BitHeadz Introduces Retro AS-1 "Analog" Synth for MacOS

January 29, 1998 -- BitHeadz Inc., a software technology company specializing in the design and development of high quality audio software products, introduced the Retro AS-1 analog synthesizer at the National Association of Music Merchants tradeshow, January 29th through February 1st in Los Angeles, California.

The Retro AS-1 is a fully programmable, polyphonic, analog synthesizer implemented in software for the Mac OS operating system. It offers outstanding sound quality, real-time input, complete creative flexibility, and all of the features and functionality of popular analog hardware synthesizers, for a fraction of the cost. With a suggested retail price of $259.00, the software will be available on CD-ROM, and no additional hardware is required.

'This is something I have always wanted to do,' said Steve O'Connell, BitHeadz Chief Executive Officer. 'We've taken 60's technology and spiffed it up for the 90's. With the Retro AS-1, the user gets the best of both worlds, great sound quality plus effects and an arpeggiator. Being a musician myself, it was important to me to design a 'musician friendly' interface, and I also made sure that the Retro AS-1 will painlessly integrate with a user's current MIDI set-up. We're offering musicians a fully programmable, high fidelity, stereophonic instrument for less than any other professional quality sound generating module on the market,' said Mr. O'Connell.

Comprised of a synthesizer engine, editor, control panel, mixer application, 1000 sounds, a direct serial port MIDI application, OMS driver, FreeMIDI driver and an on-screen keyboard, the Retro AS-1 is designed to integrate seamlessly with the most popular sequencers and music software on the market today.

The Retro AS-1 features 24-bit 44.1kHz sound quality, up to 16 voices (CPU dependant), unlimited pre-sets, stereo output, and a musician friendly user interface. The product also boasts complete matrix modulation controls, multiple filter types, multiple oscillators, insert and global effects, is multi-timbral (16 channels), and includes an arpeggiator that imports and exports standard MIDI files.

BitHeadz feels that the Retro AS-1 will appeal to all musicians interested in investing in quality products that enhance their production and creation capabilities. Not intended for the consumer market, BitHeadz believes this is an ideal product for professional and semi-professional musicians, multimedia and game developers, and home studio musicians who are creating high-quality music with their computers. The company is very excited to bring their technology to NAMM, and demonstrated the Retro AS-1 in the West Hall, at the invitation of Apple Computer, Inc., in booth #1425.

Features and Functionality

General
Outstanding 16-bit, 44.1kHz sound quality
Real-time input
Very small disk and RAM requirements
100 percent programmable with unlimited presets
Over 75 parameters per voice, up to 200 values per parameter
Write output to disk as an audio file
Up to 16 voices (CPU dependant)
Polyphonic and Legato modes
1000 sounds
Stereo output
"Musician friendly" interface
On-screen keyboard (no MIDI controller required to trigger sounds)
Trigger sounds from QWERTY keyboard
24-bit, 48kHz fidelity on AudioMedia III cards
Support for Event and other third party audio hardware

Effects
2 insert (serial) effects processors per voice
2 global (parallel) effect processors
Multiple stereo reverb and reflection algorithms
Stereo delay, chorus and flange effects
Overdrive and distortion effects
Fully parametric and shelf equalizers

Oscillators
Up to 3 oscillators per voice (does not include low frequency oscillators)
8-octave range per oscillator
5 waveform types: Saw, Pulse, Triangle, Sine, Noise
Continuous control of waveform symmetry
Sync any oscillator to any other oscillator or filter

Filters
2 assignable filters per voice
7 filter types per filter
Filter types include 4-pole resonant and variable state band-pass/band-restrict
Multiple inputs for serial and or parallel filtering

Modulation
Multiple continuous controllers always active on all 16 channels
Unlimited envelopes and low frequency oscillators
Unlimited modulation routings
Four continuous MIDI controller modulation sources available simultaneously

Arpeggiator
Multiple latch and assignment modes
Imports and exports Standard MIDI Files

MIDI
16 MIDI channel multi-timbral
Serial port drivers included for direct MIDI input
Full simultaneous MIDI application compatibility
(OMS & FreeMIDI)

System Requirements
Mac OS compatible computer system with
PowerPC processor
4 megabytes available RAM
5 megabytes hard disk space
Sound Manager 3.2 or higher (included)
Compatible CD-ROM drive
800x600 or higher resolution monitor

Package contents
Software installer on CD-ROM
User documentation on CD-ROM
Registration Card

Suggested System Enhancements
Quality stereo sound monitoring system
MIDI controller and interface

For more information, visit their web site at www.bitheadz.com.