Studio-quality audio processing no longer requires expensive gear, according to Universal Audio Inc. (Scotts Valley, Calif.), which uses up to four Analog Devices Sharc (Super Harvard ARchitecture Computer) digital signal processors on a single PCI Express board. The Via software plug-ins, the Sharc-based board provides studio-grade audio processing capabilities to virtual mixers running on an ordinary PC.
Audio studio equipment makers have been using ADI's Sharc to transform their former analogue equipment into digital equivalents that use the DSP to emulate audio effects, including vintage analogue equipment such as Roland's Space Echo that has not be made in years. With the introduction of Universal Audio's second-generation PCI Express cards, which can house one, two or four Sharcs, these capabilities can be used even in home studios with virtual-mixer software running on a PC.
Software for virtual mixers, such as DigiDesign's ProTools, usually requires a high-end computer because the computer's processor has to emulate analogue functions at very high speed in order to provide studio-quality audio effects. Offloading these functions to the Sharc-based PCI Express card lets even garden-variety PCs provide studio-quality audio effects.
Universal Audio's PCI Express implementation acts as a middleman between the virtual-mixer software and the DSPs, shuttling audio sample inputs from external devices to the Sharc and back to the audio outputs, with the PCI bus handling all the I/O traffic. Universal Audio's cards support sample rates up to 192 kHz and are fast enough to emulate up 128 entire audio channels per Sharc, including volume, equalization, reverb and effects.
Informative articles
Password forgotten?
)
