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Xbox Series X will have a dedicated audio chip, Ninja Theory engineers reveal

CyberPanda

CyberPanda

Banned
Xbox Series X will have a dedicated audio chip, Ninja Theory engineers reveal

Hardware acceleration could enable 3D audio



Xbox Series X will have its own dedicated audio chip, which will improve the quality of sound in next-gen games, first-party engineers have told VGC.

Hardware accelerated audio looks set to be a hallmark feature of next-gen consoles, freeing up resource for previously constrained sound engineers and also enabling a number of significant features such as audio ray tracing.

Xbox studio Ninja Theory’s audio team told VGC they were ‘extremely excited’ to finally have hardware power dedicated to their discipline.

Series X’s dedicated audio chip will mean they no longer have to sacrifice sound in order to facilitate other parts of their projects, they said.



Xbox Series X will have a dedicated audio chip.


“It’s extremely exciting,” senior sound designer Daniele Galante said of the new console. “We’re going to have a dedicated chip to work with audio, which means we finally won’t have to fight with programmers and artists for memory and CPU power.”

The studio’s audio lead David Garcia added: “We take for granted that graphics are powered by their own video cards. But in audio, we haven’t had anything like that. Now we have some power dedicated to us.”

Microsoft had previously suggested the new console could have some form of audio hardware acceleration, via a talk description that was planned to happen at GDC later this month.

Microsoft’s commitment to audio could come in response to Sony’s own lofty plans, which started with the acquisition of Audiokinetic, who make the audio middleware used almost universally across triple-A games.

Sony has already announced that the PlayStation 5 will support 3D audio, a feature which built-in hardware acceleration would also enable for Xbox.

3D audio utilises binaural recording to simulate sounds ‘travelling’ from one ear to the next, creating the illusion of realistic 3D sound. Crucially, 3D audio only works effectively with headphones, so it’s more suited for VR gaming where immersion is crucial and headphone use virtually guaranteed..

A Microsoft engineer has also recently suggested that Xbox Series X would be able to support a form of audio ray tracing. Like visual ray tracing, the audio form is incredibly expensive in terms of power and likely wouldn’t be possible without some form of hardware acceleration.

The feature would enable audio to react to the in-game world in real-time, changing reverb effects from room-to-room depending on the number of objects, or closed doors or windows.



Audio hardware acceleration could enable features such as 3D Audio


But most of all, Ninja Theory’s Galante said the next-gen console’s audio innovations will mean engineers will be able to worry less about limiting the amount of sounds or voices used in their games.

“I really like how Microsoft is giving us more tools to improve the sound and to be more creative,” he said. “Because at the end of the day it’s not a matter of, ‘we want more memory because we are more cool’, we just want to be able to do our jobs without thinking about limitations.

“Making games always has you thinking about technical limitations,” he added. “Eventually these limitations become less and less the more you evolve with new consoles, but at the same time it’s always a constant thing: These are the maximum number of voices we can have, because otherwise the game is going to lag.”

Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed several Xbox Series X features and new details recently, including 12 teraflops of GPU performance and a cross-buy scheme that will let players buy a game once and play it across multiple Xbox generations.

Xbox Series X is scheduled to launch during the 2020 holiday season, as is PlayStation 5.
Click to expand...

www.videogameschronicle.com

Xbox Series X will have a dedicated audio chip, Ninja Theory engineers reveal | VGC

Hardware acceleration could enable 3D audio…
www.videogameschronicle.com www.videogameschronicle.com
 
D

DoctaThompson

Banned
nikolino840 said:
I think maybe a 3d party audio,like... PCs have an integrated audio,but for example i have an HP and Is a Bang & Olufsen audio (i don't know what Is It) but maybe Is different from a PC without a Bang & Olufsen audio
Click to expand...
The integrated audio of the last few years of pc motherboards surpasses the need of an external dac because of improvements of audio over the years. Of course a standalone dac/amp will be better than anything you can get prepackaged in a pc/console. This pertains to everything audio related, whether it be home A/V systems, or portable audio.
 
IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Jigsaah

Jigsaah

Gold Member
The cup overfloweth...

springing leaks in all directions. I'm enjoying getting lil tidbits here n there.

Looking at YOU Sony! Give us SOMETHING.
 
D

darkinstinct

...lacks reading comprehension.
nikolino840 said:
I think maybe a 3d party audio,like... PCs have an integrated audio,but for example i have an HP and Is a Bang & Olufsen audio (i don't know what Is It) but maybe Is different from a PC without a Bang & Olufsen audio
Click to expand...
No, just general purpose 5.1 sound. The first Xbox ran bad at E3 because all the audio still had to be emulated on the earlier devkits. They kept audio hardware ever since. So it's a bit strange to hear that it will not influence RAM consumption in the future - the audio files will still be in the same 13 GB of RAM as everything else. What makes things easier is the SSD.
 
D

DoctaThompson

Banned
darkinstinct said:
No, just general purpose 5.1 sound. The first Xbox ran bad at E3 because all the audio still had to be emulated on the earlier devkits. They kept audio hardware ever since. So it's a bit strange to hear that it will not influence RAM consumption in the future - the audio files will still be in the same 13 GB of RAM as everything else. What makes things easier is the SSD.
Click to expand...
Whether sound comes from the hdd or ssd, it won't make a difference. Audio isn't as big as textures and other asserts. Audio can literally be stored on the ram or storage device, and won't make a difference, even on the slowest of HDD's.
 
Journey

Journey

Banned
Hobbygaming said:
Mark Cerny mentioned raytraced audio in that Wired article :)

Sony also still has blockbuster exclusives on the way
Click to expand...


Can't have an Xbox news article without a #Metoo PS5 response smdh. Ray traced audio is a technique that uses rays of audio similar to rays of light for raytracing. The same way light bounces, audio bounces as well increasing the realism, doesn't say or mean anything in regards to dedicated hardware for that.
 
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Hobbygaming

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Journey said:
Can't have an Xbox news article without a #Metoo PS5 response smdh. Ray traced audio is a technique that uses rays of audio similar to rays of light for raytracing, doesn't say or mean anything in regards to dedicated hardware for that.
Click to expand...
I was just letting him know that Sony did mention this similar feature since he didn't know

And they don't have dedicated hardware for it just like PS5 was supposed to only have software raytracing right? Lol
 
Journey

Journey

Banned
Hobbygaming said:
I was just letting him know that Sony did mention this similar feature since he didn't know

And they don't have dedicated hardware for it just like PS5 was supposed to only have software raytracing right? Lol
Click to expand...

I'm not saying one way or the other. MS announces 12TF of power, lol PS5 has 12TF too, no... it doesn't work that way, until Sony announces anything, we shouldn't just run with it also having the exact same thing based on pure assumption. Maybe it has the dedicated audio hardware, but there's nothing announced, so why even mention it on an Xbox related thread? If the thread read, Xbox to have better audio hardware than PS5 because it has a dedicated chip, then by all means, we can have the discussion, but instead of talking about the possibilities of what dedicated hardware may bring, were going into console warring/defense mode.
 
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DoctaThompson

Banned
Look guys, neither of the two will be audibly different for 99.9% of people. "Ray traced" audio, is nothing more than having a more spacious sense of sound. Take any well mixed movie, from even several years back. It's literally just the processing and mixing of the audio track channels. There is nothing special or new here. And this pertains not only to both the Xbox or Playstation, but in movies and what not. It's just PR nonsense, to rile up Fanboys on both sides.

Case in point, does anyone think the audio teams on games are going to go out of their way to mix and master a game differently in one platform over the other? Hell no. That takes time and money. And I doubt either one will be sonically superior to the other. This is getting ridiculous.
 
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Hobbygaming

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Journey said:
I'm not saying one way or the other. MS announces 12TF of power, lol PS5 has 12TF too, no... it doesn't work that way, until Sony announces anything, we shouldn't just run with it also having the exact same thing based on pure assumption. Maybe it has the dedicated audio hardware, but there's nothing announced, so why even mention it on an Xbox related thread? If the thread read, Xbox to have better audio hardware than PS5 because it has a dedicated chip, then by all means, we can have the discussion, but instead of talking about the possibilities of what dedicated hardware may bring, were going into console warring/defense mode.
Click to expand...
The irony lol Sony confirmed 3D audio and raytracing for audio and you can only assume Microsoft has the better solution until Sony fully reveals the PS5
 
Journey

Journey

Banned
Hobbygaming said:
The irony lol Sony confirmed 3D audio and raytracing for audio and you can only assume Microsoft has the better solution until Sony fully reveals the PS5
Click to expand...


Where did I say anyone had a better solution? I'm just saying, if you haven't understood, is that every Xbox announcement thread shouldn't turn into the PS5 will have that too, or can do that, but better. Can we just talk about a feature without console warring? I'm done here, its just annoying to me.
 
Bryank75

Bryank75

Banned
Bryank75

Bryank75

Banned
Hobbygaming said:
The irony lol Sony confirmed 3D audio and raytracing for audio and you can only assume Microsoft has the better solution until Sony fully reveals the PS5
Click to expand...
These guys think cause Microsoft launched a mid-gen console a year later than PS4 Pro and at a hundred dollars more that suddenly Xbox are experts at console hardware.
When the actual performance between the two is negligible, even with all the advantages on XBox One X side...
 
D

DoctaThompson

Banned
Hobbygaming said:
The irony lol Sony confirmed 3D audio and raytracing for audio and you can only assume Microsoft has the better solution until Sony fully reveals the PS5
Click to expand...
I would believe since it's the same company working on these consoles (AMD), neither will have different chips for audio. It just wouldn't make sense, unless Sony or MS has a say so. And that wouldn't matter if they did, as it's still up to the dev team on implemention. Basically, neither will have a superior experience over the other.
 
JAMMA

JAMMA

Last warning for console wars
DoctaThompson said:
Look guys, neither of the two will be audibly different for 99.9% of people. "Ray traced" audio, is nothing more than having a more spacious sense of sound. Take any well mixed movie, from even several years back. It's literally just the processing and mixing of the audio track channels. There is nothing special or new here. And this pertains not only to both the Xbox or Playstation, but in movies and what not. It's just PR nonsense, to rile up Fanboys on both sides.

Case in point, does anyone think the audio teams on games are going to go out of their way to mix and master a game differently in one platform over the other? Hell no. That takes time and money. And I doubt either one will be sonically superior to the other. This is getting ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Ray traced audio is actual echos of in-game surfaces and surroundings, Atmos is spacial simulation with external speakers using mixes that are already essentially possible in multi channel setups.

Spatial Audio is like a speaker throwing it’s voice, Ray Traced audio is like an *in-game* audio “ricochet” or trajectory that has nothing to do with your speaker setup.
 
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D

DoctaThompson

Banned
JAMMA said:
Ray traced audio is actual echos of in-game surfaces and surroundings, Atmos is spacial simulation with external speakers using mixes that are already essentially possible in multi channel setups.
Click to expand...
Bryank75 said:
www.avsforum.com

Why is PS4 audio in-game so much better than Xbox One?

www.avsforum.com www.avsforum.com

A thread from when PS4 and Xbox one launched showing haw far ahead PlayStation was in audio. They were also way ahead during the PS3 generation....
Software updates can only do so much...
Click to expand...


So basically just fluffy wording. Let me guess, movie studios are suddenly going to have to rethink how they mix movies tracks, as "echoes never sounded like this before!!!" Lol gtfoh. This is literally nothing new. Of course sound immersion has gotten better over the years in games, but to try and resell the way audio is processed, with a different "cupcake name" is disingenuous as fuck. Yeah consoles can support more audio channels than before, but to try and upsell it as something new is ridiculous.
 
JAMMA

JAMMA

Last warning for console wars
DoctaThompson said:
So basically just fluffy wording. Let me guess, movie studios are suddenly going to have to rethink how they mix movies tracks, as "echoes never sounded like this before!!!" Lol gtfoh. This is literally nothing new. Of course sound immersion has gotten better over the years in games, but to try and resell the way audio is processed, with a different "cupcake name" is disingenuous as fuck. Yeah consoles can support more audio channels than before, but to try and upsell it as something new is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

You’re thick. Ray traced audio is like having a character’s voice echo off surfaces in-game. Stop thinking external speakers when talking about ray traced audio. Stop. I know your brain can’t comprehend in game sfx files compared to the quality of speaker audio output, but...try.

ray traced lighting isn’t a tv panel technology, it’s in game reflections.

ray traced audio isn’t a speaker output technology, it’s in-game echoes.

Jesus *^%#.
 
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
darkinstinct said:
No, just general purpose 5.1 sound. The first Xbox ran bad at E3 because all the audio still had to be emulated on the earlier devkits. They kept audio hardware ever since. So it's a bit strange to hear that it will not influence RAM consumption in the future - the audio files will still be in the same 13 GB of RAM as everything else. What makes things easier is the SSD.
Click to expand...

Assuming XSX will have just 16GB RAM; seems it'll be a 320-bit bus, should afford them 20GB total RAM with maybe 4GB (preferably 2GB) reserved for the OS.

But otherwise, yes I think the SSD is probably what they're referring to. Audio data is less speed and bandwidth-intensive than graphics data, so the performance of the SSD should allow for rather seamless access of audio files.

Physiognomonics said:
No. PS5 has a dedicated 3D audio chip. Here the dev is only talking about normal audio chip.
Click to expand...

There's no reason for them to mention anything about an audio chip in context of next-gen systems if it isn't notable. Simply having a normal audio chip is not notable at all; almost all systems going back to the 1980s have had dedicated audio chips.

So yes, they are talking about 3D/ray-tracing audio in this case. Not like it's a monumental engineering feat to pull off, so no reason neither next-gen platform would go without it.
 
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D

DoctaThompson

Banned
JAMMA said:
You’re thick. Ray traced audio is like having a character’s voice echo off surfaces in-game. Stop thinking external speakers when talking about ray traced audio. Stop. I know your brain can’t comprehend in game sfx files compared to the quality of speaker audio output, but...try.

ray traced lighting isn’t a tv panel technology, it’s in game reflections.

ray traced audio isn’t a speaker output technology, it’s in-game echoes.

Jesus *^%#.
Click to expand...
You obviously don't have a clue about audio implemention, in the least bit. How hard is it for devs to do this, WITHOUT *ray traced audio support*? Can you please provide me with some examples? It's fine if you have none, and it's also fine if you can't grasp how it even works to begin with. How have studios been able to do this for the past 10 plus years? It's NOT remotely hard to implement how sounds will react to the placement of the character, and the objects around them. I won't need to upgrade my dedicated DAC to enable this *new technology*.

Please continue to go on, as this is laughable, as you have the slightest clue.
 
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Hobbygaming

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Journey said:
Where did I say anyone had a better solution? I'm just saying, if you haven't understood, is that every Xbox announcement thread shouldn't turn into the PS5 will have that too, or can do that, but better. Can we just talk about a feature without console warring? I'm done here, its just annoying to me.
Click to expand...
You kind of implied it with pointing out Microsoft has "dedicated hardware" to audio after reading my comment but fair enough
 
Hobbygaming

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
DoctaThompson said:
I would believe since it's the same company working on these consoles (AMD), neither will have different chips for audio. It just wouldn't make sense, unless Sony or MS has a say so. And that wouldn't matter if they did, as it's still up to the dev team on implemention. Basically, neither will have a superior experience over the other.
Click to expand...
I agree
 
Hobbygaming

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Bryank75 said:
These guys think cause Microsoft launched a mid-gen console a year later than PS4 Pro and at a hundred dollars more that suddenly Xbox are experts at console hardware.
When the actual performance between the two is negligible, even with all the advantages on XBox One X side...
Click to expand...
Lol Facts. It's almost like they forget that the X launched the next year and even then there isn't a big difference just like you said
 
JAMMA

JAMMA

Last warning for console wars
DoctaThompson said:
It's NOT remotely hard to implement how sounds will react to the placement of the character, and the sounds around them. I won't need to upgrade my dedicated DAC to enable this "new technology*.

Please continue to go on, as this is laughable, as you have the slightest clue.
Click to expand...

Seriously I feel bad for everyone that has to be around you.

Also no, your DAC should not need to be updated for in-game effects. If you need to decode a new codec you will.
 
D

DoctaThompson

Banned
JAMMA said:
Seriously I feel bad for everyone that has to be around you.

Also no, your DAC should not need to be updated for in-game effects. If you need to decode a new codec you will.
Click to expand...
So no new codec, OBVIOUSLY. So what else has changed in the audio realm for this need for dedicated hardware than? I feel bad for anyone reading your posts. Please teach us, since you have all this knowledge that you can't even explain? Go ahead, we're waiting to be educated by Mr. Know All JAMMA JAMMA
 
JAMMA

JAMMA

Last warning for console wars
You can upgrade a sound card or DAC without *needing* to. Wtf is wrong with your brain. I hope the Coronavirus spares us of your future insights.
 
Elektro Demon 2.0

Elektro Demon 2.0

Banned
I love this peasantry. I like how console gamers started to throw around big words like teraflops, rdna and dedicated audio chips. They don't understand any of it, but they like to say it.
Brilliant.
Well, Imma drop some truth bombs on you, make sure you're ready. Ready? Reveal the spoiler.
HAVING AN AUDIO CHIP IS NOT A SPECIAL THING, EVERY GOD DAMN TECH PRODUCT HAS ONE.
 
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