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[Fwd: Melody 1 2 0 0 Available]
Lisa wrote:
> *From:* j_plewka@amtrash.comlink.de (Joern Plewka)
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------- converted from a recent paper announcement --------
> ------- of gruner ------
> ---------- please don`t hit me because of my english --------
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> M e l o d y 1 2 0 0 (base/pro) High Performance
> Sound
> a v a i l a b l e
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --- background
>
> After a hard time of development Melody1200PRO and
> Melody1200BASE are available now!
>
> Melody1200 is part of a much bigger engineering project
> done by Kato Development Group.
> Production and wordwide distribution is handeled by ous,
> Gruner Buerotechnik. Because of better know-how regarding
> Amiga KatoDev does the full technical support for hard- and
> software. Local distribution is handeled by several companies
> like f.e. Power Solutions for US/CA.
>
> At WOC`97 in Cologne a first fully working design was shown
> by Katodev. Since the company KatoDev intended for distribution
> wasn`t able to put critical capital to the project (but asked
> much too much from the final cake) KatoDev wanted ous
> to do the new financing, production and distribution for
> strong numbers. We finally did it...
>
> At this discussions KatoDev made clear they liked to change
> the design from a 4 months low-cost project to very high
> performance at quite low price.
> They managed this time intensive job even for the very
> difficult environment of the A1200 and its Towers, now.
>
> Melody1200PLUS will be available next, too. Up to now
> we decided to wait until dealers know about the boards
> more exactly (too much products at once).
>
> --- some details
>
> Please have a closer look at the Homepage of KatoDev
> (http://kato.home.pages.de).
>
> Melody1200 is the first full duplex soundboard for A1200
> while the PRO is additionally the first hardware based MP3
> decoder available for Amiga. Melody gets mounted in the slot
> below the floppy drive and at the clock connector and matches
> completely into a plain A1200. Both parts of the board are
> interconnected with ribbon cable.
>
> The logical work needed to convert signals to this kind of
> design is much higher but much more powerfull than other
> possible solutions. Keep in mind Melody does not transport
> any analog signal via the ribbon cable. It`s digital,
> fully digital at this area! This is simply needed for good
> sound.
>
> The board is even the first one known making use of a 20bits
> Audio CODEC (108dB SNR) which is not common practice
> for comuter sound
> (usually people are using cheap multimedia stuff -->~80dB).
> The converter is usually used for better Dolby Suround Equipment
> and other DSP based stuff. For sure it`s needed to use
> Surface Mounting Technologie (SMT) to match the requirements
> for space, audio performance and immunity regarding noise.
>
> A closer look to the board will not show reductions of costs
> followed by low quality as the ugly result. Parts used for
> sound transmission are low in noise/low in tollerance.
> Skilled people will notice: The expense for getting clean
> supply is very high. To avoid high frequency noise transceived
> to the boards EMIs from well known manufacturers are used
> (ribbon, subD, selfdone inductor).
>
> The connection to audiolines happens via 6 metall "golden"
> RCA-Connectors (female). For sure the housing of the Sub-D is
> metall, too.
> Actual series of Melody1200 except electronic parts and parts
> of the PCB (UK) is "Made in Germany". Cablesets, soldering
> etc. is/are fully handmade by skilled professionals
> (finepitch work included).
>
> There is nothing which prevents Melody from getting mounted
> into a Tower done by different manufacturers. This was
> a key-requirement while development (ask for longer cable
> and slot brackets if needed in your machine).
> The boards are checked to work with 2ft interconnection
> but are shipping with a cable length of 1ft.
>
> --- software
>
> The drivers comming with Melody1200 include xaudio.device
> with (NSD extension), AHI and for Melody1200pro additionally
> the traditional mpeg.device which is compatible to any
> mpeg hardware known for Amiga (CD32, MelodyZ2, Peggy+).
> No question Melody1200 is 100% compatible to Melody-Z2
> from software view. For sure there are many additional
> features...
> Because of all these different drivers there is a big pool
> of software which is usefull for Melody1200.
>
> Maybe it`s allready known OctaMED-Soundstudio2
> (-->RBF-Software) is developed by KatoDEV, too. Because of
> this it`s quite clear Melody will be the best checked board
> for OctaMED as it`s simply part of the default environment
> used for OM`s development. OctaMED Soundstudio V2 is not
> available today, but up to our knowledge there will be
> a demo quite soon.
>
> AMPlifier is enclosed with Melody for free. It`s a
> MPEG-Audio-Decoder programm which directly benefits from
> the MPEG2.5 up to Layer3 DSP by Micronas/FhG used for the
> board. If the DSP is not available (Melody1200base) software
> decoding may be used. AMPlifier has got a modern BOOPSI
> userinterface on one hand or may use the SKINS known from
> PC on the other hand. Playlist (edit, load, save),
> Drag`n`Drop, AREXX, ID3-Tag are included, too.
> Amplifier is Shareware and even available at Aminet and
> should be quite usefull for any Amiga.
>
> --- add-ons
>
> One of Melody1200`s goals is the variable/upgradeable
> design. There will be (much) more than the 3 boards
> currently announced. Currently the same PCB
> (Multilayer, Multiplane) is used to get three very different
> variants because of different parts used.
> Because of this it`s very easy for ous to upgrade to a
> Melody1200base to Melody1200PRO.
>
> These differences of the boards are currently limited to
> the MPEG capabilities. This will change later this year.
> Probably they`ll show a 6 channel board at WOC in Cologne.
>
> Melody1200 was even done with the intention of offering a real
> cheap extension for DIGITAL-IO. It will be connected beside
> the analog board or even alone (space inside A1200 is
> not available for this stuff-->take a tower!).
> The logical functionality needed is allready implemented
> in the customchip of the actual boards.
>
> --- the connector is not locked by Melody1200
>
> Melody only locks "half" of the clock connector and
> passes the signals to another board plugging on top of it.
> This means it`s f.e. possible to use KatoDEV`s
> High-Speed RS232 Board (460800BPS) together with Melody.
> Even the use of old Hypercom is possible (a minimal
> modification to that board is needed, though).
>
> For sure faster CPUs may be used together with Melody1200.
> The MMU-slot (trapdor) is _free_.
>
> --- last pre-series changes
>
> KatoDev included the internal CD Input many people were
> asking for. There are three inputs with variable gain now:
> Line 1, 2 and CD Input. Besides the hardware-based software
> peak detection a LED was added, too.
>
> Melody1200PRO supports MPEG-decode-and-sampleback mode.
> It`s used for AMPlifier`s spectrometer as an example
> (8/16/20 bits, selectable).
>
> For playing old games etc. Melody stores the last settings
> done at the board when the A1200 is doing a reset (or crash).
> Simply play your games without reconnecting the computer by
> selecting the input the old amiga output is connected to
> (before doing the reset)!
>
> --- final comment
>
> We`d like to make clear Melody1200 is a High-End product.
> It`s not a noisy toy which even shows the sound of the
> mainboard and motors of drives etc.! The price is probably
> much too low for such product but this is a convention of
> KatoDEV.
> The reason for this convertion is the nearly free-of-costs
> development and free support done by Kato Development Group.
>
> It`s not a secret even Melody-Z2 is not able to compete vs.
> Melody1200.
> Therefore Melody-Z2 needs reinforcement! Probably there will
> be a small number of new Zorro boards at the show in cologne.
> It will steal most of the features of Melody1200PRO and will
> even add higher bus bandwidth.
> Btw: The board won`t be a replacement for Melody-Z2
> because of a much higher price.
>
> Gruner Buerotechnik,
> gruner@usa.net
> Hamburg
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------- converted from a recent paper announcement --------
> ------- of gruner ------
> ---------- please don`t hit me because of my english --------
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Hopefully it`s interesting for you! There will be more new
> stuff they didn`t announce up to now, though;-((
>
> C.U.
>
> Joern
>
> -------
>
> K a t o Group Melody-Series: 16bit++ Soundboards
> Development Simmfone : ZIP-Replacement for A3000(T)
>
> Mail: katodev@usa.net WWW : kato.home.pages.de
>
--
"Like a halo in reverse..."
-=†Violator IvoM†=-
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ICQ#3775823