COMDEX/Rockwell enters PC audio market with IC solutions optimized for telephony applications

Business Wire, Nov 11, 1996

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 11, 1996--

Modem leader debuts family of audio ICs that includes 3D

sound spatialization plus music technology from Kurzweil

Music Systems. OEMs can optionally combine Rockwell's

WaveArtist ICs and software with the company's modem

chips to create complete, high-quality audio playback

and telephony solutions. Hear WaveArtist COMDEX

contest demo on http://www.nb.rockwell.com

Rockwell Semiconductor Systems on Monday announced a family of PC audio system devices that spans the full range of FM and General MIDI wavetable synthesis, 16-bit stereo audio, 3D sound and rich audio effects for Microsoft's Windows 3.1x, Windows NT, Windows 95 and DirectSound environments.

Rockwell's WaveArtist solutions include all necessary PC host software and optionally can be combined with the company's modems to seamlessly integrate high-speed data/fax modem, voice/audio, simultaneous voice and data (SVD) and speakerphone functions.

Rockwell's WaveArtist family includes the entry-level WaveArtist 100 FM synthesizer solution and the WaveArtist 300 solution with internal music processor for high-quality sound designs. To achieve superior performance in its WaveArtist 300 solution, Rockwell licensed key synthesis, control code and sound-set technology from Kurzweil Music Systems and also added special audio effects including reverb, chorus, treble/bass equalization and 3D spatialization.

Each WaveArtist solution is pin-compatible with the other solutions in the family, providing OEMs with a single design platform with which to generate a broad array of audio products.

"Rockwell's WaveArtist family gives OEMs the tools to develop products for a diverse range of customers, from the most intense PC gamers to the most demanding audiophiles," said Tom Eichenberg, product line manager, audio products. "Plus, when OEMs combine the WaveArtist product line with Rockwell's 33.6 fax/modem ICs, they can achieve advanced integrated audio/telephony system solutions."

By combining audio and telephony in a single solution, OEMs can eliminate redundant cables, adapters, software drivers, microphones and speakers, and they can offer features like music-on-hold and voice recognition that are difficult to implement with separate audio and modem cards.

"We believe that integrated audio and telephony capabilities will become increasingly important for a broad range of PC gaming, communications and entertainment applications," Eichenberg said.

All WaveArtist solutions play any game that supports the SoundBlaster Pro interface, and they support OPL3/OPL2 and AdLib-compatible FM synthesis without the need for an external digital-to-analog converter (DAC).

They also support 16-bit stereo audio with simultaneous record and playback and include integrated hardware interfaces to MPU-401 MIDI UART peripherals, enhanced IDE CD-ROM drives, game- port-compatible joysticks with internal timers, and the ISA-bus Plug-and-Play (PnP) interface for cost-effective, expandable audio and audio/modem system designs.

For even higher-performance sound designs, the WaveArtist 300 solution adds a combination of Rockwell 3D processing technology plus the same core Kurzweil audio technology, General MIDI sound set and professional reverb/delay expanded effects that Kurzweil Music Systems features in its digital pianos. Rockwell 3D processing technology was developed by the Rockwell team that provides the core algorithms for Rockwell's modem and speech technology.

"Rockwell and Kurzweil have combined forces to provide a superior PC audio platform," said Les Silvern, general manager, Kurzweil Technology Group. "Rockwell's expertise in custom DSPs, microcontrollers and signal processing is a powerful match for Kurzweil Music Systems' artistic prowess and excellence in music synthesis and sound development."

The WaveArtist 300 solution connects to as much as 2 MB of wavetable ROM and up to 8 MB of optional downloadable sound-sample DRAM. This interface also supports multiple hardware static buffers, allowing more efficient sound playback while running games written for Microsoft's DirectSound API.

With the introduction of Rockwell's WaveArtist family, the company now offers OEMs the choice of either hardware-based or software-based synthesizer solutions. The WaveArtist family joins Rockwell's WaveStream software-only wavetable synthesis solution, which the company added to its product portfolio in September as part of its acquisition of Brooktree Corp.

Brooktree's WaveStream software synthesizer gives mainstream, off-the-shelf PCs full General MIDI compatibility, 32-voice polyphony and a rich 8 MB sample set, all with minimal impact on CPU performance for any other concurrently running tasks or applications -- even on Intel-compatible 486 33 MHz CPU platforms.

Rockwell's WaveArtist family is available now. Each solution includes an IC packaged in a low-profile, small-footprint ball grid array (BGA) or quad flat pack (QFP), plus host software and a utility to configure the PnP interface in an MS-DOS environment.