Opti pushes audio migration

Electronic News, Oct 17, 1994

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.--Opti Inc. is targeting PC motherboards and notebook computers with an FM synthesis-based solution built around its new 16-bit 82C930 audio controller (EN, Sept. 12).

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The new 82C930, which features an on-chip sigmadelta audio codec/mixer, is available in engineering samples. Production quantities are scheduled for January, 1995. Packaged in a 100-pin plastic quad flat pack (QFP), the audio chip will be priced at $18 in 10,000-unit quantities.

That pricing will be tuned to the cost sensitivity of the motherboard market, said Steve Tobak, Opti's director of corporate marketing. The bill-of-materials for the audio solution would come to about $25, he said, including quad op-amp and Yamaha's OPL-3 FM synthesizer device.

At Fall Comdex, Opti will be showing a motherboard mock-up of its new 82C930 with its Viper core logic chipset for Pentium-based systems using the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus. While Opti believes the time is ripe for more FM synthesis audio solutions to migrate to the motherboard, it believes the add-in card market is still slowly embracing enhanced-quality, wave table-based solutions.

Patrick Ang, Opti's audio product marketing manager, said that Creative Technologies AWE-32, based on technology from E-mu, has been off to a slow start in sales volumes. Still, Opti will soon be upgrading its wavetable synthesis devices to work with the 82C930. Crystal Semiconductor, meanwhile, is expected to be even more aggressive in targeting the wavetable market by rolling out an integrated solution leveraging its 16-bit mixed-signal codec technology and wave table synthesizer device introduced last year.

Meanwhile, the PC OEM market seems to be primed for a move of more audio devices to the motherboard. PC makers--at a cost of $20 or so--are anxious to tap a large library of game sound effects available on FM synthesis.

Opti's move into the audio chip market has been bolstered by the acquisition of MediaChips, which provided the codec technology. The company expects a run rate of more than 200,000 16-bit audio devices in 1994.

Opti has recently introduced a wave table synthesis engine, the 82C940; a DSP-based controller, MAC32, that interfaces to Yamaha's OPL-3; and the 82C929, a 16-bit audio controller. The 82C929 will soon be enhanced with plug-and-play features in a pin-compatible upgrade. Depending on the patent position of Yamaha--companies such as ESS are now attempting to move into the FM synthesis--Opti may consider integrating the OPL-3 like function on chip.