Philips, ESS roll multimedia chips

Electronic News, Nov 20, 1995 by Andrew Maclellan

The ES938 is sampling now and is packaged in a 28-pin SSOP package. Pricing is set at $4 in 10,000-unit quantities.

ESS last week also introduced the ES690 Wavetable Music Synthesizer chip, an integrated audio processor for the entire General MIDI instrument set. Claiming superior acoustic performance, the ES690--coupled with the ES981 1MB Wavetable Sample Set ROM with new instrument path set from InVision Interactive of Palo Alto, Calif.--is being touted as the industry's smallest wavetable synthesizer chip.

The device's 52-pin PQFP package is suited for use in notebooks and desktop motherboards where board space is at a premium. The ES690 plays back 32 voices simultaneously at 44.1KHz CD-quality stereo audio, which the company claims rivals a live symphonic orchestra. The chip also complements ESS' AudioDrive family of 16-bit, 44.1KHz stereo audio processors and contains a serial port to interface with General MIDI devices. The ES690 is sampling now and also comes in a 100-pin PQFP package. Pricing is set at $20 in 10,000-unit quantities.