Soundpool

The Atari range has undeniably been somewhat neglected in the race to produce the hardware and software necessary for integrated hard disk recording on today's computers. Ofir Gal takes a look at a German company who are determined to keep the Atari flag flying.

The Atari software scene can be depressing sometimes. We know we have a great music computer, but market forces seem to be against us. Even Steinberg, who owe all fame and glory to dedicated Atari users, are giving semi‑pro PC‑based products undue priority. But there is a small community of dedicated Atari programmers that still strive to produce quality software and hardware for musicians. SoundPool is one such company, committed to producing digital audio products for the Falcon. I had the opportunity of meeting one of the two founders, Thomas Baumgärtner, when he visited London along with Karl Brandt from System Solutions, the UK distributor of SoundPool products. After a lengthy demonstration of the full product range, I asked Thomas about SoundPool and how they got started.

A Little History

SoundPool was born when Thomas Baumgärtner and Matthias Pohl used an ST to programme an algorithmic composing aid for the Roland E20. The program was called Freestyle, and it later provided the inspiration for StyleTrax — a Steinberg Cubase module. SoundPool's relationship with Steinberg continued when they created the Falcon Digital Interface (FDI) for use with Cubase Audio. The product was sold under the Steinberg banner and proved very successful. Thomas and Matthias followed it up by producing the FA8, providing the Falcon with eight analogue outputs. At the same time they were looking at producing digital audio applications for the Falcon, so started to bring in outside talents to help.

Their software range is impressive: "We are trying to produce a complete set of solutions, software or hardware, for professional musicians," Thomas explained, "from the initial recording to the mastering process. We use musicians and recording engineers to get feedback about the products, so that we can address their needs". SoundPool's programs push the Falcon to its limits, utilising the audio system and DSP to the full. The various digital audio programs work happily with only 4Mb of memory and the internal IDE drive. Thomas explained the reasons for his visit: "We have been very successful in Germany and France, but less so in the UK. We think that this is probably because we did not have the facilities to demonstrate the capabilities of our products. System Solutions are now going to set up a demonstration system so that people can get a chance to appreciate what's on offer."

The Hardware

After producing hardware for Steinberg, Thomas and Matthias decided to release the following products under the SoundPool name. The S/PDIF Interface is an FDI‑compatible device that plugs into the DSP port and provides coax and optical digital I/O. It also replaces the Falcon internal clock with the more standard 44.1 and 48kHz frequencies. It is compatible with Cubase Audio, Logic Audio, and all SoundPool products. It enables the user to bypass the Falcon audio system and digitally record to or from a DAT machine.

The Analog 4 and Analog 8 Interface boxes are Steinberg FA8‑compatible. They contain four or eight 16‑bit D/A converters with a flat frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz. The devices support any sampling frequency, and work alongside the S/PDIF Interface. They are supported by Cubase Audio, and allow users to bypass the inferior Falcon audio outputs.

The Sample Rate Converter, as its name suggests, converts all sampling rates to the industry standards 32, 44.1 and 48kHz. It cancels the Serial Copy Management System's copy protection, allowing you to clone digital masters as many times as you like. It features both coax and optical I/O, and can also serve as a master digital clock in the recording studio.

The MO4 is the only SoundPool hardware product that is not Falcon‑specific. It works with all Atari computers, adding four MIDI Out ports or 64 MIDI channels. It plugs into the printer port and is compatible with any MROS‑compliant programs, including Cubase Audio.

Zero‑X

Zero‑X is a sample editor for all Atari computers, although a Falcon is highly recommended. On a Falcon system, SCSI can be used to transfer samples back and forth from your sampler. The program also utilises the Falcon DSP and built‑in sound system for faster processing and instant audio auditioning.

Among its features are a powerful automatic loop editor, ideal for creating drum loops, a digital noise gate, and a normalise function. There is also a clever drum splitting option designed to take a sample of a drum groove and break it down into its separate components. Samples can be transferred via MIDI on SCSI‑less machines, and the program also serves as a sound file converter, able to convert PC WAV files to Cubase AIF, among others. Finally, Zero‑X will do sample rate conversion on samples.

Audio Tracker

This is an 8‑track direct‑to‑disk recorder for the Falcon. It boasts a built‑in mixer and digital effects, and is fully compatible with the S/PDIF and Analog 4/8. Suitable for standard audio applications as well as video post production, it can lock to MIDI Time Code, enabling several Falcons to work together in sync if more than eight tracks are needed.

SoundPool pride themselves on the program's speed and user interaction, where unlike Cubase Audio, there's no need to name tracks or wait for wave image generation. The program automates most of these, always ready for a re‑take, so that you can carry on with making music. The program includes a wave editor, where up to four tracks can be edited at the same time. Audio Tracker can output Cubase Audio‑compatible AIF files and import audio directly from CDs.

Audio Master

Audio Master is a stereo hard disk‑based mastering system for the Falcon. Based on a range of optional modules, it supports cross‑fading, scrubbing and normalising, as well as non‑destructive editing. An intelligent peak metering system helps you get the best audio levels.

The dynamics module is a DSP‑based compressor/expander/limiter. The noise gate uses a 'look‑ahead' system, so that it doesn't miss the beginning of a sound, and the compressor can be freely adjusted on screen using the mouse. One thing it does lack is frequency‑dependent compression, but this seems to be beyond the capabilities of the Falcon hardware. It is claimed that the EQ module is free of frequency‑related phase shifts, and it supports a variety of filters, including bandpass, notch, and shelving. A spectrum analyser module is also available, which displays a third octave frequency response while recording or playing back, and supports several modes, including Hanning, Hamming, Kaiser, FFT, and linear. It can generate sine waves and white noise for calibrating a monitoring system. When you buy the spectral analyser and dynamics modules, you also get software versions thrown in which will operate as stand‑alone programs, independently of the Audio Master system. These software versions (called Analyser and Dynamite respectively) incorporate a few extra features. If you don't need all the extra features you can opt for a pack of three slightly cut‑down modules, which come without the stand‑alone software, and retail collectively under the name of Audio Master Limited.

Datadat

DataDAT enables Falcon users with an S/PDIF or FDI interface to use a DAT recorder as a backup device. Unlike a similar program included with Steinberg's FDI, this program can backup any type of data, not just audio files. It will squeeze 1Gb of data onto a 120‑minutes tape.

CD Recorder

The latest addition to the SoundPool range is CD Recorder — a program that lets you cut your own CD master using a Falcon. The arrival of affordable CD writers has already made its mark on post‑production studios, where it's taking over the use of the U‑matic format. CD Recorder understands various file formats, including AIF, AVR and WAV, and burns 'Red Book'‑compliant CDs that can be played on any domestic CD player. Two versions are to be made available — CD Recorder Pro can write any CD format in addition to audio CDs, and can therefore be used to backup data for example, whereas CD Recorder Audio only supports audio CDs. Both versions support PQ encoding, pre‑emphasis and copy‑protection, and work with CD recorders by Ricoh, JVC and Phillips.