EVERYONE needs to read this one....

[tubedude]

The future of audio on computer is looking up like it never has before...
there is a new chipset by Nvidia that is gonna be the bomb!!!
Check THIS out..
"The NVIDIA nForce MCP redefines the audio and communications experience. The integrated Audio Processing Unit (APU) brings unprecedented 3D positional audio and DirectX(R) 8.0-compatible performance to the PC platform, all the while providing real-time processing of up to 256-simultaneous stereo audio streams, along with a real-time encoded Dolby(TM) Digital 5.1 cinematic audio experience. "

DAMN... 256 simultaneous STEREO audio streams... nice nice nice, more..

"nForce is the architectural foundation for Microsoft's highly-anticipated Xbox game console. In addition, NVIDIA has secured design wins with the industry's top PC ODMs, including ASUS, MSI, GIGABYTE, Mitac, and Abit; and expects to announce many other OEM design wins by the winter of 2001. "

This board is based on DDR, only its gonna REALLY take advantage of DDR, like it was meant to be used. All I can say is " I told ya so!"

Heres a link to the press release...
http://www.mediaworkstation.com/2001/06_jun/news/nvidianforce.htm
Also, go here www.nvidia.com and check out the articles titled " NVIDIA First to Deliver Dolby Digital Real-Time Encoder to the Desktop PC Market" and "NVIDIA to Adopt AMD HyperTransport Technology" and also, take the NFORCE tour, check it out...
Peace,
Paul
Now I can't sleep again, damnit....

 

[PRiZ]

Crazy...

Not even sure what it is exactly... (graphix card?)
Is this gonna change what I should think of getting, in aspects of audio equipment....? "256 simultaneous STEREO audio streams"
what's this mean in lamen's terms for music capabilities...?
thanks fo posting this...

 

[Dolemite]

Priz, this is a chipset with integrated audio/video components.

That chipset will probably be very cool for games (along with a better video card) and the overall performance increases that they are claiming (supposedly a 20% overall increase thanks to a L3-type caching system called DASP), if true, will also be great for DAWs. DDR memory along with the more efficient memory controller and increased bandwidth will be good for everybody, too. But honestly, the 256 audio streams spec is not that impressive. A lot of consumer-level sound cards have similar specs. For example, the Phillips Acoustic Edge will do 96 streams of 3d sound or 256 streams of directsound. The SB Live is "capable of processing, mixing and positioning audio streams using up to 131 available hardware channels." Also, I doubt any motherboard-integrated audio will come close to the prosumer cards from M-Audio, Event, etc. as far as converter quality and the fidelity of the analog section. Still, this chipset is going to make some badass motherboards. Just remember to put in a separate sound card if you're building a DAW.

Don't mean to steal your thunder, tubedude. I just want to make sure you're not recommending any integrated audio systems would be good in a DAW. It would be nice in my system if I didn't have to have separate PCI sound cards for recording and games, though. It looks like this chipset would do a very nice job of replacing that game sound card. And you can always use some extra performance. I'm still a bit skeptical because of all the incompatibility problems with the other chipsets in AMD CPU motherboards. Still, it will be interesting to see how this baby turns out!

 

[tubedude]

Do keep in mind that what this chipset is allowing is not directly related to your soundcard, it is processor related. Its allowing the processor to do WAY more sound processing and more efficiently. This will result in better track count, plug ins and stability, regardless of what your sound card itself is capable of. The DDR, as I've been preaching for months, will also help out anyone that does loopiong and sampling.
This is real good for everyone, especially us DAW people.
At least, thats the way I understand it all
Peace,
Paul

 

[Dolemite]

Do keep in mind that what this chipset is allowing is not directly related to your soundcard, it is processor related.

You're half right, the chipset's increased performance will be great for DAWs, but in this case the chipset is directly related to a sound card because it has one built in. The nForce chipset includes an APU (Audio Processing Unit) in the south bridge which is fancy way of saying that motherboards based on the chipset will have integrated sound. Usually integrated sound cards are awful. This one looks like it might actually be decent for gaming, but not for recording. Just wanted to clarify that.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1484&p=6

 

[tubedude]

Well, regardless, I think this is a huge step. The anandtech review was quite favorable. Considering the directx 8 feature, Sonar might do quite well on the integrated sound... heres a few quotes...
"Meanwhile, by launching an APU that's the first fully DirectX 8 compliant audio part is a direct attack on all the sound card manufacturers out there. Add in the fact that they're the first with the ability to encode Dolby Digital AC-3 on the fly and NVIDIA is suddenly worlds ahead of everyone in the sound field as well. "

"StreamThru basically guarantees that regardless of what other demands are placed on the chipset, the devices that are latency and bandwidth critical will receive the ultra fast access and bandwidth to main memory that they need in order to operate properly.

Devices that are latency and bandwidth dependent are known as isochronous devices, those that aren't latency dependent (meaning they can be interrupted for a bit in order to let another device occupy some time) are known as non-isochronous devices


"Without any prior experience, they've launched a chipset that appears on paper to be more powerful than anything on anyone's desktop chipset roadmaps at this point in time, making them an immediate threat to all chipset manufacturers right off the bat. And that's not even comparing to other integrated chipsets, but just chipsets in general. The nForce absolutely demolishes anything with integrated video here now or in the foreseeable future"

I think its AT LEAST a step towards ProTools performance on a DAW. A step is a step... I'll take all I can get!!!!
These boards are expected to come out at about $200 and they will have integrated NVIDIA graphics, so you wont need a video card for standard uses, which will bring the actual cost of the board down, in a manner of speaking.
I'll be the test rat...
Peace,
Paul

 

[MrLip]

A little off-topic, but is ProTools really all that ?

 

[RWhite]

Does it do the dishes?

I'll wait till it arrives to make judgements but I am forever wary of any audio or video hardware on the motherboard. Brings back dark memories of Packard Bell, where their systems refused to allow normal operation of video / audio cards even when their on-board crap was jumped "off". Sounds like it could make a killer game card though. Wonder if it will do 256 simultaneous Sound Blaster emulations.....

 

[tubedude]

123

Mr Lip...
Imagine having, lets say 40 tracks of dense audio, with 5 plug-ins per track and not having a skip or stall. Now imagine adding more tracks if you need them.
There is the greatness of ProTools and systems like Paris.
In hours and hours of editing and poking around and doing whatever, it never issued an error or crashed. I like it. There may better software, yeah, but its hard to get a pc by itself to take that much information at the same time.
I'm currently lobbying Creamware to design a mixfarm/dsp card for Sonar and some other brands. If enough people ask, it might happen. I took a poll in the cakewalk forum, but its gotten little response there, but nothing negative, yet.

 

[Diragor]

I can imagine that, sounds cool. Now I'm trying to imagine having $4000 to spend on Paris, or better yet having three times that much for a decent low-end Pro Tools rig. I'm afraid I'll have to put up with the occasional glitch for the forseeable future.

Man, I sure wish Digidesign would make an afforable Pro Tools system that can at least match what I'm doing now with Logic Audio and a MOTU 1224. If I could have flawless recording of the same number of channels (or more) and hardware effects for the price I paid for this stuff, I'd go for it.

 

[tubedude]

Have you checked out Creamwares DSP cards? If you have a real good processor (like 1.2ghz and up) and a fast harddrive you can probably get tons of tracks with no plug ins on them, right? The Creamware dsp cards do all of the plug in processing on the cards themselves, so that it doesnt burden your CPU and your track count stays high. If you arent bogging the cpu down with effects, you wont lock up and glitch near as often, providing a more solid working environment. You can even patch in and out of the card, like to use your plug in effects on a live guitar (example, from the effects loop on your guitar amp to the dsp card, out of the dsp card and back to the amp. Just like a hardware processor. Control it all via computer. Pretty neat. Its as close as you'll get to dedicated hardware for under $4000, and they (I think) are about $700 or so on the street. Not bad at all, considering. Again, a fat processor (1.7 Pentium would be ideal) and this card would be pretty close to having a dedicated mix card system. Its my goal to have one around Christmas or so.
They are at www.creamware.com
Peace,
Paul

 

[charger]

"a decent low-end Pro Tools rig" is around 800$--the Digi 001, I have one. A "high-end" Pro Tools rig is around 10k.

 

[tubedude]

I think he meant with designated DSP...