Calgary, AB. QSound Labs has announced that its stereo-to-surround technology, QXpander™, is now available to OEM’s on board a single-chip audio sub-system. The new part, the CS4238B, is manufactured by Crystal Semiconductor.
“It’s really a complete sound card on a chip,” says QSound Technical Writer Scott Willing. “The only significant element not built in is wavetable synthesis, and that’s supported through a serial interface.”
QXpander is a patented process that works with any existing stereo recorded material. It is not required in the recording process, which means a listener’s entire audio library can be enhanced by QXpander simply by playing it through the CS4238B Crystal Chip. Any two-speaker stereo system is adequate.
QXpander technology is already available in several other forms including: QSound’s highly-regarded plug-ins for the Digidesign TDM™, Sound Designer II™ and ProTools™ environments; the QTools/SF plug-in for Sonic Foundry’s Sound Forge™ editor; stand-alone parts (the QX2010 & QX2130 single chip processors); and multimedia computers by Acer and other makers.
The CS4238B offers easy implementation for manufacturers of multimedia sound cards and similar products. It is pin-for-pin compatible with Crystal’s CS4232 and CS4236 industry-standard audio codecs. And along with the QXpander algorithm, it incorporates most of the capabilities required for multimedia audio including: FM synthesis; MIDI, joystick, CD-ROM and modem interfaces; support for Microsoft’s DirectSound® API; hardware master volume control; and extensive power management features.
Samples of the CS4238B have been shipping since early August and marketing efforts by Crystal are now in full swing.
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