E-mu Systems Announces EMU10K1 Audio Processing Chip
January 3, 1998California-E-mu Systems(R) in partnership with Creative Technology,
E-mu's parent company, unveiled the EMU10K1 at the recent Comdex show in Las Vegas. Designed and
developed by E-mu Systems, this chip created great excitement in the Creative booth and throughout the
industry, as the world's most powerful single chip audio processor. Boasting over two million
transistors and more than 1,000 MIPS of processing power, this chip will form the basis of new Creative
Sound Card products in addition to future audio products offered by E-mu Systems.
"It is E-mu's significant contribution in digital audio technology that has allowed the company to
become an influential part of the Creative family" said Dave Bristow, E-mu Vice President of Marketing.
Bristow continues "This positive relationship helps to support E-mu's research into digital audio
processing and chip design which leads to product solutions for both companies. We anticipate many
benefits to our customers as a result of this research."
The technologies underlying the EMU10K1 enable the creation of applications that place the user in the
midst of real-world environments and, more importantly, allow the user to control and customize the
environment for an out-of-this-world experience. The EMU10K1 can be incorporated into professional
authoring solutions for sound designers, professional musicians, and PC content developers. It can also
be used in consumer playback solutions for gaming, entertainment and simulation experiences.
Unlike other audio solutions available on the market today, the EMU10K1 truly leverages PCI bus
mastering and patented DynaRAM(TM) technology for maximum performance delivering the most powerful,
high quality audio experience. The EMU10K1 will be integrated into E-mu MI products in addition to the
first of a family of solutions from Creative. The first E-mu System's products featuring this new
technology will be announced at E-mu booth #1233 - West Hall, at the Winter NANM show, Los Angeles,
January 29-February 1st, 1998.
EMU10K1 with Patented Technology Cornerstone for New Audio System
The EMU10K1 is the key component in Creative's audio platform. It includes unique audio technologies
that provide the power and flexibility to simulate real-world environments. These technologies include
E-mu Environmental Modeling(TM) (E2M) for rendering numerous audio streams - including their
reflections - into life-like reproductions.
"We at the joint Creative/E-mu Technology Center spent over 100 man years to bring this chip to
fruition," said Dave Rossum, chief scientist of Creative Technology and founder of E-mu Systems, Inc.
"I am really excited about the potential of this chip for realizing the dream of environmental audio.
The EMU10K1 can provide very sophisticated real-time audio rendering technology analogous to the
"ray-tracing"' capabilities of professional 3D graphics engines."
Hollywood Effects and Interactive Environments -- A New Way to Experience Audio
The EMU10K1 has similar technology to that used in E-mu's E4 professional synthesizer and the Darwin
hard disk recorder, both of which have been used by Hollywood sound designers and professional
musicians to create award-winning movie effects and soundtracks. The EMU10K1 now brings this level of
power and flexibility to the market, allowing the creation of amazingly realistic audio experiences.
The EMU10K1 uses E-mu's patented 8-point interpolation engine for higher quality audio samples or
SoundFont(R) banks. Interpolation increases the number of samples which can more accurately reconstruct
the original sound. By simply loading new SoundFont Banks the end-user can customize the entertainment
experience.
EMU10K1 Features
Leveraging more than 25 years of research and design at E-mu Systems, the EMU10K1 features a 64-voice
hardware wave-table synthesizer with a patented 8-point interpolation engine and sophisticated effects
section. It is capable of simultaneously processing many sounds and effects, in real time, without
using the host CPU. It can receive a variety of audio sources including MIDI, WAV, CD audio for
editing, composing, mixing, and high-quality sample-rate conversion to 48 kHz - this ensures a
no-compromise solution for professional quality processing, playback and recording. In addition to
these powerful features, the EMU10K1 includes the following:
- PCI bus mastering with patented DynaRAM technology.
- Over 1,000 MIPS of audio processing power for effects and environmental audio.
- E-Mu Environmental Modeling(TM) for the re-creation of real-world audio environments.
- Creative Multi Speaker Surround(TM) support for up to eight simultaneous speakers.
- E-Mu SoundFont(R) technology for downloadable sample banks and high-quality music reproduction.
For more information, visit their web site at www.emu.com. |
