1990-1999 Milestones

1999

New Innovations extend the Sound Blaster® Live! family: the "Sound Blaster Live! Player" and "Sound Blaster Live! Platinum". These provide new innovations in hardware and software. The "Platinum" version delivers the "Live!Drive", which brings the most useful audio connections to the front of the PC while adding key new connections like SPDIF in/out and optical in/out.

In March 1999, Creative launches EAX 2.0, designed to provide even more powerful effects processing, including an improved reverb engine and occlusion effects. Title support continues to grow.

EAX 2.0 adopted as the basis for the IA-SIG level 2 3D audio specification by August 1999. However, no competing API emerges and EAX eventually becomes the de-facto standard for adding environment effects to 3D games on the PC platform.

1998

The PCI Bus has been available on the PC for some time and now it's time to show what Creative can do with audio over PCI! The "Sound Blaster Live!™" is shipped. Based on the EMU10K1™ audio processor "Live!" redefines what is achievable with audio quality, effects and 3D Audio. With the power of a Pentium 166MHz "Live!" has enough power to drive the new "EAX®" audio standard that just about every developer immediately adopts. For the first time true multi-channel gaming reaches users ears. Live!Ware™ launches, developed to allow the "Live!" to grow as more features are developed to use the untapped power of its processor.

Creative launches EAX?1.0, the first API for enabling real-time environment effects to be rendered on Creative Lab's Sound Blaster Live! sound card, in April 1998. PC games developers building DirectX games with DirectX 3 are able to not only take advantage of 32 3D voices in hardware, but also to set environment presets for the 3D sound buffers. With the power of a Pentium 166MHz, "Live!" has enough power to drive the new "EAX" audio standard that just about every developer immediately adopts. For the first time true multi-channel gaming reaches users ears.

This API collaboration between Microsoft and Creative quickly gains support from developers. Within 3 months of its launch, over a dozen top PC titles are using the technology to deliver advanced 3D sound. For the first time, the player was able to get a true sense of the enemy's whereabouts, and the experience intensified significantly.

Creative premiers "Unreal" with full support for EAX on its E3 booth in May 1998. The DirectSound 3D / EAX effects are the talk of the show, as the Razorjack zips around the specially designed Cambridge Soundworks 4 channel speaker systems being driven by the Sound Blaster Live! Suddenly, two speakers are no longer enough for hardcore Windows PC gamers.

Creative shows off over 20 EAX enhanced PC titles and draws massive crowds to their Comdex 98 booth in the Sands Convention Center, Las Vegas.

1996

The "Sound Blaster AWE64" and "Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold" are launched. Creative achieves tremendous success by adding more voices for MIDI recording and playback and increasing audio quality substantially. For the first time Musicians are specifically catered for with the "SoundBlaster AWE64 Gold", due to it's gold-plated outputs, SPDIF connector and excellent music creation software bundle.

1994

The "Sound Blaster AWE32" arrives. It is furnished with the same digital audio playback and recording capabilities of the "Sound Blaster 16", but extended with a built-in brand new wavetable synthesizer based on EMU's top of the range sound processor, the "EMU8000".

1992

A revolution happens in PC Audio: the "Sound Blaster 16" for the first time enables 16 bit stereo playback and recording at CD-quality. The same year Creative presents to the world the Wave Blaster, a daughter board for the "Sound Blaster 16". Based on EMU Systems technology this delivers Wavetable synthesis to PC Music.

1991

The "Sound Blaster® PRO" is launched and rapidly becomes THE standard in PC Audio worldwide. Delivering 8-bit stereo recording and playback, more and more PC owners buy Creative's audio solutions!