Yamaha Puts 02R Digital Mixer on PCI Card

Learn more about the DSP Factory

On the heels of their success in the digital mixing arena, Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio Group, announces a revolutionary computer audio system-The DSP Factory-an exciting new system that provides a complete digital mixing and recording environment inside a standard personal computer. Utilizing their unique advantage as a manufacturer of audio DSP devices, Yamaha's introduction of the first product in the DSP Factory, the DS2416 digital mixing card, marks their entry into the computer audio recording market.

When installed inside a personal computer, the DS2416 digital mixing card offers the mixing power of the successful Yamaha 02R digital mixer plus 16 tracks of hard disk recording with up to 32-bit resolution. Two DS2416 cards can be linked to create a larger system. Installed in a personal computer, the DSP Factory is the first comprehensive digital mixing and recording system available, providing full-time 24-channel digital mixing and two of Yamaha's top-quality digital effects processors, without having to rely on the computer's internal processing power.

Additionally, the DS2416 card includes an audio-streaming engine which provides 8 tracks of simultaneous recording to, and 16 tracks playback from, the computer's disk drive. The suggested retail price of the Yamaha DS2416 digital mixing card will be under $1,000.

The Yamaha DSP Factory system will be the most convenient and affordable way for musicians and audio production customers to add top-performance non-linear recording to their systems. Because of its inherent creative advantages, such as editing capabilities and instant access to audio data, the audio production community is strongly moving toward non-linear recording on the personal computer. Using its DSP advantage, Yamaha is able to provide 16 tracks of digital recording with up to 32-bit resolution processed through a full-function 8-bus digital mixer inside the PC. This powerful combination will strongly appeal to the musician already using a PC for sequencing of MIDI instruments as well as those customers looking to augment or replace their tape-based recording systems. The total DSP Factory system concept includes components which will attract recording customers to the PC platform as a replacement for conventional mixer/recorder component systems.

The DS2416 card provides many of the powerful features found in the Yamaha 02R including: 24 channel, 32-bit digital mixer with 10 bus outputs and 6 aux sends; 104 bands of parametric EQ; 26 dynamics processors; 2 effect processors equal in quality to Yamaha's REV500; channel delay on 20 channels; comprehensive metering; digital cross-patching for channel inputs and outputs; 2-channel 20-bit AD/DA converter; stereo digital input and output with 20/24-bit resolution; and multichannel analog and digital I/O with optional interface hardware.

The recorder section of the DS2416 card provides: 16-track playback from hard disk; 8-track simultaneous recording through the mixer; and sample accurate synchronization between tracks. The recorder is "hot-wired" to the internal mixer in the digital domain and can be synchronized to outside sources via the software.

Computer audio recording is a rapidly expanding area with a variety of products appearing on the market. However, most systems utilize the computer's CPU to perform mixing, EQ, and effects features. This greatly taxes the CPU and even though the competitive manufacturer may state their card has many capabilities, it may not be able to perform them all at the same time. The DS2416 has five Yamaha proprietary DSP chips right on the card, which are dedicated to performing all the above mixing functions simultaneously, making it far more powerful than other systems.

"The DSP Factory is a natural extension of Yamaha's digital mixer business, using our DSP advantage," states Wayne Hrabak, marketing manager, Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio Group. "The 02R and 03D have taken the recording market by storm. For the customer currently using a computer to create audio, we believe it will be exciting to have the equivalent of a Yamaha digital mixer right inside the computer, processing and mixing his/her audio tracks. Furthermore, the recording quality is unparalleled with up to 32-bit resolution."

The DS2416 digital mixing card installs in the PCI card slot of a standard personal computer and is operated from the computer CRT, keyboard and mouse using existing computer software. The card has stereo analog and coaxial 20/24-bit digital inputs and outputs allowing the customer to record and mix to and from a wide range of analog and digital two-channel audio devices.

Additionally, multi-channel audio connections in the DSP Factory are provided via a number of options. The AX44 Audio Expansion Unit provides 4 analog inputs, two of which can accommodate microphones, and four outputs, plus a stereo headphone jack, and installs right into the drive bay of a personal computer tower. Two AX44 units can be connected to one DS2416 card providing 8 additional analog inputs and outputs. Yamaha is also planning digital interface solutions which will allow connection of multi-channel digital equipment such as outboard digital multi-track recorders and signal processors. The first planned is the optional AX16-AT Audio Expansion Card which will provide 16 digital inputs and outputs in ADAT format. This will enable easy transfer of digital multi-track audio to and from the DSP Factory recorder.

Leading software developers have announced their support of the Yamaha DSP Factory and are currently in development of control software (SEE ATTACHED SOFTWARE SUPPORT LIST). These companies are working with Yamaha to integrate control of the DS2416 card into their recording software. At the time of this announcement, Yamaha has completed and supplied software drivers for PC/Windows 95 software developers. Macintosh drivers are currently in development.

The Yamaha DS2416, AX44, and AX16-AT are just the first in a series of components to be introduced in the Yamaha DSP Factory system. Targeted shipment of the DS2416 card and AX44 is Spring 1998. Software developers are targeting release of the DSP Factory-compatible software simultaneous with Yamaha's release of the hardware.

ADAT is a trademark of Alesis Corporation.

Windows 95 is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Macintosh is a registered tradesmark of Apple Computer, Inc.