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Page 3

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
By Kurt "Froglips" Giesselman
COMBATSIM.COM European Bureau Chief

There are the usual suspects of free and demo software included. Voyetra is a major supplier to the professional music industry. They have selected a well-designed cross-section of their professional music writing and sound editing software and bundled them with new versions of Audio Station (v4.0) and eJay. I am not a musician so much of the bundled software, while interesting, has little value for me. I am not a MP3 addict. My sole use of the Internet for audio entertainment is to attachment to National Public Radio. This is nearly a lifeline in France. Three pieces of the included software were interesting for the gamer.

Fig.3 AudioView 32 is an easy to use sound editor

I have been using the Sound Recorder, included with Windows, to tweak sound files that I find obnoxiously loud in certain games. It is easy to use but the only options to reduce volume are by 25% at a shot. Not a very elegant approach at best. In addition, Sound Recorder tends to mangle sound files pretty badly during modifications. AudioView 32 gives some pretty elaborate control over sound files. Its GUI interface is both simple and intuitive to use.

Fig.4 AudioStation 4.0 makes organizing your music easy

I have a fairly extensive CD (and vinyl) collection. I would not have played CDs on my PC before I started experimenting with the Santa Cruz. My PC and little Altec Lansing foursome is no match for my reference system (Music Reference RM-5 Mk.III tube pre-amp, Music Reference RM-9 II tube amplifier, Audio Alchemy Digital Drive III CD transport, Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine v1.0, Audio Alchemy Digital Transmission Interface v1.0, Oracle Alexandria turntable w/Sumiko Oyster, Merlin Signature III SE speakers) but they sounded pretty good with the Santa Cruz installed. The Altec Lansing sub is producing bass notes instead of something that sounded like a dying animal kicking a hollow log. The satellites (ACS-48 front and ACS-90 rear) are clear and articulate. Male voices sound like male voices instead of someone singing into a box and female voices sound smooth instead of screechy.

There is, naturally, much for the musically inclined to love about this card and the other pieces of software included. The MIDI Orchestrator and Digital Orchestrator will turn that $49 Yamaha keyboard into a full symphony orchestra. There are demo versions of Digital Orchestrator Pro and Music Write 2000 for all you budding superstars out there. The CD includes video tutorials for Digital Orchestrator, Music Write SE, and the Control Panel. The Control Panel video was great for the novice and experienced user. The manual almost doesn’t exist so the video is really a must for the new users.

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