[comp.dsp] DSP Rundown

mrn@eplunix.UUCP (Mark R. Nilsen) (01/24/91)

About 2 weeks ago someone posted what I thought to be an excellent
review of several DSP cards for the Mac.  I saved the posting only
to delete it (accidentaly) while cleaning up my directory.  I would
apprieciate a repost.  

Thanx

--Mark.

tilley@ssd.kodak.com (David Tilley) (01/25/91)

In article <1008@eplunix.UUCP> mrn@eplunix.UUCP (Mark R. Nilsen) writes:
>About 2 weeks ago someone posted what I thought to be an excellent
>review of several DSP cards for the Mac.  I saved the posting only
>to delete it (accidentaly) while cleaning up my directory.  I would
>apprieciate a repost.  
>
>Thanx
>
>--Mark.


I saved it. Here it is.


From ispd-newsserver!rpi!zaphod!wuarchive!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!ubc-cs!sol.UVic.CA!golay!bweeks Wed Jan 16 08:59:52 EST 1991
Article: 209 of comp.dsp
Newsgroups: comp.dsp
Path: ispd-newsserver!rpi!zaphod!wuarchive!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!ubc-cs!sol.UVic.CA!golay!bweeks
From: bweeks@golay.UVic.CA (Brent  Weeks)
Subject: DSP's for Mac - summary
Message-ID: <1991Jan14.235619.23552@sol.UVic.CA>
Originator: bweeks@golay
Keywords: Mac, DSP
Sender: news@sol.UVic.CA
Nntp-Posting-Host: golay.uvic.ca
Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
Date: Mon, 14 Jan 91 23:56:19 GMT

Here's my summary of Mac DSP products which I learned about by querying
comp.dsp.  Before making my query, I was aware of the following systems:
National Instruments	TMS320C30 floating point DSP with Labview software.
			Various A/D and D/A cards.
Spectral Innovations	DSP32C floating point DSP with various developer
			software.
			Various A/D and D/A cards.
Digidesign		56000 music/audio processing cards.
Ariel			56000 card.

It seems that there's not much available besides the above.  Responses to my
query were mostly about the Digidesign cards, and a development environment
for same (see DSP Designer below).  Digidesign's cards seem popular for
music and digital audio, where floating point is really not needed.  (The
24-bit fixed point provides sufficient dynamic range internally for
computations.)

My app. is digital music synthesis, so I think I'll be going with the
Digidesign stuff.  I'm fortunate at UVIC to have access to all but the
Ariel board, if I want to evaluate the floating point boards.

I got a candid opinion on all the boards I knew about from Lester Longley
of Zola Technologies, Inc.  He did not want his "biased" opinion broadcast.
But if you're interested in either his "biased" opinions, or DSP Designer,
email him at:   ZOLA@AppleLink.Apple.com

I also received a pointer to Dyaxis below, which I haven't had time to
check out.

=============================================================================

Audiomedia Card		DSP56000 with A/D and D/A
Sound Accelerator	DSP5600 with D/A
Digidesign		as low as $650 US for developers
Pros:	Inexpensive for Universities
Cons:	Lack of basic routines for talking to DSP from Mac

=============================================================================

DSP Designer		DSP56000 Design Environment (no board)
Zola Technologies	$895 US
Description:
Integrated design environment for developing DSP apps.
As a quick summary, DSP Designer includes DSP algorithm development,
advanced filter design, FFTs, record & playback to hard disk, and filter
code generation for Motorola DSP56001.  The Digidesign Audiomedia and
Sound Accelerator cards are extensively supported.  (Digidesign itself uses
DSP Designer).

=============================================================================

Here was a pointer which I haven't had time to check out yet:

Look into Studer Dyaxis, which has DSP cards also. The number for information
is (615) 254-5651.  Talk to Joe Bean.  Tell Joe, you found out about Dyaxis
from Otto. Take care!

Otto Schulze
Otto@cup.portal.com

============================================================================

					That's all,

					Brent
					bweeks@sirius.uvic.ca