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MPACT 2
Mpact-2 is a 125 MHz vector-processing graphics, audio and video media processor, a second generation in the Mpact family of Chromatic Research media processors, which can be used only as a co-processor to the main Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a microcomputer. Hardware using the Mpact-2 uses Original equipment manufacturer, OEM firmware to provide plug-and-play facility, and may be used with either a Peripheral Component Interconnect, PCI or Accelerated Graphics Port, AGP bus (computing), bus. UAD-1 DSP cards The UAD-1 was a digital signal processor (DSP) card sold by Universal Audio (company), Universal Audio using the Mpact-2 developed by Chromatic (acquired by ATI Technologies in November 1998), using the DSP, rather than the host computer's CPU, to process audio plug-ins. This allows accurate, but processor-intensive, reverbs, Equalization (audio), EQs, Audio level compression, compressors and limiters to be handled in real time and without burdening the CPU. 3D functi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chromatic Research
Chromatic Research Inc. was a company based in Mountain View, California that developed a multifunction multimedia device for PCs called the MPACT! The company was formerly known as Xenon Microsystems Corporation. Chromatic Research, Inc. was founded in 1993. The founders came from Kubota, Showgraphics, Convex and RAMBUS. The hardware technology for the MPACT! was a programmable VLIW and SIMD media processor that implemented a video, audio and modem device. The purpose of the solution was to be a single chip or add-in card that removed the need for separate graphics, audio and modem devices. The MPACT briefly sold as a fully functioning add in card and as a DVD decoder solution. The MPACT! The architecture of the MPACT! media processor was distinguished in that it used a large addressable SRAM in place of registers, but had 4 special purpose registers for being able to address its 72 bit SRAM entries indirectly (a feature also seen in Intel's Itanium processor). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Audio (company)
Universal Audio is an American company that designs, imports, and markets audio signal processing hardware and effect pedals, audio interfaces, and digital signal processing, virtual instrument, and digital audio workstation software and plug-ins. Founded in 1958 by Bill Putnam, Sr. with products produced under the Universal Audio brand through the mid-1970s, the company was re-established in 1999 by his sons Jim and Bill Putnam, Jr.. The company produces modern versions of vintage Universal Audio, UREI, and Teletronix analog recording equipment, as well as hardware and software for digital audio production on the UAD-2 platform. History Original Company Universal Audio, Inc. was founded alongside the United Recording Corporation by Bill Putnam Sr. in 1958. Putnam’s intention was for Universal Audio to serve as United’s manufacturing arm, with the company initially operating out of the United Recording premises at 6050 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Duri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PCI Express
PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common motherboard interface for personal computers' graphics cards, hard disk drive host adapters, SSDs, Wi-Fi and Ethernet hardware connections. PCIe has numerous improvements over the older standards, including higher maximum system bus throughput, lower I/O pin count and smaller physical footprint, better performance scaling for bus devices, a more detailed error detection and reporting mechanism (Advanced Error Reporting, AER), and native hot-swap functionality. More recent revisions of the PCIe standard provide hardware support for I/O virtualization. The PCI Express electrical interface is measured by the number of simultaneous lanes. (A lane is a single send/receive line of data. The analogy is a highway with traffic in both directions. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conventional PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) is a local computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer and is part of the PCI Local Bus standard. The PCI bus supports the functions found on a processor bus but in a standardized format that is independent of any given processor's native bus. Devices connected to the PCI bus appear to a bus master to be connected directly to its own bus and are assigned addresses in the processor's address space. It is a parallel bus, synchronous to a single bus clock. Attached devices can take either the form of an integrated circuit fitted onto the motherboard (called a ''planar device'' in the PCI specification) or an expansion card that fits into a slot. The PCI Local Bus was first implemented in IBM PC compatibles, where it displaced the combination of several slow Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) slots and one fast VESA Local Bus (VLB) slot as the bus configuration. It has subsequently been adopted for other computer types. Typica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limiter
In electronics, a limiter is a circuit that allows signals below a specified input power or level to pass unaffected while attenuating (lowering) the peaks of stronger signals that exceed this threshold. Limiting is a type of dynamic range compression. Clipping is an extreme version of limiting. Limiting is any process by which the amplitude of a signal is prevented from exceeding a predetermined value. Limiters are common as a safety device in live sound and broadcast applications to prevent sudden volume peaks from occurring. Limiters are also used as protective features in some components of sound reinforcement systems (e.g., powered mixing boards and power amplifiers) and in some bass amplifiers, to prevent unwanted distortion or loudspeaker damage. Types Limiting can refer to a range of treatments designed to limit the maximum level of a signal. Treatments in order of decreasing severity range from clipping, in which a signal is passed through normally but sheared off when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audio Level Compression
Dynamic range compression (DRC) or simply compression is an audio signal processing operation that reduces the volume of loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds, thus reducing or ''compressing'' an audio signal's dynamic range. Compression is commonly used in sound recording and reproduction, broadcasting, live sound reinforcement and in some instrument amplifiers. A dedicated electronic hardware unit or audio software that applies compression is called a compressor. In the 2000s, compressors became available as software plugins that run in digital audio workstation software. In recorded and live music, compression parameters may be adjusted to change the way they affect sounds. Compression and limiting are identical in process but different in degree and perceived effect. A limiter is a compressor with a high ratio and, generally, a short attack time. Types There are two types of compression, downward and upward. Both downward and upward compression ''reduce'' the dynamic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equalization (audio)
Equalization, or simply EQ, in sound recording and reproduction is the process of adjusting the volume of different frequency bands within an audio signal. The circuit or equipment used to achieve this is called an equalizer. Most hi-fi equipment uses relatively simple filters to make bass and treble adjustments. Graphic and parametric equalizers have much more flexibility in tailoring the frequency content of an audio signal. Broadcast and recording studios use sophisticated equalizers capable of much more detailed adjustments, such as eliminating unwanted sounds or making certain instruments or voices more prominent. Since equalizers "adjust the amplitude of audio signals at particular frequencies" they are, "in other words, frequency-specific volume knobs." Equalizers are used in recording studios, radio studios and production control rooms, and live sound reinforcement and in instrument amplifiers, such as guitar amplifiers, to correct or adjust the response of mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reverb
Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is absorbed by the surfaces of objects in the space – which could include furniture, people, and air. This is most noticeable when the sound source stops but the reflections continue, their amplitude decreasing, until zero is reached. Reverberation is frequency dependent: the length of the decay, or reverberation time, receives special consideration in the architectural design of spaces which need to have specific reverberation times to achieve optimum performance for their intended activity. In comparison to a distinct echo, that is detectable at a minimum of 50 to 100 ms after the previous sound, reverberation is the occurrence of reflections that arrive in a sequence of less than approximately 50 ms. As time passes, the amplitude of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audio Plug-in
An audio plug-in, in computer software, is a plug-in that can add or enhance audio-related functionality in a computer program. Such functionality may include digital signal processing or sound synthesis. Audio plug-ins usually provide their own user interface, which often contains GUI widgets that can be used to control and visualise the plug-in's audio parameters. Types There are three broad classes of audio plug-in: those which transform existing audio samples, those which generate new audio samples through sound synthesis and those which analyze existing audio samples. Although all plug-in types can technically perform audio analysis, only specific formats provide a mechanism for analysis data to be returned to the host. Instances The program used to dynamically load audio plug-ins is called a plug-in host. Example hosts include Bidule, Gig Performer, Mainstage, REAPER and Sonic Visualiser. Plug-ins can also be used to host other plug-ins. Communication between host and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. (commonly called ATI) was a Canadian semiconductor industry, semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Markham, Ontario, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technology Inc., the company listed publicly in 1993. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) acquired ATI in 2006. As a major fabrication-less or fabless semiconductor company, ATI conducted research and development in-house and outsourcing, outsourced the manufacturing and assembly of its products. With the decline and eventual bankruptcy of 3dfx in 2000, ATI and its chief rival Nvidia emerged as the two dominant players in the graphics processors industry, eventually forcing other manufacturers into niche roles. The acquisition of ATI in 2006 was important to AMD's strategic development of its AMD Fusion, Fusion generation of computer processors, which integrated general processing abilities with graphics processing function ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digital Signal Processor
A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor chip, with its architecture optimized for the operational needs of digital signal processing. DSPs are fabricated on MOS integrated circuit chips. They are widely used in audio signal processing, telecommunications, digital image processing, radar, sonar and speech recognition systems, and in common consumer electronic devices such as mobile phones, disk drives and high-definition television (HDTV) products. The goal of a DSP is usually to measure, filter or compress continuous real-world analog signals. Most general-purpose microprocessors can also execute digital signal processing algorithms successfully, but may not be able to keep up with such processing continuously in real-time. Also, dedicated DSPs usually have better power efficiency, thus they are more suitable in portable devices such as mobile phones because of power consumption constraints. DSPs often use special memory architectures that are able t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
