INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Gamesurround Fortissimo II software application help file.

This help file is comprised of different pages, each corresponding to the different tabs of the Gamesurround Fortissimo II software.

The detailed explanation concerning the different functions of each tab will allow you to fully appreciate the various possibilities offered by Gamesurround Fortissimo II:

•	Main

•	Mixer

•	EQ

•	MIDI

•	Other


Main

Record source

You may select different recording sources from the Record source combo box:

Stereo Mix

Stereo Mix allows you to record all audio sources available in the Mixer. You can use the different volume controls in the Mixer tab in order to adjust the volume of each audio source while recording.

CD

CD allows you to record an audio source via the CD_IN connector located on the PCI card.

Line In

Line In allows you to record an audio source via the light blue minijack connectors located on the PCI card.

Mic

The Mic input on Hercules analog cable allows you to record a signal coming from a microphone source.

Aux

Aux allows you to record an audio source via the AUX_IN/VIDEO_IN connector located on the PCI card.

Digital In

Digital In allows you to record from the SPDIF_IN optical connector on the back of the PCI card.

Recording Level Adjustment

•	The vertical cursor key is used to adjust the overall recording level.

•	The horizontal cursor key allows you to control the sound balance between left and right speakers.

Speaker Configuration

According to the configuration chosen from the combo box, speakers will appear around the character appearing in the center of the Speaker configuration window.

4 Speakers

To use four speakers, connect the front pair on the light green minijack connector on Hercules analog adapter cable and the rear pair on the black minijack connector of the analog cable adapter. Stereo audio is sent to both the front and surround speakers. When you have enabled Sensaura 3D sound processing, Gamesurround Fortissimo II plays 3D sounds using Sensaura MultiDrive technology, which includes transaural crosstalk cancellation and filters that are optimized for four speakers. Otherwise, Gamesurround Fortissimo II plays 3D sounds using standard filters and the front speakers only.

2 Speakers

To use two speakers, connect the speakers to the light green minijack connector of Hercules analog adapter cable. When you have enabled Sensaura 3D sound processing, Gamesurround Fortissimo II plays 3D sounds using transaural crosstalk cancellation and filters that are optimized for two speakers. Otherwise, Gamesurround Fortissimo II plays 3D sounds using standard filters.

Headphones

To use headphones, connect the headphones to the light green minijack connector on Hercules adapter cable. When you have enabled Sensaura 3D sound processing, Gamesurround Fortissimo II plays 3D sounds using filters that are optimized for headphones. Otherwise, Gamesurround Fortissimo II plays 3D sounds using standard filters.

Speaker level adjustment

•	The Master volume control slider allows you to adjust the overall output volume of your Gamesurround Fortissimo II.

•	There is a mute button for the speakers.

Small volume control sliders allow you to accurately adjust the sound of each speaker:

•	Left	Adjust volume of the front left speaker.

•	Right	Adjust volume of the front right speaker.

•	Right surround	Adjust volume of the surround right speaker.

•	Left surround	Adjust volume of the surround left speaker.

Sound rotation	Enable this option to automatically rotate the sound from one speaker to the next.

Test	Enable this option to hear a tone on selected speaker(s).

Click on a speaker to mute/unmute it.


Mixer

Different audio sources

Mixer allows you to control the output volume of Gamesurround Fortissino II’s various audio sources:

Wave

The Wave source corresponds to «WAV» audio files type that are red by your Gamesurround Fortissimo II from games and the majority of audio applications.

CD

The CD audio source is received via the CD_IN connector located on the PCI board.

Line In

The Line In audio source is received via the light blue minijack connector located on Hercules adapter cable.

Mic

The Mic input on Hercules analog cable allows you to record a signal coming from a microphone source. A +20 dB boost option is available in order to increase the volume of the input mic if necessary.

Midi

The Midi source comes from the wavetable synthesizer managed by the Gamesurround Fortissimo II DSP.

Digital In

The digital audio source, Digital In, can be received via the card’s optical SPDIF_IN input.

Aux

The Aux audio source is received via the AUX_IN/VIDEO_IN connector located on the PCI board.

Audio source adjustment:

•	The volume controls adjust the sound level output from the speakers.

•	The horizontal cursor keys allow you to control the sound balance between left and right speakers.

•	There is a mute button for the speakers.

N.B.:

It is possible to record all audio sources available in the Mixer as audio files. Select the Stereo Mix option in the Main tab and then adjust each audio source level in the Mixer tab.


EQ

Gamesurround Fortissimo II is equipped with a graphical equalizer allowing the sound tone to be modified.

The ten cursors allow you to modify the different frequencies in order to adjust treble or bass levels at your convenience.

Eight pre-selections allow you to quickly choose a sound color adapted to a particular type of music.

-	Check the Enable checkbox to enable the equalizer.

Note: the equalizer is temporarily disabled during playback of 3D sounds.


MIDI

Gamesurround Fortissimo II is equipped with a wavetable synthesizer compatible with the General Midi standard.

Current Synth Bank

By clicking on this combo box, it is possible to replace the default DLS soundbank with another soundbank with the DLS standard.

Keep DLS collection in memory

This option allows the DLS collection to stay resident in memory, reducing the time it takes to begin playing a MIDI file. This option reduces the amount of memory available to other programs because the DLS collection remains in memory at all times. To increase the amount of memory available to other programs, turn off this option.

Maximum hardware Notes

In hardware mode, the notes are played by the Gamesurround Fortissimo II DSP.

In this mode, the synthesizer can play up to 64 notes maximum.

Maximum Software Notes

In software mode, the synthesizer can play notes using the computer’s CPU resources if the 64 hardware notes are not sufficient to interpret complex MIDI files.

Voice Allocation

Voice Allocation specifies the scheme used to silence a previous note and play a new one when the limits for hardware- and software-synthesized voices have been reached.

This can be done using the DLS standard, which determines a number of voices in advance, and using a dynamic mode, which optimizes the number of voices necessary and thus uses less resources.

It is recommended that you use Dynamic mode.

N.B.:

It will take a few seconds to load the soundbank into memory by default the first time you play a MIDI file on the Gamesurround Fortissimo II internal synthesizer.

Once the bank is loaded into memory, the following MIDI files will be played straight away.


Other

General Options

In order to unburden your computer’s central processor, you may enable the hardware acceleration process via the following options:

Sensaura 3D sound effects

Sensaura 3D sound effects allow 3D sounds to be reproduced accurately with reverb, occlusion, and obstruction effects. They use optimized filters for playing 3D sounds and provide support for games that use the EAX 2.0, I3DL2 and A3D 1.0 application-programming interfaces (APIs). You must restart your computer for a change in this setting to take effect.

Note: this option turns on hardware acceleration for stereo sounds.

3D sounds (DirectSound 3D)

This option allows the mixing of wave files that include information about the position of sounds in three-dimensional space. These wave files, called 3D wave files, are commonly used in computer games.

Stereo sounds (DirectSound 2D)

This option allows the mixing of stereo wave files. You must restart your computer for a change in this setting to take effect.

Other available options

Enable Stereo expansion

This option accentuates the sound balance between left and right speakers, giving your stereo sound added depth and spaciousness. Stereo expansion only applies to digital sources, which include stereo wave files and stereo MIDI files.

Note: stereo expansion is temporarily disabled during playback of 3D sounds.

Enable echo elimination function

This option enables the automatic suppression of speaker feedback when using a microphone. It eliminates the far-end echo that occurs when using video-conferencing applications.

Digital output configuration:

Main outputs

This option allows the sound coming from the front speakers to also be diffused on the optical digital output. You can also enable copy protection so that digital copies of this stream are not possible.

Note: the copy protection of the output stream will be activated automatically if the optical digital input stream is copy protected. This is to ensure compliance with the copyrighted material playing through Gamesurround Fortissimo II.

Digital audio source

Select this option to send a digital audio flow from the optical digital input towards the optical digital output.

PowerDVD software drive

Choose this option to transfer sound from a software CD or DVD drive to the digital optical output.

Gamesurround Fortissimo II can send either a Dolby Digital (AC3) flow or a DTS flow towards the digital optical output using the supplied PowerDVD software drive.

©2000-2001 Guillemot Corporation & Hercules Technologies, all rights reserved. Gamesurround Fortissimo II and Hercules are trademarks of Guillemot Corporation.. SoftSynthesizer is a trademark of  Yamaha Corporation. Sensaura, the Sensaura double crescent logo, Sensaura3D, Sensaura MultiDrive, Sensaura MacroFX, Sensaura EnvironmentFX, Sensaura ZoomFX are all trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Sensaura Ltd. or CRL Ltd. Cyberlink® and PowerDVD are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cyberlink Corp. Cirrus Logic® and SoundFusion® are registered trademarks of Cirrus Logic. Dolby®, Dolby Digital and Dolby Surround are trademarks or registered trademarks of Dolby labs. EAX is a trademark of Creative Technologies Limited. A3D is a trademark of Aureal. All other trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Photos not binding. Contents, designs and specifications are subject to change without prior notice and may vary from one country or another.