Conexant Launches Next-Generation Audio Synthesis Software; Integrates Professional Audio Streaming, MIDI And Live Musical Performance

Business Wire, Oct 13, 1999

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 13, 1999--

Conexant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CNXT) Wednesday expanded its audio offering with a family of software audio modules for low-cost audio/modem solutions.

With the Conexant Player(TM) family, the company now offers the industry's most complete line of audio software products sold in combination with Conexant modems. Conexant's patented audio software solutions enable professional-quality wavetable audio synthesis for low-cost PCs.

The Conexant Player is the industry's first audio solution to combine the flexibility of software-based instruments with the real-time performance characteristics of Conexant's patented EndlessWave(TM) audio-streaming technology.

The Conexant Player consists of a MIDI sequencer, two General MIDI(TM)(GM) compatible sounds sets and a world-class synthesis engine with up to 256 voices of polyphony, allowing 256 notes to be played concurrently.

The Conexant Player

The Conexant Player is a Windows(R)-based software application that plays GM and GM2 files. It provides all the features of a conventional CD player including a playlist manager for hours of background music.

A piano keyboard appears on-screen for use during content audition/creation, and the MPU401 in/out port supports live performance with an external piano keyboard. Minimum system requirements are Pentium II 266 MHz or higher with Windows 95 or later operating system.

The Conexant Player features three user-selectable operation modes: Conexant's legacy WaveStream(TM) Soft Synthesizer, the EndlessWave Consumer(TM) and the EndlessWave Pro(TM).

With the legacy WaveStream mode, the user can create music with an 8 MB sound palette for GM instrument cache. In EndlessWave Consumer mode, music is created using a 14 MB GM instrument cache. Upgrading to the 150 MB or 500 MB sound libraries enables EndlessWave Pro mode, which provides access to sound libraries of unlimited size.

In EndlessWave Pro mode, real-time audio streaming is not limited by the system RAM as in the other modes. Instead, sounds from the hard drive/CD-ROM or Internet audio streaming engines can also be used to create music.

"Conexant's software audio technology is capable of emulating a hardware synthesizer, while at the same time reducing latency, the amount of time that passes between when a key is struck and when a sound is heard," said Conrad A. Maxwell, manager of technology planning for Conexant.

"The Conexant Player has the industry's lowest latency, enabling users to create and edit sounds for real-time performance. It's the answer for those who want to merge MIDI and Red Book audio into one interactive framework."

EndlessWave Soft Synthesizer(TM)

While other GM software products are limited by 2, 4 or 8 MB sound sets that reside in limited ROM or RAM, the EndlessWave Soft Synthesizer actually streams CD-quality instrument samples directly from the hard drive in real-time. This allows for breathtaking realism because artificial sound processing techniques like sample looping are no longer necessary.

The EndlessWave Soft Synthesizer supports the EndlessWave Consumer and EndlessWave Pro discrete modes of operation for maximum performance flexibility. It supports 44 KHz sampling rate, 16-bit resolution, less than 10 mS note-on latency and 256 voice polyphony with reverb and chorus effects.

The EndlessWave Soft Synthesizer can be extended using upgrade sound libraries of 150 MB and 500 MB for superior sounding MIDI for live performances.

Packaged as a WDM and VxD software upgrade for existing Conexant products, the EndlessWave Soft Synthesizer audio upgrade solution comes built into the Conexant Player and is available now.

The EndlessWave Editor(TM)

The EndlessWave Editor is available as an upgrade for professional audio creators who want to create custom libraries of sampled sounds or sound effects for MIDI playback. It can import SoundFonts (1.0, 2.0), Downloadable Sound (DLS 1.0, 2.0) files or .WAV files for custom library creation and allows for full control of the playback envelope as well as post filters.

Using the upgrade, the instrument pool can be edited to create unique sounds. In addition, custom files can be downloaded for live performances.

The EndlessWave Editor is a subset of NemeSys Music Technology's Professional GigaSampler(TM) Editor that was awarded a "Key Buy" in the February 1999 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

GigaSampler replaces multiple rackmount samplers for soundtrack creation in Hollywood studios and has been widely adopted by professional musicians to create big-theater movie scores, live-orchestra sessions and musical realism that cannot be achieved with workstations or traditional rack-mount samplers.

Conexant's EndlessWave sound sets were recently awarded the Fat Man's 1999 "Fat Seal" for musically balanced GM music systems. "Years ago it became clear to me that the 'general solution' to the major problems of interactive audio would be MIDI control of audio samples of any size. You can't do that without EndlessWave," said George "The Fat Man" Sanger of Fat Labs Inc.