3DsoundSurge Press Release: Turtle Beach Announces Six-Channel,DSP-Based Audio Accelerator

Turtle Beach Announces Six-Channel,DSP-Based Audio Accelerator

–Turtle Beach Santa Cruz™ Designed for Digital Music, 3D Games, and Business Audio –

HANNOVER, GERMANY, February 24, 2000 — Voyetra Turtle Beach, Inc. today unveiled its forthcoming audio accelerator, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz™, at CeBIT 2000. Powered by Cirrus Logic^'s Crystal^Ž420MIPS digital signal processor (DSP), the Santa Cruz provides six discrete output channels and dynamically reconfigures its resources depending on the active task.

For instance, if a game demands 3D audio but not MIDI wavetable 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 sound card that includes a re-configurable DSP core, audiophile performance, six-channel sound, and a list of features you’d only expect to find in expensive pro-audio gear," said Carmine J. Bonanno, president and CEO, 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. 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."

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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 for processing other tasks during playback of MP3 files. An optional digital S/PDIF interface also allows CD audio, MP3, and other digital music files to be transferred to MiniDisc in pure digital format.

PC game playing. In addition to providing six output channels, Santa Cruz supports every major 3D audio standard, including EAX™, A3D™, I3DL2, DirectSound3D, and Sensaura’s MacroFX™ and MultiDrive™. The card also includes Sensaura’s new VirtualEar™ 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; and support for an optional GS-compatible digital wavetable daughter board and an optional dual S/PDIF I/O interface 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 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 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 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.

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^Ž 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*	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*	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.

* Some I/O functions available via the VersaJack; not all functions can be enabled at the same time.

Specifications subject to change.