First; sorry about the 2 month delay in replying.

Hmm... well I agree with you there. Sound has really gone by the way-side in games and in computing in general. There is sort of a cookie-cutter approach to intergrating sound in indie-based games nowadays that disturbs me slightly. Not much thought into sound innovation in the game engine. If someone can prove me wrong, please do so, I'm waiting for just that.

The biggest innovation in digital music to date, I honestly believe was the MOD Tracker and Player. [size=9px](in this, I mean to include all it's many later incarnations)[/size] No other music format had it so good. You take raw audio software samples and use them in place of hardware samples thus eliminating the issue of changing the sound from machine to machine. [size=9px](which in the early days of the MIDI cards was quite drastically different if I recall correctly)[/size] Also manipulation is a hell of a lot nicer too --and can be done programatically in the engine code paving the way for new innovative ideas.

Personally I feel that the death of the Gravis Ultrasound was quite tragic. It was, by far, the better of the two leading soundcards back in those days yet if got the axe by Gravis. Poor move on their part I feel.

It's funny though... you can sort of see the lack of effort in audio in the way the market is acting. Who competes with Creative these days? Sad indeed...