The SCOPE Platform from CreamWare

An example circuit created in SCOPE

The PCI card with three DSP chips on each side

March 11, 1998 -- MusikMesse 1998 marked the first public display of CreamWare's SCOPE (SCalable Object Processing Environment) platform, capable of creating a virtually limitless number of synthesis and audio processing systems - emulations of "classic" synthesizers and those that have not been invented yet.

The SCOPE platform consists of both hardware and software. The hardware consists of a PCI card packed with six SHARC DSPs from Analog Devices, designed to work in both Mac and PC systems. If you need more horsepower, you can take advantage of the card's expansion bus by adding up to 10 more DSPs (possibly more in the future), for a total of 16. If you're doing some incredibly complex work with SCOPE and need even more power, you can add another PCI board for up to another 16 DSP chips! The only limit on the number of PCI boards is the number of PCI slots on your computer's motherboard and any OS constraints. [Please note that some of these specifications have already changed.]

The software portion of SCOPE presents the user with a modular network of devices (filters, oscillators, mixers, etc.) that can be selected and placed down in the workspace. You then proceed by connecting all the functional units together with virtual cables. When an instrument has been completed, a custom user interface panel can be created for it to provide easy and quick access to the controls (see some of the examples below.)

This modular concept is not completely new, but SCOPE adds a little twist by letting you go down one more level to play with the circuitry of the devices. For instance, SCOPE provides an ADSR unit, but if you're not satisfied with that implementation, you can open it up and make some modifications to the underlying architecture. In addition, you can also customize the graphical interface for each module, and a number of presets for each module are provided. CreamWare is planning on keeping SCOPE open to developers to encourage the creation of new modules. I've been told that some developers are already at work on this.

So what about the issue of being tied to additional hardware? Six DSP chips will outperform the top PC processors today, but what about a year or two from now? CreamWare has addressed this issue with the very impressive expansion capability mentioned above, and the Analog Devices chip is top of the line. Adding more processing power to SCOPE down the road is a pretty trivial task. The big advantage of using the specialized hardware is that it will leave your computer's CPU free to do just about everything you can do now in addition to running SCOPE. So now my primary question is, what does this advantage do to my bank account? I won't make any judgment on the hardware commitment until pricing information is finalized, but the expandability of processing power sounds very promising.

SCOPE is the result of two-and-a-half years of development. The synthesis applications of SCOPE presented at MusikMesse (and shown below) represent only a few weeks of programming, which is an impressive feat. But SCOPE will go beyond just synthesis, also offering real-time effects processing and mixing capabilities. I'm certainly anxious to get my hands on it, but I will still have to wait a while - SCOPE is scheduled to be released in October. We'll be keeping our eyes on this and we'll definitely have more information when Summer NAMM rolls around in July. Stay tuned for more...

The SCOPE presentation at the CreamWare booth

Some SCOPE Creations

(Click on an image for a close-up)

FM Synth

A recreation of a classic 6-operator FM synthesizer with an intuitive editing interface.

Analog Synth

A analog synth with the ability to replace the oscillator with an input audio signal.

Mixer

A mixer created in SCOPE that shows how it can be integrated with CreamWare's TripleDAT digital audio recording and editing system. TripleDAT will be able to rout audio tracks through SCOPE for adding effects.

Commutator

SCOPE can also create totally new synthesizers, such as the Commutator which combines sampling, granular synthesis, and analog synthesis. The output is created by switching or crossfading between the four input signals at variable rates.