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Sound Blaster Live! The new Sound Blaster LIVE! PCI audio card marks the next step in Creative's PC audio strategy, and sets the standard for next generation PC sound. Architecturally based on a new chip called the EMU10K1 which was entirely designed at the joint E-MU / Creative Technology Center, the project leveraged the more than 25 years of experience in the professional music & high quality studio markets of E-Mu Systems during the planning and implementation of the new chip design. Now the all-new architecture of the EMU10K1 is ready to take the computer industry by storm. With more raw audio horsepower than found on any previous sound card, combined with powerful new features and capabilities, previously unavailable in the PC market, Creative will use the EMU10K1 to launch a new family of audio products. Sound Blaster LIVE! is the first EMU10K1 based PCI audio card being offered in Creative’s new high-end family of products. The LIVE! is the first sound card make available to developers, gamers, audiophiles and casual users that can bring actual Hollywood quality sound effects and music into the PC. This in turn creates an experience that is “as real as it gets”. Key Benefits :
In addition, the new Sound Blaster LIVE!’s advanced architecture utilizes less CPU bus bandwidth, resulting in a more efficient implementation than found on other PCI sound cards. The card can achieve improvements of 4 to 20 times in bus speed and approximately 15 times faster maximum data transfer throughput. The LIVE! uses the EMU10K1’s bus-mastering capabilities to stream audio to/from the card and host memory, using E-Mu’s patent pending DynaRAM™ technology. This increases overall system performance and reduces audio stream latency. This feature will give users an immersive, vividly realistic audio experience that is unsurpassed by any other PC audio solution. The "LIVE!" also features in hardware: 64-voice, 8-point interpolation, wave-table synthesis with powerful effects processing. The 64 voices are essentially 64 different audio channels through which a user can stream .WAV files, MIDI controlled wavetable synthesis voices, or ANY audio source. Each of these audio channels can be at an arbitrary and independent sample rate. The different audio streams will be digitally mixed and sample-rate converted to play back at 48kHz 20-bit resolution, thereby ensuring a professional level of audio fidelity and performance. Ultimately, this gives both developers and end users complete and independent control over every audio stream in the computer. In addition to the 64 wavetable voices, the "LIVE!" also features up to 35 channels of simultaneous audio recording, and an additional 32 streams of audio passing to and from the effects engine at a fixed 48 kHz sample rate, for a total of 131 total audio channels in hardware. Creative utilized its years
of experience and technical superiority to provide a complete SB16 Emulation (SBE) for DOS
Box DPMI games, unlike other solutions which are only able to deliver lower fidelity,
8-bit Sound Blaster Pro emulation. The Sound Blaster LIVE! is a PCI solution which is self
contained on a single half-length PCI card (PCI Spec 2.1) with the standard Creative back
panel connectors (Line-In, Mic-In, Line-Out, Rear-Out, Joystick/MIDI I/O). For the
consumers that are ready for the next step in audio fidelity, Creative has replaced the
speaker out connection with a Rear Surround out. In addition, for users who wish to work
entirely in the digital domain, an expansion bracket is provide additional S/PDIF I/O
connectors.
Additionally, the EMU10K1
provides certain ancillary support functions and interfaces, including:
13 September 1998 11:36 AM |
