Seriously though. I do love positional audio and kudos for them attempting to Branch out. I haven't seen them do it in a while but you won't see it fully established until later in the gen.
To be honest, we don't know how advanced because MS hasn't really talked it up like Sony did yesterday. And keep in mind, Sony does have a pretty big history in the audio department. All we know is the SX also has dedicated 3d audio processing.
The very fact MS haven't talked their audio engine up is because they know they don't have the advantage there. Anyone who follows both companies long enough and the way they do PR could surmise that.
That said, yes we don't know for sure but I'm willing to bet on my position.
Mark Cenrys video road to ps5 43:10 to 43:36 shows pics of a person sitting in a weird room.
Check for microsoft silent room. And below is from guinness book of records which microsoft still holds.
"Microsoft wanted to build an incomparably silent place to use for audio and device testing and the company has proved itself by significantly bettering the record of -13 dBA which was recorded at the Anechoic Test Chamber at Orfield Laboratories, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA in October 2012."
You are talking about software company which owns this stuff. If they came up with dedicated 3D audio chip then imagine what they have tested and will test to incorporate into that chip. Sony has 5 presets. I will wait what MS to reveal on its dedicated audio chip.
And to top it off they had this room since 2015 which is prior to the thought of designing series x ...2016. So MS knew exactly the issues with HDR10 and dolby licencing issues. If they came up with 3D Audio dedicated chip then they sure have done their homework.
@generic It's kinda funny because both Nvidia and MS have used huge TF numbers for bullet points but they both admit it's a pretty inaccurate way to describe a GPUs actual abilities.
It's crazy how wrapped up people get in pure marketing lingo.
Sony is practically run by Audiophiles to the point they'll take big losses in their audio department just to innovate and push new sound tech but people wanna pretend that this'll be nothing special.
they use Atmos, and Mark did mention why they did not wanted to use it as well. Cause it would force people to buy the license and it uses like 30+ audio patterns but they wanted to aim for 100
im curious, what their chip can do. I thought audio in psvr was gorgeous, but ps5 has much much much much more advanced tech inside (hrtf profiles + many more sound sources).
@shiva1 I know, it was in the video. If you listen to some binaural videos on youtube, they are fantastic even without hrtf profile selection. So here you can choose, whichever suits better to you. I think its not bad. Its great. Im looking forward to this tech.
I love audio as much as I love visuals - this is a huge step up. Anyone that doesn't have a decent setup is in for a real treat, and people who have a decent set up will be even more impressed.
I love great audio too. It's just too bad for the average gamer who won't invest in a decent sound setup to take advantage of it. Great audio completes the immersive experience
Sound Blaster AE series had this tech for a while now :D. I'm using a AE-7 amazing sound card. They could had contracted Creative to use their tech just like they did with AMD.
Dont forget Sony makes tvs and soundbars (very good soundbars) with all dolby codecs and several virtual audio principles. They have much bigger knowledge then creative.
The Power of the Cloud 2020 Edition where it really won't matter for 99 percent of the games. Forget Dolby Atmos those folks may have decades of audio experience but we have TEMPEST, Atmos is cross-platform and works on PC, Consoles, and Phones, but who cares WE GOT 100 CHANNELS :)
100 channels and your brain can distinguish how many simultaneously? Everything else gets filtered out or becomes a background drone. 100 is impressive but you can't tell me it'll be utilized into something meaningful.
Have you ever heard of a big software sound system from Sony ? when you go to see Spiderman in theater you pay extra for high-end audio which is Atmos not "Tempest", AND if you watch Mark Cerny's presentation the room they used to create the Profiles for Tempest is actually Microsoft's Silent audio room, look it up. So to answer your question no they don't, they are doing an in house solution to save on licensing.
Access to patents and proprietary technologies as well as a pre-existing dedicated workforce so they don't have to hunt for more talent or siphon off existing teams?
It's not hard, fam. But honestly, the fact that you actually didn't know Sony's always been about Audio is... kinda staggering. Shoot, audio is literally the reason they got involved with video games in the first place. They designed the SNES's audio chip.
They're also renowned for their proprietary audio formats and their headphones too. Like... dang.
@Kaiou Did Dolby do the recording of Spider-Man's audio? The mixing? The editing? Oh right no, no and no. So why do we need their tech to hear it properly. Who sells THX speakers? Did I need them to enjoy any THX mixed movie? The answer is also a totally unsurprising no. So why do you need Dolby speakers with Atmos?
ATMOS only works if you have the right setup. My TV does ATMOS through its speakers but guess what, its crap because of the speakers and setup. Just because something has something doesn't mean its good. In fact through ARC my TV can not even play ATMOS back through a receiver so its not as simple as you think if you want the best sound. As pointed out by Cerny, you do need to buy the right equipment to get the most out of it and this is because that's how DOLBY designed it. If your sitting there in front of a PC with two monitor speakers your not getting ATMOS, it may say you are but your not. Setup and sweet spot are important for ATMOS to work properly.
Sony's 3D audio format for Ps5 is quite interesting and I'm really looking toward hearing the difference but here's the snag: I doubt that 3rd party dev will use the format for their games (just like many dev are still not developing for real 5.1 system). Also, I have yet to hear a TV soundbar producing the same surround sound quality has my 7.1 despite the numerous claim of tv salesman.
In the end, I even doubt that many games will make use of the Dolby Atmos 3d sound format that has been out since 2015.
At least I know that the next God of War or Uncharted will be developed using it and just for that, it's already a plus to my hears.
With Dolby you need certain set up or equipment that specifically can handle atmos. With tempest. according to Mike you don't. And that's the thing about it.
Dolby Atmos like any popular format (PCM, DTS' Dolby digital true HD, Dolby 5.1,etc) need to be supported by the sound cards or receiver. Atmos started to be available in home A/V receiver in 2015.
Tempest on the other hand seem to be a new form of Matrix which refer to ways to encode different sound channels in stereo channels or creating a virtual speaker.
Developers dont use it too much, because lot of people have stereo tv/headphones. What Sony did is pushing 3d sound through stereo - its called also binaural 3d sound. It works great and you need to have only stereo headphones and according to sony also stereo speakers will do. I think headphone part is done. Binaural sound isnt anything new and it works. But stereo speakers are in different league. I heard lot of soundbars with virtual 3d sound which used phasing. I was never convinced enough.
I agree that Stereo Headphones can mimic a good 3d sound (all 5.1 speaker headphones are just Stereo headphones) but it still not like hearing a true Atmos 9.1 speakers set. Now regarding tv speakers, as you said, Binaural sound isn't new (Dolby pro logic 2 comes to mind) and like you, I have yet to hear a Soundbar at the tv store that provides the quality of a real 5.1 setup.
Well good news. All a developer would do is make the game as per usual and the PS5 takes advantage of 3D audio regardless. The only thing that developers may not utilize is raytracing acoustic phenomena like reverb, echo or occlusion. Of course basically all developers have dedicated audio teams that are probably itching to test this stuff out so I think we'll see a heavy emphasis on improved sound design this generation and PS5 might give users the absolute best experience until PC catches up and the Xbox Series X family expands.
having to wait 1minute plus for everything or developers making corridors designed to hide the load times and make games take more time to make, fast traveling being barely faster than running there, not to mention they can actually make your characters run faster without having to worry about loading,not to mention dying and wanting to jump right in and have to wait what seems to be an eternity. If All of this isnt worth it for you, no one can convince you otherwise.
It depends on the game really. Some are reasonably quick for sure. If it’s a game where I’m dying a lot and it takes a long time to load after dying then it can ruin games for me. I can understand a GTA style load at the beginning but we should be passed the respawn And fast travel stuff by now. I’m hyped because “it’s about time”.
The most interesting part of that ps5 speech to me was the revealing of little tricks they used to load the game. For example the Jax level design made maze like tunnels so they could load the game. He says they have broken that barrier, it’s good for us on load times and it’s good for devs on proper level design without the tricks. Which is also good for us.
I always wondered why so many games were adopting the “walk slow and let the ham fisted narrative take the controls” approach. I figured they thought it was good storytelling. They were probably just loading the game, sneaky bastards. Hopefully they can eliminate the bullshit like elevator rides unless the conversation is a part of the story.
I didn't say it wasn't worth it. I'm saying that load times to ME are not a problem. The only time they seem excessive is online in games like CoD. I haven't played any though since on the PS3. Besides Warzone now
@Smokehouse
GTA and games like CoD seemed long but still never really bothered me. Warzone has a lot though. I guess for me it just gives me a chance to breathe, look around, get a drink, or whatever. Since I play single player games mostly the loading times don't really bother me.
Also, I have a 3D system now and it’s crazy even without the audio designed around it. Horror games like condemned with sound that lets you pinpoint a spot or area? It’s a must for horror fans. You start thinking that shit is real. I have paused the game many times to see if the sound stopped lol.
Condemned criminal origins is still my favorite horror game. It’s not nostalgia, I played it again recently and it was just as good. The graphics have aged bad obviously but it’s still really fun and creepy. The 3d audio on that atmosphere is going to be great next gen.
Atmos for Headphones(no special hardware needed) has been around for years on Xbox AND PC and not many games use it, also loading times is just a nice bonus but it never really stopped Bloodborne from being one the best games ever made. I wouldn't really consider these two anything but just "good to have", I would rather wait a few seconds and get the better looking and smoother game.
To all of you who are talking about TEMPEST... Why is it that in Cernys talk had a pic of microsoft silent room. If they used that service from microsoft then surely microsoft could put better use to that silent room too. Microsoft has been playing with that room since long. Im just eager to know what microsoft is gonna come up with that 3d audio dedicated chip by testing stuff in that room all day long.
If sony was able to make 5 defaults available at launch... Imagine what microsoft can make when they own that silent room.
If you dont believe me search for cernys video "the road to ps5" and look out at 43:10 to 43:36. Its the anechoic chamber or silent room from Microsoft (its all over the web) and there is only one on this earth.
Never heard of the chamber but seems kool. Seems more for audio clarity though and not necessarily for spatialization, which Sony's focus seems to be. DF discussesnit a bit, but they seems to want have the player feel as though they are the character in the game. This is whether playing normally or in VR. Obvioulsy other techs are out there for this, but my understanding Sony is trying to take it a step futher with the total number of sounds.
I think one of the samples used was rain. They want the player to be anle to distinguish rain heating concrete to their left, while hearing it hit sheet metal to the right and even large globs falling from a roof behind you. Think thats why Cerny calls it ray tracing for audio.
Then there is the distance aspect. As you move further away from the roof you can still hear the large droplets but they slightly fade and not just completely disappear. All without needing a surround setup. This has potential to be great, especially for VR.
It kind of sounds like binural audio on steroids. If you havent, id suggest listening to the barbershop scenario from 12 years ago using headphones.
This is what it has all boiled down to... Fanboys claiming now that audio and load speeds are more important than anything else. Why? because they think they might have some kind of advantage in said areas... but they really don't.
And also the series x... as it too has a dedicated processor for 3d audio...
I love audio as much as I love visuals - this is a huge step up. Anyone that doesn't have a decent setup is in for a real treat, and people who have a decent set up will be even more impressed.
Sound Blaster AE series had this tech for a while now :D. I'm using a AE-7 amazing sound card. They could had contracted Creative to use their tech just like they did with AMD.
The Power of the Cloud 2020 Edition where it really won't matter for 99 percent of the games. Forget Dolby Atmos those folks may have decades of audio experience but we have TEMPEST, Atmos is cross-platform and works on PC, Consoles, and Phones, but who cares WE GOT 100 CHANNELS :)