After years of setting the standard with ISA sound cards, Creative Labs is trying again with its new PCI Sound Blaster Live! card.

Though still fully Sound Blaster-compatible, the Live! moves PC sound on considerably and adds a positive slew of new audio strings to the programmer's bow. The most impressive of these is Environmental Audio - technology developed by Creative Labs to improve the sense of immersion in computer games.

As well as giving true 3D positional audio over four speakers, Environmental Audio provides an easy way to alter sounds to suit different environments.

So, for example, a footstep or gunshot in a narrow sewer would sound markedly different to one in the open air. Many games manufacturers have already pledged support for environmental audio and some games, including Unreal, already support it.

The 32-bit EMU10K1 processor at the heart of the Live! also provides real-time digital effects, such as echo, reverb, pitch-shifting and chorus.

Various DSP (Digital Signal Processing) effects can also make real-time audio playback sound like it's in a music studio, concert hall or other venue.

The Live! has 256-voice polyphony and uses up to 8Mb of PC RAM for wavetable synthesis. It costs #149, and the Creative Labs PC Works Four Point Surround speaker system is #79.

Creative Labs: 01245 265265 www.sblive.com.