Universal Audio, a manufacturer of high-quality vintage audio
hardware and DSP software plug-ins for digital audio workstations,
today announced the UAD-Xpander, an ExpressCard DSP system for laptops.
The UAD-Xpander will be offered in 3 versions: the UAD-Xpander Xpress
(Estimated price £500 including a UAD$500 voucher), the
UAD-Xpander Xpert (including a UAD$1000
voucher), and the UAD-Xpander Xtreme (Estimated price
£999
including all UAD plug-ins to v4.5 - almost £1500 value). The
UAD-Xpander Xtreme will uniquely feature a highly polished chassis with
custom Xpander logo. All UAD-Xpander's are expected to ship Q1 2007.
“The UAD-Xpander is the worlds first
ExpressCard-based audio
product and offers the legions of laptop-based musicians, remixers
& producers a state-of-the art solution to running the
sonically superior UAD plug-ins on the road.” said
Mike Barnes, VP of
Marketing for Universal Audio. “Now professional
mobile mixing and
mastering is a reality and the new ExpressCard bus means that laptop
customers can enjoy the same power as the UAD desktop solutions. Our
UAD-Xtenda PCIe to ExpressCard adapter also means you can even switch
your UAD-Xpander between laptop and desktop PC's.”
Key UAD-Xpander Features Include:
- 44.1-192k Mac/PC DSP Audio Accelerator for laptops
- Noiseless, Fanless, Alumi-Cool chassis design
- Ultra-fast (2.5Gbps) ExpressCard 34 interface
- Includes 14 Powered Plug-ins & UAD$ voucher
- Travel-Case with compartments for all components
- Optional UAD-Xtenda kit with PCIe desktop adapter
“ExpressCard is the future for all
DAW-class notebook PC's
including the MacBook Pro and many PC laptops, and provides PCI Express
connectivity in a small form factor. It naturally supercedes Cardbus
just as PCI Express has evolved as a significant enhancement from
PCI.”
said Joe Bryan, VP of Technology at UA. “The
ExpressCard 34 module
allows us to deploy our existing mature and very stable cross-platform
drivers to the widest range of Mac/PC laptop customers, and with over
6x the bandwidth of FireWire S400, it offers headroom for future UAD
developments. By using the ExpressCard port for high-performance DSP,
we offload the lower-bandwidth FireWire ports so they can be used for
critical audio IO and hard disc traffic.”
About the UAD DSP Card
At the heart of every UAD DSP Card & Powered Plug-Ins
package is the revolutionary UAD DSP card. Because of its high
resolution, floating-point processing, ultra high-speed memory and
hardware dithering, the UAD delivers outstanding high-headroom sound
quality at sample rates from 32 to 192khz. Unlike other DSP cards, the
UAD uses a single, unpartitioned vector processor, allowing for larger
and more sophisticated plug-in algorithms offering a new level of power
and complexity not found with host-based plug-ins. By greatly reducing
the burden on the computer's CPU, the host application can now deliver
more tracks, automation and native effects.
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