Turtle Beach Announces Six-Channel, DSP-Based Audio Accelerator; Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Designed for Digital Music, 3D Games, and Business Audio.Business Editors CeBIT 2000 Hall 9, Stand D82 HANNOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 2000 Voyetra Turtle Beach See Voyetra. , Inc. today unveiled its forthcoming audio accelerator, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, city, United States Santa Cruz (săn`tə kr  z), city (1990 pop. 49,040), seat of Santa Cruz co., W Calif., on the north shore of Monterey Bay; inc. 1866. (TM), at CeBIT 2000.Powered by Cirrus Logic's Crystal(R) 420MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) The execution speed of a computer. For example, .5 MIPS is 500,000 instructions per second; 100 MIPS is a hundred million instructions per second. digital signal processor A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor designed specifically for digital signal processing, generally in real-time computing. Characteristics of typical Digital Signal Processors
For instance, if a game demands 3D audio but not MIDI wavetable A group of sampled sound waves used in MIDI. See wavetable synthesis and MIDI. (hardware, music) wavetable - A type of sound generator often built in a sound card. A wavetable contains digitised samples of real instrument sounds or effect (FX) sounds. sound, the DSP will focus its processing power on accelerating the 3D streams. If the user instead decides to listen to MP3 files, the Santa Cruz will reconfigure itself to accelerate the MP3 decoding process. The Santa Cruz will be available worldwide this summer from major computer and electronics retailers, as well as directly from Voyetra Turtle Beach. "The Santa Cruz is a landmark in PC audio design. It's the first low-cost PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). sound card that includes a re-configurable DSP core, audiophile An individual who is very interested and enthusiastic about the sound quality of a stereo or home theater system. Quality audio components are designed to reproduce the audio without adding any distortion or coloration. performance, six-channel sound, and a list of features you'd only expect to find in expensive pro-audio gear," said Carmine carmine /car·mine/ (kahr´min) a red coloring matter used as a histologic stain. indigo carmine indigotindisulfonate sodium. car·mine n. J. Bonanno, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , Voyetra Turtle Beach. "Our goal was to design an affordable yet versatile sound card that enhances every major PC audio application--MP3 digital music, advanced gaming, business audio and PC home theater An audio/video entertainment center that has a large-screen TV and hi-fi system with three speakers in the front (left, right and center) and left and right speakers in the rear. Starting in the early 1990s, video inputs were added to stereo receivers and preamplifiers. . The impressive features and specifications are a tribute to our achievement. I'm proud to say that Turtle Beach has again raised the bar for PC audio." "The Santa Cruz combines Turtle Beach hardware and software expertise with Crystal audio technology to create a powerful, yet affordable DSP audio accelerator," said Keith Essency, vice president & general manager, Crystal Computer Audio Division, "Turtle Beach has built its reputation on this type of innovation and continues to prove itself as a leader in cutting-edge, audiophile-grade PC hardware." Turtle Beach anticipates that the Santa Cruz will be primarily used for: Digital music playback. The Santa Cruz accelerates MP3 decoding, thereby freeing the host CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. for processing other tasks during playback of MP3 files. An optional digital S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital InterFace) A serial interface for transferring digital audio from CD and DVD players to amplifiers and TVs. S/PDIF is typically used to transmit PCM and Dolby Digital 5.1, but is not tied to any sampling rate or audio standard. interface also allows CD audio, MP3, and other digital music files to be transferred to MiniDisc A compact digital audio disc from Sony that comes in read-only and rewritable versions. Introduced in late 1993, the MiniDisc has been most popular in Japan. The read-only 2.5" disc stores 140MB compared to 650MB on a CD, but holds the same 74 minutes worth of music due to Sony's Adaptive in pure digital format. PC game playing. In addition to providing six output channels, Santa Cruz supports every major 3D audio standard, including EAX (Environmental Audio Extensions) Sound card functions that reproduce the reverberation effects heard in different environments. Developed by Creative Labs, EAX provides an extension to the Windows DirectSound and OpenAL programming interfaces. (TM), A3D (hardware) A3D - (Aureal 3-Dimensional?) A technology developed by Aureal that delivers sound with a three-dimensional effect through two speakers. Many modern sound cards and PC games now support this feature. (TM), I3DL2, DirectSound3D, and Sensaura's MacroFX(TM) and MultiDrive(TM). The card also includes Sensaura's new VirtualEar(TM) technology, which heightens the 3D experience by conforming positional algorithms to an individual user's ear characteristics. Music recording and auditioning. The Santa Cruz offers a wealth of features for desktop music production, including super-low noise analog circuitry; 18-bit resolution recording from four sources simultaneously; six-channel, 20-bit playback; a 10-band hardware EQ; multi-channel effects processing; an 8MB DLS-compatible wavetable synthesizer synthesizer Machine that electronically generates and modifies sounds, frequently with the use of a digital computer, for use in the composition of electronic music and in live performance. ; and support for an optional GS-compatible digital wavetable daughter board and an optional dual S/PDIF I/O interface See port and expansion slot. with optical and coax connectors. Home theater-style entertainment. For PC home-theater effects, the Santa Cruz allows the pass-through of digital streams (e.g., Dolby Digital) to dual S/PDIF outputs for external decoding and creating environmental ambiance am·bi·ance also am·bi·ence n. The special atmosphere or mood created by a particular environment: "The noir ambience is dominated by low-key lighting . . . within multi-speaker room. Business applications. The Santa Cruz supports acoustic echo cancellation algorithms for enhancing videoconferencing or speakerphone applications. Voice recognition performance is also improved by the aforementioned high-resolution converters and exceptionally low signal-to-noise and total harmonic distortion The total harmonic distortion, or THD, of a signal is a measurement of the harmonic distortion present and is defined as the ratio of the sum of the powers of all harmonic components to the power of the fundamental. levels. The DSP's ability to process four independent microphone signals supports an optional, low-cost array microphone that creates a narrow "listening area" to eliminate extraneous noise in an office environment. Additional distinctive Santa Cruz features include automatic shutdown to eliminate power on/off thumps; automatic sensing of rear jack connections to notify the user of the card's input/output capabilities; and a unique hardware matrix system for automated diagnostic support. Voyetra Turtle Beach is one of the world's leading PC audio solutions providers, working with more than 150 leading manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. In addition to its OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and and retail sales, Voyetra Turtle Beach makes its entire line of products available directly to consumers via its e-commerce Web site (http://www.turtle-beach.com) and customer service center (1-800-233-9377 or 914-966-0600). For more information, write Voyetra Turtle Beach, Inc., 5 Odell Plaza, Yonkers, NY 10701; call 800-233-9377 or 914-966-0600; fax 914-966-1102; send e-mail to sales@turtle-beach.com; or visit www.turtle-beach.com. Voyetra is a registered trademark, Turtle Beach and Turtle Beach Santa Cruz are trademarks of Voyetra Turtle Beach, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.
Selected Specifications
BUS Interface PCI BUS master with 126-channel DMA
interface. Plug and Play compatible.
Compatibility Windows 95/98/2000/NT 4.0/NT 5.0 (95 Plug
& Play compatible).
Digital Audio Processor 420MIPS Crystal(R) DSP processor. Hardware
full duplex for simultaneous
record/playback at full bandwidth with
independent record/playback rate.
Auto-muting after periods of digital
silence.
Standards Support ACPI, OnNow, APM, PCI Bus Specification
2.1, AC'97, PC '97, and PC '98.
Audio Converters Three stereo 18-bit ADC. Three stereo
20-bit DAC.
Sample Rates Up to 48 kHz with sampling frequency
accuracy of 0.01%
Sample Rate Converters Hardware-based, low noise sample rate
converters for processing digital audio
streams of different sample rates without
imposing any CPU processing load.
Signal to Noise > 96 dB (A weighted)
Total Harmonic Distortion > 90dB (0.003%) (A weighted)
DirectSound Streams 126
DMA Channels 96
Hardware Stereo Crosstalk 10KHz (-66dB); 1kHz (-85dB); 100Hz (-105dB)
Frequency Response 10 Hz - 120 kHz (+/-3 dB)
Graphic Equalizer Hardware-based 10 band.
Wavetable Voices Unlimited software/ 64 hardware. 8 MB
sample set included.
API Support A3D 1.0, EAX 1.0/2.0, DirectSound,
DirectSound3D.
DLS Support Enhanced DLS 1.x
Full Duplex Yes
Audio Output(a) Stereo Front out (1/8" external); Stereo
Rear out (1/8" external); Channels 5/6 out
(1/8" external); Primary and secondary
S/PDIF out (1/8" external). Analog outputs
capable of driving 32 ohm headphones and
short-circuit protected.
Audio Input(a) Primary stereo in (1/8" external);
secondary stereo in (1/8" external); Mono
mic (1/8" external); S/PDIF in
(1/8" external); modem (MPC internal);
analog CD with differential ground
(MPC internal); digital CD
(S/PDIF internal); DVD/aux (MPC internal).
MIDI/Game Port Hardware-based MPU-401 MIDI
UART-compatible interface through joystick
connector. Standard analog/digital
joystick support, plus remote polling of
the joystick position without CPU
intervention to further accelerate game
play.
Wavetable Daughterboard
Header Yes. Supports digital audio inputs with
optional Turtle Beach CancunFX WT card.
S/PDIF Expansion Port Accepts optional breakout board for coax
and optical digital input and output. One
S/PDIF input and two S/PDIF outputs.
(a) Some I/O functions available via the VersaJack; not all
functions can be enabled at the same time.
Specifications subject to change.
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