gfs@icd.ab.com (Greg Shay) (11/30/90)
A brief summary of the Digital Studio system from Spectral Synthesis: Spectral Synthesis 18568 142nd Ave NE Woodinville, WA 98072 (206) 487-2931 Fax (206) 487-3431 Some specifications: =================== Two board set for the IBM PC. 8 tracks of 16 bit linear PCM digital Audio at 32, 44.1 or 48Khz, expandable to 16 tracks with daughtercard expansion. Full EDL (edit decision list) non destructive editing with easy to use graphical display. (Simply drag sounds around the screen, which looks like a piece of multitrack tape laid out.) Graphical Waveform editing of sounds. Built in DSP functions. Uses external SCSI drives, 6MB per minute per track. Up to 4 audio channels per drive. Drives available from 180MB (30 track min) to 670MB (110 min) Does not use IBM DOS drive except for programs. Built in 16 to stereo fully digital mixer. Controlled from screen and mouse or slaved to Midi fader box (like JL Cooper Fadermaster). Can be used for mix to stereo master out or mix back to internal record for infinite fully digital bounce downs. 256 virtual tracks allows you lots of elbow room for multiple takes, trial edits, etc. You can only put into play the number that you have hardware for (4 (with one disk), 8 (with at least two disks ) or 16 (at least four disks plus expansion daughtercard). Its like a 256 track recorder that you can only play 8 at a time. Digital I/O uses AES/EBU or SP/DIF digital signals. Can transfer directly to/from CD players and DAT machines. 8 Built in meters. SMPTE lock slave and SMPTE generation, all frame speeds. (LTC) Midi time code will be added. External A/D D/A available, although suitable DAT machines may be used for A/D and D/A conversion. Backup possible on 8mm tape up to 2GB (Exabyte) or Read/Write Optical Disks. (up to 1.2Gbyte cartriges). Fully Digital effects processing expandable by adding up to 6 more DSP processor boards. Each DSP processor board has two DSP. This gives DSP power for multichannel real time Equalization, effects, etc. The whole system is designed around a high speed parallel digital audio "bus" called the Flyby Bus which gives you 128 digital "patchcords" to route channels internal to the system. Open system, fully software programmable. Features and functions are constantly added simply by software upgrades. IBM PC Requirements: =================== IBM AT class or better (sorry, no XT's). 100% compatible. 2MB System RAM. Microsoft Windows Version 3.0 + mouse. EGA graphics or better. Current Retail Prices: ===================== $3780 for the base two boards. Scsi disk prices range from 180MB $1825, 380MB $2825 670MB $3825 Stereo 16 bit oversampling A/D, D/A $1495 Multitrack package I: boards, A/D,D/A, 180MB drive & software $6495. Multitrack II 8 track Digital Studio: above but Two 380MB (120 track min) plus one Dual DSP card plus DSP sample RAM $11895 Multitrack III 8 track Digital Studio: above but Two 670MB drives (220 track minutes) $13795. Hope this information helps! Greg Shay