Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

On 1/21/03 7:21 PM, "Ravi Ivan Sharma" <noision1@...> wrote:

> Good post. Although it makes Rossum sound like an automaton product that works
> where he is focused. I take it that Dave must somehow "like" working on
> soundcards better than synths these days. I personally can't get too hot over
> a soundblaster card in comparison to a synth. But that's just me.
> 
> Ravi

Dave *is* Creative's chief scientist.  And he has been deeply interested in
integrated circuit design for many years now, back to the days when he
collaborated with Ron Dow to create the SSM chip line.  Since Creative is
paying the bills, and IC development is very costly, it's understandable why
he would focus in the areas the company expects to make their profit.  It is
also my understanding that he has not been involved in the Emu side of
Creative for quite some time.

Also the inexpensiveness of the Soundblaster line hides how innovative and
effective they could be as musician's tools.  The original Soundblaster AWE,
which  Dave/E-mu helped Creative with prior to the acquisition, brought
cost-effective sampling to the personal computer.  This was an ESI-class
sampler (if I recall) on a $200 ISA card.  It offered 32 voices, which were
full-fledge synth voices with filters, envelopes, LFOs and it supported up
to 32MB of sample memory.  It worked at 44.1kHz and 16-bit.  When programmed
well it sounded great (though the card's outputs were a tad below full "pro"
spec).  Unfortunately it got caught in the gravitational pull of the game
and consumer music market and except for some well informed people was
largely lost in the main-stream pro-music arena.  Most musicians looked down
on the product, probably figuring since it was a consumer game card it had
little to offer.  So using it had a bit of a stigma which was not deserved.

The successor Live line extended the above to 64 voices and included
effects.  This is pretty much a P2K on a soundcard with user sampling which
I believe could be taken beyond 64MB with some special work.  It even
offered low-cost digital I/O.  This was a $100 card that could perform the
function of a $2K sampler.

These devices had great potential for pro-use that was never fully realized.
technology was not the reason.

By any measure Dave Rossum is a giant in the history of music technology.
But for all the great innovations he brought on the synthesizer product side
he will be at least equally remembered for his contribution in the
algorithms and techniques he innovated in custom ICs, many after Creative
acquired E-mu.

drk

www.delora.com/music
www.mp3.com/zdrk
drk.iuma.com