August DX 2007 - Available Early

DirectX August 2007 has been delivered early.

Grab it here:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/3/f/33f1af6e-c61b-4f14-a0de-3e9096ed4b3a/dxsdk_aug2007.exe

Read more here:
http://letskilldave.com/archive/2007/07/29/august-directx-sdk-is-available-for-download-important-changes-announced.aspx

• The SDK will now be shifting to quarterly releases, rather than bi-monthly releases.  So, the next SDK release dates are Nov 07, Mar 08, Jun 08, and Aug 08.
• This release contains a Direct3D 10.1 Technical Preview.  In order to run it, you will need to have the Windows Vista SP1 Beta, which will be available to MSDN subscribers when it is released.  (No, I don't have a date)
• This release also contains the XAudio2 Beta, a new cross-platform audio API (Windows and Xbox 360) that is based on the Xbox 360 XAudio API. XAudio2 is designed to be the game-audio API that will replace DirectSound. XAudio2 is a low-level audio signal processing library for Windows XP and Windows Vista providing a fully modern audio pipeline.  It has many new features, including:
• multi-channel and surround-sound support with full per-channel volume and mapping control
• Programmable, cross-platform DSP effects framework.
• Per-voice filtering, arbitrary submixing, and multi-rate processing.
• Multicore optimized, non-blocking API design.
• Pluggable and generalized 3D spatialization support, with a full-featured implementation provided by the independent X3DAudio math library.
• Please visit the Microsoft Connect XAudio2 Beta website for feedback, bug reporting, links to discussion forums, and an audio feedback survey.
• The XACT UI has a new feature, Session windows. Session windows allow a sound designer to create multiple virtual mixing consoles that are comprised of sounds and categories. By using a Session window, a sound designer can easily access volume controls for multiple sounds or categories with the look and feel of a multi-track mixing console. Sounds can be individually auditioned from the Session window. They can also display basic sound status, such as whether a sound is actively playing, or the number of instances of the sound. As part of the Session window functionality, auditioning Mute and Solo are now supported for categories, which allows sound designers to more easily mix sounds in their games.
• Starting with the June 2007 SDK, the SDK no longers contain the Direct3D 9 only version of DXUT found at %DXSDK_DIR%\Samples\C++\Common. All Direct3D 9 samples now use the newer version of DXUT which supports Direct3D 9 and Direct3D 10. This new version can be found in the current SDK at %DXSDK_DIR%\Samples\C++\DXUT.
• Finally, this is the last release of the DIrectX SDK that will contain:
• Direct3D8 and all of the earlier versions
• Direct3D RM
• DirectAnimation
• DirectMusic
• DirectInput7 and all of the earlier versions
• DirectPlay
• DirectPlayVoice
• DirectX8-era HRESULT conversion routines
• Managed DirectX samples and documentation