Creative Technology

Creative technology is a broadly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field combining computing, design, art and the humanities. The field of creative technology encompasses art, digital product design, digital media or an advertising and media made with a software-based, electronic and/or data-driven engine. Examples include multi-sensory experiences made using computer graphics, video production, digital music, digital cinematography, virtual reality, augmented reality, video editing, software engineering, 3D printing, the Internet of Things, CAD/CAM and wearable technology. In the artistic field, new media art and internet art are examples of work being done using creative technology. Performances, interactive installations, and other immersive experiences take museum-going to the next level and may serve as research processes for humans' artistic and emotional integration with machines. Some believe that "creativity has the potential to be revolutionised with technology", or view the field of creative technology as helping to "disrupt" the way people today interact with computers, and usher in a more integrated, immersive experience.

Creative Technology Ltd., or Creative Labs Pte Ltd., is a Singaporean multinational electronics company mainly dealing with audio technologies and products such as speakers, headphones, sound cards and other digital media. Founded by Sim Wong Hoo, Creative was highly influential in the advancement of PC audio in the 1990s following the introduction of its Sound Blaster card and technologies; the company continues to develop Sound Blaster products including embedding them within partnered mainboard manufacturers and laptops. The company also has overseas offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin and the Silicon Valley. Creative Technology has been listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) since 1994. ==Products== ===Sound Blaster=== Creative's Sound Blaster sound card was among the first dedicated audio processing cards to be made widely available to the general consumer. As 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, Sound Blaster rose to become a de facto standard for sound cards in PCs for many years. Creative Technology have made their own file format Creative Voice which has the file format .voc . In 1987 Creative Technology released the Creative Music System (C/MS), a 12-voice sound card for the IBM PC architecture. When C/MS struggled to acquire market share, Sim traveled from Singapore to Silicon Valley and negotiated a deal with RadioShack's Tandy division to market the product as the Game Blaster. While the Game Blaster did not overcome AdLib's sound card market dominance, Creative used the platform to create the first Sound Blaster, which retained CM/S hardware and added the Yamaha YM3812 chip found on the AdLib card, as well as adding a component for playing and recording digital samples. Creative aggressively marketed the "stereo" aspect of the Sound Blaster (only the C/MS chips were capable of stereo, not the complete product) to calling the sound producing micro-controller a "DSP", hoping to associate the product with a digital signal processor (the DSP could encode/decode ADPCM in real time, but otherwise had no other DSP-like qualities). Monaural Sound Blaster cards were introduced in 1989, and Sound Blaster Pro stereo cards followed in 1992. The 16-bit Sound Blaster AWE32 added Wavetable MIDI, and AWE64 offered 32 and 64 voices. Sound Blaster achieved competitive control of the PC audio market by 1992, the same year that its main competitor, Ad Lib, Inc., went bankrupt. In the mid-1990s, following the launch of the Sound Blaster 16 and related products, Creative Technologies' audio revenue grew from US$40 million to nearly US$1 billion annually. The sixth generation of Sound Blaster sound cards introduced SBX Pro Studio, a feature that restores the highs and lows of compressed audio files, enhancing detail and clarity. SBX Pro Studio also offers user settings for controlling bass and virtual surround. ===Other products=== Headphones Headsets Gaming headsets Speakers Computer speakers Portable speakers Creative Wireless Speakers Soundbars Creative GigaWorks ProGamer G500 speakers ===Discontinued products=== CD and DVD players, drives, and controller cards 3D Blaster graphics cards 3DO Blaster Prodikeys, a computer keyboard/musical keyboard combination Optical mice and keyboards Vado HD Creative Zen and Creative MuVo portable media players ==References==

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