New Dell Dimension V PCs Incorporate Yamaha DS-1 PCI Audio Chip; 3-D Sound and XG Wavetable Synthesis Boost System Capabilities

Business Wire, Sept 22, 1998

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 22, 1998--Dell Computer Corp., the world's leading direct computer systems company, will incorporate the Yamaha DS-1 (YMF724) high performance audio controller for the PCI bus, in their recently announced Dimension V PCs for home and small business users.

The DS-1 features XG wavetable sound with 64 simultaneous voices out of 676 instruments.

"Dell's customers will find the XG format provides for the most advanced sound synthesis available on a PC," said Randy Roscoe, Audio Products Product Manager, Yamaha Systems Technology, Inc.

"It provides for compatibility with a wide variety of musical equipment such as electronic pianos, Yamaha Disklavier(TM) electro-acoustic pianos, tone generators and professional musical instruments. Today, many popular artists, web sites, music publishers, music developers and game developers support the XG MIDI format. The sound quality is better than any previous PC Audio chip." XG Format Widely Used

Many audio card manufacturers have selected the YMF724 for use in their products due to its superior features and performance. In a recent PC Magazine (Australia) review of sound cards, a Yamaha YMF724-based sound card was selected as the Editors' Choice and was praised as "the easy winner by a country mile."

Stan Lim, president of Star Multimedia, an audio card manufacturer and a current OEM customer who uses Yamaha XG technology was asked why Star chose Yamaha XG, and how did they like it. His response was, "Yamaha's XG technology allows us to design and manufacture sound cards which are noticeably better in performance and audio quality than previous generations of sound cards."

Game developers are also supporting the professional sounding Yamaha XG format, in order to move away from the toy-like music quality previously used on most sound cards.

According to Yoshi Maruyama, vice chairman of Square Electronic Arts, LLC, "When you play Final Fantasy VII, you will find that the music is one of the most appealing features of the game. We wanted to emphasize the richness of the musical expression, the top quality of the sound, and the special musical instruments used." Final Fantasy VII now supports the Yamaha XG format. About the YMF724 PCI Audio Chip

Some of the attributes of the YMF724 PCI Audio chip from Yamaha include: -0-

--   676 instruments (individual sounds) which may be used for musical
  instruments, or wave files such as game sound effects.
--   64 simultaneous 44.1 kHz voices in hardware.
--   AC'97 compliant audio with on-chip PCI interface for legacy
  compatibility.
--   100% compatibility with the historic industry standard General
  MIDI (GM) while providing even richer musical expressions.
--   Supports DLS (DownLoadable Sound).

-0

Yamaha Systems Technology, Inc. was founded to manufacture and market integrated circuits, board level products and complete systems to OEMs and Distributors. The product line includes multimedia audio, graphics and communications products, as well as custom and semicustom ASICs, and CD Recorder products. www.yamahayst.com

Dell Computer Corp., a Fortune 500(R) company is the world's leading direct computer systems company, based on revenues of $8.7 billion for the past four quarters. Dell designs and customizes products and services to end-user requirements and offers an extensive selection of peripherals and software through the DellWare program. www.dell.com; 800/388-8542

Note to Editors: All trademarks are the properties of their respective companies.