Siegburg, Germany, May 17, 2000 -- With Elektra, CreamWare presents a professional modular synthesizer system on a PCI card. The system is based on a combination of software and DSP hardware and will be available for both Windows and Macintosh computers.

Elektra PCI card (click on image for larger view)

On the software side, Elektra boasts more than 140 modules, which can be freely interconnected via virtual patch cords. The module library contains oscillators, envelope generators, various effects, pattern sequencers, filters etc. Constructing new synthesizers, drum machines, effect processors and more is made easy thanks to an ergonomic and intuitive graphical user interface.

The modules allow virtual analog, FM and also sample based synthesis. Samples can be loaded in WAV, AIFF and Akai S1000 format. They can be used as the basis of a synthesizer, instead of or in addition to traditional analog waveforms. A set of step and pattern sequencer modules can be used for the creation of virtual drum computers or to compose complete tracks inside a synthesizer patch.

Elektra instruments are fully remote controllable via standard MIDI controllers. Patches and presets can easily be saved and exchanged with other users. Furthermore, Elektra is compatible to the Pulsar Modular Synthesizer V2. And since all modules are purely software, Elektra can easily be expanded. New modules and patches as well as system updates will be available for download from the CreamWare homepage.

Up to six patches can be used simultaneously. For maximum flexibility, a special system patch allows audio signals to be freely routed between patches, hardware I/Os and drivers.

The Elektra PCI card hosts three Analog Devices SHARC DSPs. Thus, the modular synth can be played just like a hardware instrument - while imposing virtually no load on the host CPU. The hardware features four inputs and outputs offering 24 bit/96 kHz quality (stereo analog plus stereo S/PDIF). Via the CreamWare Z-Link interface, an optional Luna 2496 breakout box with eight additional analog I/Os (24 bit/96 kHz) can be added. An optional 16-channel ADAT interface can also be attached to the Elektra card.

The I/Os of the Elektra board can be used by other software applications as well. The system comes with ultra-fast drivers for ASIO, ASIO 2.0, EASI, MME, DirectSound, Sound Manager and Gigasampler. The drivers can also be used to directly record the outputs of a modular patch to any HDR system running on the same computer.

Elektra is scheduled to be available in early Q3 2000. The recommended sales price will be US$ 649.

Source: Creamware
Web: www.creamware.com