PROFESSIONAL MPEG AUDIO ADAPTER HAS FOUR
DIGITAL AND ANALOG OUTPUTS
NewCastle, Delaware - May 1999 - AudioScience
Inc., a manufacturer of digital audio products for the
broadcast industry, has announced the availability of
their latest PCI digital audio adapter, the ASI4215. It
is distinguished from other adapters in its class by the
ability to simultaneously record and playback five
physical streams, all with different compression formats
and sample rates.
The ASI4215 offers four playback streams and one record
stream. Each playback stream is brought out to an
independent analog and digital output. All streams have
independent sample-rate and format. Any sample rate is
supported in the range of 8kHz to 50kHz with 100Hz
resolution.
Using the Motorola DSP56301 24bit DSP, the ASI4215
support a variety of audio formats including MPEG-1
Layer I/II, 8 bit PCM and 16bit PCM in both little and
big endian formats. This allows system integrators and
OEMs to add hi-fidelity CD-quality sound to their
applications while effectively using only 1/4th to
1/12th of the disk space required for normal 16bit PCM.
MPEG-1 Layer III playback will be available for the card
through a software update in the fourth quarter.
All analog outputs and inputs are electronically
balanced and have software selectable levels of between
-10 and +24dBu. 20bit Crystal Semiconductor oversampling
A/D and D/A converters are used throughout both adapters
to provide the highest level of audio quality in the
industry.
The digital inputs and outputs maybe independently
selected to be balanced AES/EBU or un-balanced S/PDIF.
This allows a direct digital link to other digital audio
equipment such as digital consoles, mixers and satellite
up/down links.
Advanced features of the ASI4215 include 8Mbytes of
on-board RAM for audio data buffering, providing glitch
free audio. Automatic volume fades implemented in DSP
firmware, free up even more CPU time, by removing the
burden of having the automation software both track and
fade the volume controls. By just specifying a start
gain, end gain and duration, the adapter will fade one
or all of the volume controls on the adapters mixer in
real-time.
Another valuable feature, incorporated from customer
feedback is built in non-volatile memory for a software
based security scheme. This allows OEMs to assign each
ASI4215 a unique serial number allowing the adapter to
act as a hardware dongle or key, preventing piracy of
the OEMs software and stopping operation of unauthorized
adapters.
The ASI4215 is a 2/3 size PCI cards. Up to four cards
maybe installed in a system using a simple one-of-four
jumper located on the top of each adapter. The
utilization of the PCI bus means that the adapter is
totally jumper free as regards memory and interrupt
settings.
Driver software for Windows95,98 and Windows NT is
available free of charge from AudioScience's web site
(www.audioscience.com). All the standard waveIn, waveOut
and mixer APIs are supported.
Also available is the HPI Developers Kit (HPK) which
allows low-level operation of any AudioScience adapter
under real or protected mode DOS, Windows 3.1,95 and NT.
Languages supported include Microsoft Visual C/C++,
Borland C/C++ and Visual Basic. An NDA is required for
the HPK.
The ASI4215 PCI based digital audio adapter is designed
and manufactured in the USA by AudioScience
Incorporated, 42C Reads Way, NewCastle, DE 19720,
telephone +1-302-235-7109, FAX +1-302-738-9434. The
companies web site is located on the Internet at
www.audioscience.com. The ASI4215 is available now at a
list price of $2795. Substantial quantity discounts are
available.
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