New software application from Creative will help gamers get round Microsoft's decision to remove the hardware abstraction layer for Vista. Microsoft has removed the audio Hardware Abstraction Layer from Windows Vista, that means DirectSound games that currently make use of sound hardware effects will no longer be able to do so. This is going to affect most games and sound cards, including motherboard sound solutions.

Creative has launched the beta version of its ALchemy software. This free download ensures that games which have enjoyed multichannel sounds and hardware effects such as EAX will continue to do so on Windows Vista.

"The result of Microsoft's removal of the hardware audio abstraction layer for Vista will confuse many gamers," said Steve Erickson, vice president of audio at Creative. "Many people who have experimented with popular legacy games on the Vista beta release have been unable to experience multi-channel audio, with Creative and other sound cards, and even with motherboard audio. This is not something that a driver update can fix. The good news is that we have invented our Creative ALchemy application, so Sound Blaster X-Fi owners can experience the same multi-channel audio quality that they enjoyed with Windows XP."

Alchemy can be downloaded at http://preview.creativelabs.com/alchemy/default.aspx.