—5.1ch Surround Demos > Now with Downloadable Purchases—

http://www.surround-effect.com/en/

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Surround-Effect.com (http://www.surround-effect.com/en/), the download sales site for surround sound effects, run by Arky, Inc., has begun offering worldwide sales. Arky, Inc.’s technical advisor is none other than Mick Sawaguchi, perhaps the most globally recognized name in the surround sound industry.

Being able to offer a wide range of application at reasonable prices, especially now as the wave of interest in surround sound is peaking across the globe, is key to increasing Arky Inc.'s market share.

What makes this website unique is the ability to test, purchase and download just the content you need, with professional, discrete sound effects, which lend a rich sense of presence with proprietary field recording techniques, such as bass noise, one of the most necessary for sound content production. The more than 1,500 surround sound source files are categorized into various types, and all are available royalty-free. Purchased files are available for a wide variety of production environments, and can be downloaded in AAC, WMA, and SRS 5.1ch formats.

(You will need multiple speakers connected to your PC in order to listen to multi-channel samples.)

Prices range from 200 yen to 900 yen (roughly between US$2.10 and US$9.50), representing incredible cost performance over existing stereo sound samples. Payment options including credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard, (charged in dollars or euros).

As a special offering commemorating our worldwide release, we are offering readers of this press release a selection of our online available titles for free. Please see the following page for a limited period of direct downloads.

http://www.surround-effect.com/SurroundEffect/sample/sample.html

(Downloads will be available until the end of March, 2009.)

* The Different File Types

(1) AAC: A compression format playable in Apple/Logic, Digidesign/ProTools, etc. Uniquely better in terms of audio quality compared to MP3. (Available at a maximum split of 5.1ch, 96kbps)

(2) WMA: A standard Windows audio compression format playable in Adobe/Premiere, Steinberg/Nuendo, Sony Media Software/Vegas, etc. (Available at 5.1ch, 440kbps)

(3) SRS: A matrix-method surround sound format from SRS Labs, Inc. Offers the ability to playback stereo materials without conversion because it compresses files into normal stereo formats. Compared against other matrix methods, it has a higher sound separation for surround production. (Available in 2ch/16bit, 48kHz, WAV format)

* Comments on Superior Surround Effect Sounds by Mick Sawaguchi, AES/IBS Fellow, Surround Terakoya Representative:

“I think we’re at the beginning of a solid trend where surround sound will be used in a wider variety of media, from digital cinema and broadcasting to games and Internet content.

If we take the current state of movie sound surround design as an example, most effect sound sources are two-channel materials, and a virtual surround space is created by combining those. With the coming of higher specs in audio, such as the digital cinema BD package HD-Audio, there will be a much greater need for libraries of surround sound effects that incorporate an aural ambience into the recording environment. You will need a lot of stamina and patience for the wide variety of genres, as well as the time and money they will incur, to move forward.

Arky, Inc., is therefore moving ahead to challenge this difficult issue, and I believe they can offer superlative resources to audio designers throughout the world. Please check out the demo versions and, as you enjoy the quality, add them to your list of ‘must’s.”