Ventrilo is the next evolutionary step of Voice over IP (VoIP) group communications software. Ventrilo is also the industry standard by which all others measure themselves as they attempt to imitate its features.

By offering surround sound positioning and special sound effects on a per user, per channel, per server or global configuration level, this program provides each user with the option to fully customize exactly how they wish to hear sounds from other users or events.

This application is a Voice over IP software with cross channel communications and text-to-speech voice generation.

Ventrilo is best known for its superior sound quality and minimal use of CPU resources so as not to interfere with day-to-day operations of the computer or during online game competitions.

It is also preferred for the simple user interface that any first time computer user can very quickly learn because the most commonly used features are immediately visible and can be activated with a single click of the mouse.

Here are some key features of "Ventrilo":

· Voice communication with multiple people.
· Cross channel communications.
· Phantom users for listening in on other channels.
· User-to-user private conversations.
· Individual channels that can be created dynamically.
· Sub channels.
· Muted channels.
· Queued channels.
· Channel transmit time limits.
· Channel client limits.
· Channel feature filtering.
· Password protected server login and channels.
· Advanced channel control options and filters.
· Individual admin passwords for channels.
· Text-to-speech (TTS) voice generation.
· Key binding to execute special program functions, play wave files, send TTS messages.
· Separate phonetic spelling of user and channel names for proper TTS.
· Built in chat similar to IRC.
· Users can enter dynamic comments for all other users to see.
· User assigned names for server connections. No need to remember IP numbers.
· Wave file or TTS event notifications for program events.
· Remote administration of server features and current users.
· Remote administration of persistent server properties.
· Mute Microphone and Mute Sound with key binds for both.
· User adjustable sound effects.
· Persistent mute states for specific users on a given server.
· Persistent channel admin passwords.
· Persistent special effects including surround sound for users, channels, servers, global.
· Built in server browser.
· Ability to record and playback voice streams. Great for watching demos with associated voice comms.
· Voice activation or Press-to-talk transmission modes.
· Binds to change channels or cycle through all available channels.
· Multiple platform support for servers.
· Multiple platform support for clients.
· Servers are now ready and supported on 64bit platforms.
· Ability to restrict server admin features. Useful for hosting services.
· Server specified codec's to control voice quality and bandwidth usage.
· User customization of display modes.
· User customization of user list icons and toolbar icons.
· Portable cross platform server.

Requirements:

· DirectX 8.1 or higher installed on your system.
· In order to function properly, the Ventrilo client program requires a sound card that supports Full-Duplex sound playback and microphone recording. It also requires a sound card that is capable of handling multiple sound streams.
· Older sound cards like the Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16, PCI and Vibra series are not capable of this, but the newer generation of sound cards like Sound Blaster Live and Audigy are more then sufficient. Other manufacturers sound cards, such as the Turt