Platform Technologies' AGOGO-XP Delivers Extraordinary PCI-Based PC Audio Performance with Revolutionary Design

Business Wire, Dec 10, 1996

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 1996--Platform Technologies, a start-up formed to design and market platform-oriented multimedia solutions, is now sampling its first product, the AGOGO-XP PCI-based audio accelerator chip.

The AGOGO-XP utilizes the high bandwidth of the 133 MB/second PCI bus to deliver exceptionally realistic sound while maintaining backwards-compatibility with DOS-based games and multimedia titles that were written to utilize the older, 5 MB/second ISA bus.

Platform's DirectSound Acceleration technology supports 64 programmable Wavetable synthesis sound channels and 32 PCM voice-based sound streams, and can support voice-based sound and audio generated using Wavetable MIDI sound samples simultaneously. Platform's implementation uses the PC's main memory to store downloadable Wavetable sound fonts, dispensing with the need for local ROM storage that the previous generation of Wavetable PC audio solutions required.

"We have created a product that takes advantage of a modern, multimedia-ready PC to generate the kind of audio performance people associate with high-end home theater and stereo systems," said Paul Tien, president of Platform Technologies. "We have also taken a modular, platform design approach in creating our solution by incorporating a multimedia PCI bridge, enabling another device such as a graphics accelerator to access the PCI bus through the AGOGO-XP."

The PCI Advantage

Utilization of the PCI bus improves data transfer rates by over twenty times that of older, ISA-based audio solutions, and it also provides the benefit of allowing the CPU greater bus access to address other computational needs, improving system-level performance. For example, ISA-based audio occupies up to 20% of the 5 MB/second bus' bandwidth and blocks 20% of the CPU's capacity when used to generate 16-bit stereo audio at 44.1 KHz. The AGOGO-XP PCI implementation only requires 1% utilization of the higher performance, 133 MB/second PCI bus, and only occupies 1% of the CPU's capacity to accomplish the same task.

SoundBlaster Compatible

Platform Technologies' AGOGO-XP delivers groundbreaking PCI performance while also maintaining backwards-compatibility through hardware emulation for FM synthesis and the SoundBlaster standard to support older, DOS-based games. By preserving the ability to play existing titles while simultaneously providing developers with the ability to create the next generation of multimedia audio effects, Platform Technologies delivers the best possible value for users while providing a bridge to PCI-based audio performance for developers and hardware vendors. With the AGOGO-XP, system vendors can finally dispense with the ISA bus, which is only used to support the SoundBlaster standard in modern PCs.

Wavetable and Effect Synthesis with Downloadable Samples

The AGOGO-XP's Wave Processor provides high quality, 64-channel wavetable and effect sound synthesis cost-effectively by storing downloadable wavetable samples in a PC's system memory instead of using ROM. The synthesis process performs panning, tremolo, vibrato, tone filtering as well as reverb, chorus, flange, and echo effects to capture all of the registers and subtleties of a symphonic performance or multimedia effect.

DirectSound Acceleration

The AGOGO-XP's DirectSound Acceleration supports hardware digital mixing of up to 32 wave streams with panning control and converts any sample rate frequency to 48 KHz for delivery to the codec.

Since the AGOGO-XP supports simultaneous multiple audio streams occurring at different sample rates, it creates a rich, realistic playback environment for music and enables the implementation of complex sound effects. For example, the AGOGO-XP enables software developers to create sophisticated spatial and positional 3D audio effects that realistically simulate the perception of sound emitted by moving objects or from multiple sources positioned around the listener.

The AGOGO-XP's dual-engine architecture can deliver MIDI audio and voice-based PCM audio streams simultaneously, providing support for interactive, Internet-based voice communication concurrently with a multimedia or game application.

Multimedia PCI Bridge

Platform Technologies' PCI 2.1 compliant bridge allows system and add-on board developers to use the chip as a platform for developing true multimedia accelerators. The bridge meets PCI loading constraints and will allow a developer to integrate the AGOGO-XP with a 3D graphics accelerator, MPEG, DVD, video capture, video conferencing, ISDN, v.34 Modem, FireWire, or USB device while only utilizing a single PCI bus slot.

Hardware Interfaces

The AGOGO-XP features a true, MPU-401 MIDI interface with FIFO, a high performance gaming port, a general purpose I/O port, I2S digital audio port and a communications interface port. The AGOGO-XP has a programmable audio codec interface and will support Platform Technologies' PT101 Audio Codec or other vendors' standard 16- or 20-bit codecs, and conforms to the Audio Codec `97 (AC97) multi-vendor standard.