2003 CES Report A Look at some of the latest surround sound and high-resolution audio products from the Consumer Electronics Show.
On the heels of the 960L Automation package, Lexicon offers yet another software option: the LOGIC7 UpMix Option. This new feature is included as standard in 960L’s shipping from Lexicon with V4 software. It is also available as an option for all existing 960Ls’. The V4 software upgrade is free to all registered 960L users and is necessary to add the new LOGIC7 option.
LOGIC7 is the technology — developed by Lexicon’s Dr. David Griesinger — for creating surround signals from stereo sources. The LOGIC7 UpMix Option generates 5-channel surround information from stereo inputs and features a wide front image with surround channel envelopment. Surround channels are distinct (not monaural) and maintain the full bandwidth of the stereo source, avoiding the use of simple filtering, which Lexicon maintains tends to produce an unstable surround effect.
As in the case of other 960L algorithms, the LOGIC7 UpMix Option is fully configurable. Program elements, rolloff, and surround channel delay can be adjusted, and the sensitivity of the algorithm itself can be altered to suit stereo source variations. Virtually all parameters are artifact-free, allowing them to be used silently while running the algorithm.
For more information, visit www.lexicon.com. M-Audio and Microsoft Offer Creation Tools
M-Audio — formerly Midiman — has teamed-up with Microsoft to produce multichannel creation and delivery solutions that integrate with ReWire applications such as Propellerhead Reason and Ableton Live, as well as WAV or AIFF files. The new Vortex line, from Immersive Media Research, adds multichannel mixing capabilities to users with stereo software via the Surround Mixer, including dynamic panning control of six or more channels with real-time surround panning via mouse or joystick, path automation, motion pattern presets, and beat-based trajectory timing.
The integrated Vortex Surround Encoder encodes 5.1 and 7.1 multichannel sources into Microsoft’s Windows Media Audio 9 Professional and is available as a standalone. The application brings encoding to the multichannel mixing facilities of a variety of popular software products and will be distributed free of charge from M-Audio. Windows Media Player 9 Series is also available as a free download. For more information, visit www.midiman.com.
Apple Unveils Fastest Power Macs Ever
Is it time to upgrade again already? It just might be…. Apple announced the fastest and most affordable Power Mac G4 line ever featuring a choice of a single 1 GHz, dual-1.25 GHz, or dual-1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 processors with prices ranging from $1499 to $2699. The new line also features FireWire 800 and has internal support for 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth wireless networking.
Apple also unveiled their 20-inch Cinema Display, priced at $1299, and announced significant price reductions to their entire flat-panel display line.
Based on Apple’s Xserve architecture, including up to 2 MB of fast Double Data Rate (DDR) Level 3 cache and 333 MHz DDR memory, the new Power Mac G4 line harnesses the power of Apple’s UNIX-based Mac OS X “Jaguar” with symmetric multiprocessing capabilities to deliver 21 gigaflops (21 billion floating point operations per second) of performance.
The single 1 GHz Power Mac G4, for a suggested retail price of $1499, and dual 1.25 GHz Power Mac G4, for a suggested retail price of $1999, are available now. The dual 1.42 GHz Power Mac G4, for a suggested retail price of $2699, will be available starting next month. All Power Mac G4 systems are available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), at Apple Retail Stores, and through Apple Authorized Resellers.
For more information, visit www.apple.com.
