The Scotts Valley, California-based E-mu Systems Inc subsidiary of Creative Technology Ltd, Singapore has released the EMU8710, a PCMCIA Type II Card designed for portable interactive audio on laptop and multimedia systems. It is a digital sample-based audio product featuring CD-quality General MIDI sound memory, compatibility with SoundFont downloadable sound libraries, and comprehensive audio playback and programming capabilities. EMU8710’s 1Mb General MIDI SoundFont bank of 16-bit digital samples is stored in read only memory for instant access. An additional 512K of on-board random access memory digital sample storage enables the down-loading of user-defined SoundFont banks, for customising the on-board sound. Available from E-mu in a variety of formats including ROM chips, CD-ROM, and floppy disk, the SoundFont Library features digital samples of instruments and sound effects. The SoundFont Library is organised into collections of like instruments and sound effects that may be downloaded into any SoundFont compatible audio system. The EMU8710 board also features 32 voice polyphony, on-board digital effects, full MIDI compatibility, integrated digital mixing, filtering, sample rate conversion, audio pitch transposition and digital audio input-output. EMU8710 may include a Multimedia Audio Breakout Box which provides out-board MIDI in and out ports, a stereo line-in for a microphone or other line level devices, and stereo line-out port for headphones. The EMU8710 MABOB attaches directly to the edge of the EMU8710 with a cable extension. The audio board ships with portable front-end software. No prices.
