E-Mu Signs Letter Of Intent With BitHeadz Software

Companies Intend To Collaborate On Mac Sound Card

January 28, 1999 -- E-MU SYSTEMS has announced that a letter of intent has been signed with BitHeadz Inc. of Capitola, California, to collaborate on a software/hardware solution which will provide high quality sound and sampling synthesis for the Macintosh™ computer. E-MU will provide the hardware solution in the form of the Audio Production Studio (APS) PCI digital audio card, and BitHeadz will provide the software front end to control the card based around their Unity DS-1 software sampler product. The APS card is currently being sold by E-MU to the PC marketplace through music stores worldwide.

Both companies declined to name the product on which they are collaborating, but preliminary specifications were disclosed. The product, which is expected to ship later this year (price TBD), will come complete with everything you need to create professional- quality sound.

The letter of intent expresses the intentions of both companies to pursue a development agreement, the terms and details of which were not disclosed. Both E-MU SYSTEMS and BitHeadz were available to discuss further details of this agreement at the Los Angeles NAMM show, booth #1233, which occurred on January 28, 1999 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Hardware
The hardware consists of a single PCI card which allows 64 channels of digital audio to be played at once, either as SoundFont® format samples out of host RAM, or as streaming audio channels off of the hard disk. The card has onboard digital mixing and professional, configurable effect from the EMU10K1 DSP chip. The I/O complement includes stereo digital analog I/O with 20-bit resolution, as well as S/PDIF format digital I/O. Rounding out the hardware is full MIDI interface functionality, allowing you to process 32 MIDI channels simultaneously.

Software
The software that is bundled with the card includes a complete and powerful sampling front end which allows the user to program their sounds and prepare them for playback over MIDI. Based on the recently announced Unity DS-1 software sampler interface, the software allows for full manipulation of all hardware functions, with a clear and userfriendly interface that appeals to musicians with any level of experience. The software also features substantial file format translation capabilities, allowing the card to playback other sample formats other than the native SoundFont format.

"We are extremely pleased that a relationship with BitHeadz is becoming formalized," comments Don Scott, CEO of EMU-ENSONIQ. "We are all impressed with their software expertise and believe this partnership will benefit both companies while providing an optimal product solution to the marketplace."

For more information, visit www.emu.com. Visit the Bitheadz website at www.bitheadz.com.