Crystal Semiconductor Delivers First Single-Chip Plug-and-Play Multimedia Audio Subsystem with Music Synthesis; CS4236 offers true full-duplex, 16-bit CD-quality sound with integrated FM music synthesis.AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 1995--Crystal Semiconductor Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : CRUS), today introduced the industry's most complete Windows 95 compatible audio subsystem. Crystal's CS4236 is the only single-chip audio subsystem that offers complete Plug-and-Play compatibility, full-duplex operation, 16-bit CD-quality sound and FM music synthesis for PC motherboard and adapter card applications. The CS4236 features digital volume control, advanced power management and comprehensive SoundBlaster Pro(TM) and AdLib(TM) games compatibility. The CS4236's high-level of integration makes it ideal for desktop, notebook and green PCs, and high-performance adapter cards. The device provides complete register and functional compatibility for Microsoft(R) Windows Sound System A sound card from Microsoft for Windows PCs. The card was not widely used, but certain characteristics of the card are built into Sound Blaster and other sound cards for compatibility with the Windows 3.1 drivers that were created at that time. and SoundBlaster Pro and is the first 16-bit audio subsystem with on-chip sample rate converters to support all specified sample rates. The CS4236 features a fully-compliant Plug-and-Play Specification 1.0a ISA (1) (Instruction Set Architecture) See instruction set. (2) (Interactive Services Association) See Internet Alliance. (3) (Internet Security and Acceleration) See .NET. interface and MPC-2 compliant audio mixing. "Crystal's CS4236 is fundamentally changing the consumer and business personal computer marketplace," explained Craig Ensley, vice president and general manager of Crystal's Computer Products division. "It enables the further migration of CD-quality multimedia audio to the PC motherboard with a high-quality feature set that includes integrated music synthesis and full Plug-and-Play compatibility. This level of functional integration makes the CS4236 unparalleled in the industry." Crystal's audio subsystem incorporates Plug-and-Play compatible peripherals with a joystick interface, an external wavetable music synthesizer interface, and enhanced IDE CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). interface and a MPU-401 compatible MIDI UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) The electronic circuit that makes up the serial port. Also known as "universal serial asynchronous receiver transmitter" (USART), it converts parallel bytes from the CPU into serial bits for transmission, and vice . The device extends Plug-and-Play capabilities to external ICs attached to its bus, including those supporting peripherals that are not inherently Plug-and-Play compatible, such as an IDE CD-ROM and modem. The CS4236 supports six internal Plug-and-Play logical devices as well as two Plug-and-Play external devices. Crystal has been a leader in Plug-and-Play technology development from the inception of the 1.0a specification. Crystal's CS4236 is backwards pin-compatible with the industry-standard CS4232 and CS4232A, allowing designers to easily upgrade existing designs to new technology. The CS4232 and CS4232A incorporate the de facto standard Hardware or software that is widely used, but not endorsed by a standards organization. Contrast with de jure standard. de facto standard - A widespread consensus on a particular product or protocol which has not been ratified by any official standards body, such as ISO, multimedia audio architecture used by four of the top five x86 architecture computer manufacturers. Software Support The CS4236 is supplied with a complete suite of drivers supporting Native Audio and major operating systems including Windows 3.1X, Windows for Workgroups A version of Windows 3.1 introduced in 1992 that added peer-to-peer networking. See Windows. (operating system) Windows for Workgroups - (WFW, WFWG) A version of Windows 3.1 which works with a network. Although stand-alone 3. , IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) OS/2 WARP, Windows 95 and Windows NT. DirectSound(TM) support is integrated into the Windows 95 driver that provides end users with the ability to play the new generation of high-performance Windows games written to the DirectSound standard API. Crystal's CS4232 and CS9233 audio solutions are provided as part of Microsoft's Software Developers Kit (SDK) for entertainment software. Crystal also provides a wide variety of free end-user DOS and Windows applications and audio control applets. Development and diagnostic software to support multimedia audio integration are also available. Package, Price and Availability The CS4236 is available in a 100-pin thin quad flat pack (TQFP See QFP. ) and sells for $39.50 in quantities of 10,000. Samples are available now. Production quantities are available later this year. The CS4236 is an extension of the Crystal family of audio solutions that includes the CS4215 and CS4216 serial codecs, the CS4231A Windows Sound System codec, CS4920A stereo DAC See D/A converter and discretionary access control. DAC - Digital to Analog Converter with MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). decompression, and CS9233 and CS8905A wavetable synthesizers. Crystal Semiconductor Corporation Crystal Semiconductor, headquartered in Austin, Texas, designs, manufactures and markets advanced analog and digital integrated circuits for applications in the multimedia, telecommunications, data communications, consumer audio, data conversion and signal acquisition markets. Crystal is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cirrus Logic, Inc. For more information regarding the CS4236 and other multimedia audio Codec products, contact Eileen R. Carlson, Crystal Semiconductor Corporation, 4120 S. Industrial Drive, Austin, Texas 78744; Telephone 512/442-7555 or 800/888-5016; Fax 512/462-2723. -0- Note to Editors: Product photography available upon request. CONTACT: Crystal Semiconductor Tom Agler, 512/912-3701 tagler@crystal.cirrus.com Eileen Carlson, 512/912-3022 (Reader contact) |
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