Creative Technology
Encyclopedia
Creative Technology Ltd. is a Singapore-based global company headquartered in Jurong East
Jurong East
Jurong East is a neighbourhood in Singapore, bounded by the Pan Island Expressway, a canal and the shoreline of Jurong Lake, Jurong Town Hall Road, the eastern side of Jurong Gardens, Ayer Rajah Expressway, Penjuru Road, West Coast Road, Sungei Pandan and back to the Pan Island Expressway.It is...

, Singapore. The principal activities of the company and its subsidiaries consist of the design, manufacture and distribution of digitized sound and video boards, computers and related multimedia, and personal digital entertainment products.

History

The firm began as a computer repair shop, where Sim developed an add-on memory board for the Apple II computer. Later, they started creating customized PCs adapted in Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

. A part of this design included enhanced audio capabilities, so that the device could produce speech and melodies. The success of this audio interface led to the development of a standalone sound card
Sound card
A sound card is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using hardware...

.

In 1987, they released a 12-voice sound generator sound card for the IBM PC architecture, the Creative Music System(C/MS), featuring two Philips SAA 1099
Philips SAA 1099
The Philips SAA1099 sound generator was a 6-voice sound chip used by some 1980's devices, notably:* The SAM Coupé British-made computer* The Creative Music System by Creative Labs, which was also marketed at RadioShack as the Game Blaster. They had 2 chips, for 12 voices.* Their Sound Blaster 1.0...

 chips. Sim personally went from Singapore to Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

 and managed to get RadioShack
RadioShack
RadioShack Corporation   is an American franchise of electronics retail stores in the United States, as well as parts of Europe, South America and Africa. As of 2008, RadioShack reported net sales and operating revenues of $4.81 billion. The headquarters of RadioShack is located in Downtown...

's Tandy
Tandy Corporation
Tandy Corporation was a family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas. Tandy was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store, and acquired RadioShack in 1963. The Tandy name was dropped in May 2000, when RadioShack Corporation was made the official name.-History:Tandy began in 1919...

 division to market the product. The card was, however, unsuccessful and lost to AdLib
AdLib
Ad Lib, Inc. was a manufacturer of sound cards and other computer equipment founded by Martin Prevel, a former professor of music and vice-dean of the music department at the Université Laval...

. Learning from this, Creative produced the first Sound Blaster
Sound Blaster
The Sound Blaster family of sound cards was the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, until the widespread transition to Microsoft Windows 95, which standardized the programming interface at application level , and the evolution in PC design led to onboard...

, which included the prior CM/S hardware but also incorporated the Yamaha YM3812
Yamaha YM3812
The Yamaha YM3812 also known as the OPL2 is a sound chip created by Yamaha Corporation in 1985 and famous for its wide use in IBM PC-based sound cards such as the AdLib and Sound Blaster.It is backwards compatible with the OPL aka YM3526, to which it is very similar – in fact, it only adds 3 new...

 chip (also known as OPL2) that was found on the AdLib card, as well as adding a component for playing and recording digital samples. The firm used aggressive marketing strategies, from calling the card a "stereo" component (only the C/MS chips were capable of stereo) to calling the sound producing micro-controller a "DSP" (for "digital sound processor"), hoping to associate the product with a digital signal processor
Digital signal processor
A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...

 (the DSP could encode/decode ADPCM realtime, but otherwise had no other DSP-like qualities).

The firm's Sound Blaster
Sound Blaster
The Sound Blaster family of sound cards was the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, until the widespread transition to Microsoft Windows 95, which standardized the programming interface at application level , and the evolution in PC design led to onboard...

 sound card
Sound card
A sound card is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using hardware...

 was among the first dedicated audio processing cards to be made widely available to the general consumer. The card soon became a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

 standard for sound cards in PCs for many years, mostly by the fact that it was the first to bundle what is now considered to be a part of a sound card system: digital audio, on-board music synthesizer, MIDI interface and a joystick port. This continued until the 2000s when OEM PCs began to be built with sound boards integrated directly onto the motherboard, and the Sound Blaster found itself reduced to a niche product.

Monaural Sound Blaster cards were introduced in 1989, and stereo cards followed in 1992 (Sound Blaster Pro). Wavetable MIDI was added with the 16-bit Sound Blaster AWE32
Sound Blaster AWE32
Sound Blaster AWE32 is an ISA sound card from Creative Technology. It is an expansion board for PCs. The Sound Blaster AWE32, introduced in March 1994, was a near full-length ISA sound card, measuring 14 inches in length, due to the number of features included.-MIDI capability:The Sound Blaster...

 and AWE64
Sound Blaster AWE64
Sound Blaster Advanced Wave Effects 64 is an ISA sound card from Creative Technology. It is an add-on board for PCs. The card was launched in November 1996.-Overview:...

 with 32 and 64 voices. In 1998, Sound Blaster Live!
Sound Blaster Live!
Sound Blaster Live! is a sound card from Creative Technology. It is a PCI add-on board for PCs.-Overview:Sound Blaster Live! saw the introduction of the EMU10K1 processor, a 2.44 million transistor audio DSP, rated at 1000 MIPS...

 was the company's first PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect
Conventional PCI is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer...

-based sound card. Over the years, the Sound Blaster line has been enhanced to provide 3D audio and home theater quality sound directly from a PC.

Creative dominated the PC audio market and remains unchallenged by a major competitor since the late 1990s which saw a legal tussle between Creative and Aureal Semiconductor
Aureal Semiconductor
Aureal Semiconductor Inc. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-late 1990s for their PC sound card technologies including A3D and the Vortex The company was the reincarnation of the, at the time, bankrupt Media Vision Technology...

. A series of lawsuits was filed by Aureal in 1998 which alleges infringements over various technology patents such as PCI audio and 2D/3D positional sound APIs. Creative responded by counter suing with a series of lawsuits for false advertising and various other claims. Aureal won the case but went bankrupt as a result of legal costs, so its assets were acquired by Creative in September 2000 for US$32 million.

In the mid 1990s, Creative's venture into the CD-ROM market proved to be unsuccessful. The firm was forced to write off nearly US$100 million in inventory when the market collapsed due to a flood of cheaper alternatives.

In April 1999, Creative launched the NOMAD
Creative NOMAD
The NOMAD was a range of digital audio players designed and sold by Creative Technology, and later discontinued in 2004. Subsequent players now fall exclusively under the MuVo and ZEN brands.The NOMAD series consisted of two distinct brands:...

 line of digital audio players that would later introduce the MuVo
Creative MuVo
The Creative MuVo is a range of digital audio players produced by Creative Technology, launched in 2003...

 and ZEN
Creative Zen
The Creative ZEN is a range of digital audio players and portable media players made by Creative Technology. The players evolved from the now-defunct NOMAD brand through the NOMAD Jukebox series...

 series of portable media player
Portable media player
A portable media player or digital audio player, is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, video, documents, etc. the data is typically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash memory. In contrast, analog portable audio...

s. Creative remains a serious competitor in the portable audio player market, a market which they dominated until the entry of Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

 with the iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...

. In November 2004, Creative Labs announced a $100 million marketing campaign to promote their digital audio products, including the ZEN
Creative Zen
The Creative ZEN is a range of digital audio players and portable media players made by Creative Technology. The players evolved from the now-defunct NOMAD brand through the NOMAD Jukebox series...

 range of MP3 players.

The firm applied for on January 5, 2001 and was awarded the patent on August 9, 2005. The ZEN Patent was awarded to the firm for the invention of user interface for portable media players. This opened the way for potential legal action against Apple's iPod and the other competing players. The firm took legal actions against Apple in May 2006. In August, 2006, Creative and Apple entered into a broad settlement, with Apple paying Creative $100 million for the license to use the Zen patent. Creative then joined the "Made for iPod" program.

On March 22, 2005, The Inquirer
The Inquirer
The Inquirer is a British technology tabloid website founded by Mike Magee after his departure from The Register in 2001. In 2006 the site was acquired by Dutch publisher Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen...

reported that Creative Labs had agreed to settle in a class action lawsuit about the way its Audigy and Extigy soundcards were marketed. The firm offered customers who purchased the cards up to a $62.50 reduction on the cost of their next purchase of its products, while the lawyers involved in filing the dispute against Creative receive payment of approximately $470,000.

In 2007, Creative voluntarily delisted itself from NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...

, where it had the symbol of CREAF. Its stocks are now solely on the Singapore Exchange
Singapore Exchange
Singapore Exchange Limited is an investment holding company located in Singapore and providing different services related to securities and derivatives trading and others. SGX is a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Asian and Oceanian Stock Exchanges FederationSingapore Exchange...

 (SGX-ST). In early 2008, Creative Labs' technical support center, located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, laid off several technical support staff, furthering ongoing concerns surrounding Creative's financial situation.

In January 2009, the firm generated internet buzz with a mysterious website promising a "stem cell-like" processor which would give a 100-fold increase in supercomputing power over current technology, as well as advances in consumer 3D graphics. At CES
CES
CES may stand for:*Closed ecological system, an ecosystem that does not rely on matter exchange with any part outside the system*Constant elasticity of substitution, an economics production function*The ISO 639 code for the Czech language...

 2009, it was revealed to be the ZMS-05 processor from ZiiLABS
ZiiLABS
ZiiLABS is a global technology company, whose ZMS media-rich application processors, reference platforms and enabling software are designed to enable OEMs and ODMs to create products that target a range of low-power consumer electronics and embedded markets, including Android based tablets.-...

, a subsidiary formed from the combining of 3DLabs
3Dlabs
3DLABS was the name of the fabless semiconductor company that originally developed the GLINT and PERMEDIA high-end graphics chip technology that was used on many of the worlds leading computer graphics cards in the CAD and DCC markets, including its own Wildcat and Oxygen cards.In 2006 the company...

 and Creative's Personal Digital Entertainment division.

Sound Blaster

Creative's Sound Blaster line is one of the dominant names in the PC audio market. In 1987, the Creative Music System was released as the first audio device from the company. In 1988, the company took the Creative Music System and marketed it at RadioShack
RadioShack
RadioShack Corporation   is an American franchise of electronics retail stores in the United States, as well as parts of Europe, South America and Africa. As of 2008, RadioShack reported net sales and operating revenues of $4.81 billion. The headquarters of RadioShack is located in Downtown...

 as Game Blaster. The following year, 1989, the Sound Blaster 1.0 was released, helped by the perfect compatibility with then market leader Ad Lib, Inc.'s sound card. By 1992, the Sound Blaster had achieved dominance in the market and AdLib filed for bankruptcy. The current revision of the Sound Blaster is known as the Sound Blaster X-Fi
Sound Blaster X-Fi
Sound Blaster X-Fi is a lineup of sound cards in Creative Labs' Sound Blaster series.-History:The series was launched in August 2005 as a lineup of PCI sound cards, served as the introduction for their X-Fi audio processing chip, with models ranging from XtremeMusic , to Platinum, Fatal1ty FPS, and...

; the X-Fi technology can be found in several other Creative devices. The Sound Blaster Recon3D series have been announced in August 2011.

ZEN and MuVo Branded Portable Media Devices

The Creative ZEN name is used in a range of handheld media devices by the company. They are the successor to the NOMAD line of players. The line has won several awards, including three CES Best of Show awards, in 2004 with the Creative ZEN Portable Media Center, 2005 with the ZEN MicroPhoto, and 2006 with the ZEN Vision:M. The company uses MuVo branding for its smaller, flash-based devices.

Vado Video Cameras

While already a vendor of webcams for PCs and laptops, in May 2008, Creative announced the unveiling of its Vado video camera. The Vado video camera is a handheld device designed for portability, as a direct competitor istothe Flip Video
Flip Video
The Flip Video camera is a tapeless camcorder for digital video created by Pure Digital Technologies, a company bought by Cisco Systems in March 2009...

. In December 2008, the firm announced a HD version of the Vado, the Vado HD. This camera was among the first portable high-definition cameras. The Vado HD received an 89 rating from PCWorld
PC World (magazine)
PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...

, 4/5 stars and an Editors Choice award from PC Magazine
PC Magazine
PC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...

, and generally favorable reviews from users on Amazon.

MediaSource

Creative MediaSource is software included with certain of the firm's products, such as Sound Blaster
Sound Blaster
The Sound Blaster family of sound cards was the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, until the widespread transition to Microsoft Windows 95, which standardized the programming interface at application level , and the evolution in PC design led to onboard...

, MuVo, and Creative Zen
Creative Zen
The Creative ZEN is a range of digital audio players and portable media players made by Creative Technology. The players evolved from the now-defunct NOMAD brand through the NOMAD Jukebox series...

. It is mainly used as a method to sync and transfer digital media.

Other products

  • Gaming sound systems
  • Web cameras
  • Prodikeys
    Prodikeys
    Prodikeys is the world's first music and computer keyboard combination. It is created by Singapore's audio company Creative Technology. So far there have been 3 different versions of Prodikeys: Creative Prodikeys, Creative Prodikeys DM and Creative Prodikeys PC-MIDI. It has 37 mini-sized music keys...

    , a computer keyboard
    Computer keyboard
    In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...

    -musical keyboard
    Musical keyboard
    A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...

     combination
  • Optical mice
    Mouse (computing)
    In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...

     and keyboards
    Keyboard (computing)
    In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...

  • Headphones
    Headphones
    Headphones are a pair of small loudspeakers, or less commonly a single speaker, held close to a user's ears and connected to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio, CD player or portable Media Player. They are also known as stereophones, headsets or, colloquially, cans. The in-ear...

    , including multiple Sound Blaster
    Sound Blaster
    The Sound Blaster family of sound cards was the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, until the widespread transition to Microsoft Windows 95, which standardized the programming interface at application level , and the evolution in PC design led to onboard...

     and Fatal1ty branded headsets
  • Computer speaker
    Computer speaker
    Computer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are speakers external to a computer, that disable the lower fidelity built-in speaker. They often have a low-power internal amplifier. The standard audio connection is a 3.5 mm stereo jack plug often color-coded lime green for computer sound cards...

    s
  • E-dictionary (Chinese language)
  • Creative Aurvana earphones
  • Creative ZiiSound wireless soundbar speaker and Creative D200 and Creative D100 speakers

Discontinued products

  • CD
    Compact Disc
    The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

     and DVD
    DVD
    A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

     players, drives, and controller cards
  • Graphics cards

See also

  • AdLib
    AdLib
    Ad Lib, Inc. was a manufacturer of sound cards and other computer equipment founded by Martin Prevel, a former professor of music and vice-dean of the music department at the Université Laval...

  • Ensoniq
    Ensoniq
    Ensoniq Corp. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid 1980s and 1990s for its musical instruments, principally samplers and synthesizers.- Company history :...

  • E-mu Systems
    E-mu Systems
    E-mu Systems, Inc. is a synthesizer maker and pioneer in samplers and low-cost digital sampling music workstations.-History:Founded in 1971 by Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum, E-mu began making modular synthesizers...

  • Environmental audio extensions
    Environmental audio extensions
    The environmental audio extensions are a number of digital signal processing presets for audio, present in Creative Technology's later Sound Blaster sound cards and the Creative NOMAD/Creative ZEN product lines...

  • Yamaha

Divisions and brands

  • Cambridge SoundWorks
    Cambridge SoundWorks
    Cambridge SoundWorks is a North Andover, Massachusetts based consumer audio manufacturer and retailer. The company is now a subsidiary of Creative Technology Ltd..-History:...

  • Creative MuVo
    Creative MuVo
    The Creative MuVo is a range of digital audio players produced by Creative Technology, launched in 2003...

  • Creative NOMAD
    Creative NOMAD
    The NOMAD was a range of digital audio players designed and sold by Creative Technology, and later discontinued in 2004. Subsequent players now fall exclusively under the MuVo and ZEN brands.The NOMAD series consisted of two distinct brands:...

  • Creative ZEN
    Creative Zen
    The Creative ZEN is a range of digital audio players and portable media players made by Creative Technology. The players evolved from the now-defunct NOMAD brand through the NOMAD Jukebox series...

  • Sound Blaster
    Sound Blaster
    The Sound Blaster family of sound cards was the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, until the widespread transition to Microsoft Windows 95, which standardized the programming interface at application level , and the evolution in PC design led to onboard...

  • SoundFont
    SoundFont
    SoundFont is a brand name that collectively refers to a file format and associated technology designed to bridge the gap between recorded and synthesized audio, especially for the purposes of computer music composition...

  • Sensaura
    Sensaura
    Sensaura, a division of Creative Technology, provides sophisticated 3D audio technology for the interactive entertainment industry.Following its origin as a research project at THORN EMI Central Research Laboratories in 1991, Sensaura evolved to become the leading worldwide supplier of 3D audio...

  • ZiiLABS
    ZiiLABS
    ZiiLABS is a global technology company, whose ZMS media-rich application processors, reference platforms and enabling software are designed to enable OEMs and ODMs to create products that target a range of low-power consumer electronics and embedded markets, including Android based tablets.-...

    , formerly 3dlabs
    3Dlabs
    3DLABS was the name of the fabless semiconductor company that originally developed the GLINT and PERMEDIA high-end graphics chip technology that was used on many of the worlds leading computer graphics cards in the CAD and DCC markets, including its own Wildcat and Oxygen cards.In 2006 the company...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK