also the developer of the Windows NT Driver for the Soundscape, currently shipping via Gateway and ENSONIQ. Some of the NEXTSTEP programs, which cover a wide variety of applications, include sdformat, DoomView.app, MPEG_Play.app, Calibration.app, News2mbox.app, eViewer.app and check_nibs. ENSONIQ Corporation of Malvern, Pennsylvania, founded in 1982, designs, manufactures, and markets products including synthesizers, samplers, effects processors, mixers, sound cards, and chips. ################### NeXT and NEXTSTEP are registered trademarks of NeXT Software, Inc. Windows and the Windows Sound System are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.