Sonic Solutions introduces powerful, economical digital audio workstation systems; adds new "workgroup" multimedia tools, unveils media workgroup architecture

Business Wire, Nov 10, 1994

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 10, 1994--Sonic Solutions Thursday introduced a number of new leading-edge technologies and products at the fall convention of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in San Francisco.

The introductions are part of Sonic's Media Workgroup Architecture, striving for complete and transparent interoperability among media manipulation systems manufactured by different vendors.

The UltraSonic Processor; Defining a New Price-Performance Standard for Digital Audio Workstations

Sonic Solutions introduced an expanded line of digital audio workstations, including a powerful new digital signal processing circuit card -- the UltraSonic Processor (USP) -- which provides up to 16 channels of digital I/O, up to 32 tracks of disk playback, and 32 filter sections -- the highest performance from any single card. With the UltraSonic Processor card, Sonic Solutions solves a critical problem for digital audio workstation designers and users: how to put enough I/O and audio processing power into a standard audio workstation.

The USP solves this problem offering a 16-channel system per card; thus, a full 24-channel system with 8 aux sends can be configured with only two cards, leaving one slot available in the Power Macintosh for a video card or other plug-in hardware. A basic 8 I/O system is $8,995 plus computer, hard disks, and converters while a basic audio post and CD premastering 16-track system retails for $12,995.

Multiple USPs can be included together to configure larger audio systems. For example, the largest configuration permits 96 channels of input/output and 192 tracks of playback from disks. The USP's elegant architecture emphasizes high-performance components in a highly integrated design.

Sonic Solutions Introduces Entry-level Sonic Power Stations at Lower Prices and Increased Performance

Sonic Solutions is delivering three new entry-level systems -- the Sonic Power Station, the Sonic Radio Station, and the Power Station Plus. At $2,995, $3,795 and $5,995 respectively, these new models deliver unparalleled price performance among digital audio workstations. All systems are based on the SSP-3 DSP card, previously the workhorse of the entire Sonic System line.

The Sonic Power Station provides two channels of digital I/O, playback of up to 8 channels from a single hard disk, and background loading to hard disk. The Sonic Radio Station adds the features of Time Twist and 48 to 44.1 kHz sample rate conversion. The Sonic Power Station Plus offers 4 channels of digital I/O, playback of 12 channels from a disk, and background unloading as well as loading to the hard disk.

It also includes a Mixing Desk with EQ and Automation, TimeTwist, Sonic's time compression and expansion algorithm, as well as 48 to 44.1 kHz sample rate conversion. The Sonic Power Station platforms can be networked via MediaNet to existing Sonic systems and new Sonic systems based on the UltraSonic Processor Card.

Connectivity Solutions

At AES, Sonic is featuring connectivity solutions based on MediaNet, Sonic's revolutionary high-performance networking system for digital audio, digital video, and high resolution graphics. MediaNet is being shown with integrated Networked File System (NFS) services, providing for transparent networking between Macintosh computers and UNIX workstations, such as those manufactured by Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics Inc.

Sonic is also demonstrating the first "Virtual On-Line Storage" technology, integrating MediaNet with a large CD-ROM jukebox capable of storing 500 CDs in over 300 gigabytes of network-accessible storage. Utilizing the Media Optimized File System (MOFS) which lies at the heart of MediaNet's high-performance file service, the network keeps track of files available on CD-ROM and automatically transfers these, in the background, to hard disk storage when demanded by network users. The high-speed CD-ROM drives allow users to perceive virtually transparent access to a large amount of random access storage, all at a cost of pennies per megabyte.

The new Sonic Cumulus, a specialized version of the Cumulus database system developed by MediaNet Partner Canto Software, will be shown in Sonic's booth. Cumulus provides a multi-user database capable of cataloging bulky media files -- video, graphics, or audio -- distributed over a large number of networked disks. With Cumulus, MediaNet customers have a powerful retrieval engine fully conversant with multimedia data types and ideally suited for media workgroups.

New Applications for the Media Workgroup Sonic is introducing a number of new Media Workgroup applications:

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-- CD-ROM Authoring -- A new option to MediaNet is the CD-ROM Toolkit. The Toolkit supports a full CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, and mixed mode CD-ROM authoring capability. The Toolkit provides for imaging CD-ROMs across the network using any one of a number of CD recorders. In addition to the general CD-ROM authoring capability, Sonic will provide a new set of software tools for handling professional audio in modes for developing CD-ROM-based multimedia applications. Using Sonic's advanced Digital Signal Processing algorithms, even low-quality CD-ROM audio can be delivered at respectable levels of quality.