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News and Events
The complete listing of the Soundart News are here. If you want to be informed about Soundart's next move, we suggest that you join our mailing list - and since we all live in the "information overload age", you will be pleased to hear that you can decide exactly what kind of news you want to receive (and from where).
To sign up, go to Mailing Lists.
| 18th December 2002 | Two christmas gifts for your Chameleon! |
| 29th October 2002 | New demo tunes available |
| 23rd September 2002 | Soundart open spanish website |
| 2nd August 2002 | Soundart goes on holiday |
| 18th July 2002 | Two new applications for the Chameleon |
| 20th May 2002 | New Version of Chameleon SDK |
| 18th March 2002 | Chameleon stands out at Frankfurt |
| 19th Febuary 2002 | Soundart goes to Frankfurt! |
| 18th Febuary 2002 | Website launched |
| 18th Febuary 2002 | Chameleon SDK v1.1 available |
| 25th January 2002 | Soundart release Chameleon Development Environment |
| 10th January 2002 | Chameleon preview models ship to developers |
| 22nd December 2001 | Software Development Kit update |
18th December 2002
As some clairvoyant minds already predicted when the Chameleon was introduced for the first time, the family of skins doesn't stop growing, and won't stop in the future. We proudly introduce our brand new Reborn application: legendary vintage electronic instruments from the 80's resurrected and highly enhanced to bring those dance music machines beyond the Hall of Fame.
But the good news doesn't stop here. The seeds we planted when we released our SDK and started collaborating with 3rd party high end audio companies begins to bring the first results, and it's just the beginning! SpinAudio has just released a porting to the Chameleon of their State-Of-The-Art native FX Designer plugin.
Check them out!
These two new releases will still make your Chameleon more valuable! Want the classic sound of the classic hip hop beat boxes and bassine synths without carrying around with your computer? Done! You have the power now. Just download Reborn. Don't forget to check the sound samples to check what you're missing if you don't have a Chameleon yet. Want to experiment with a specialized Digital Processing tool without the complexity of those odd mazes of code? Done! Now you can run the famous FX Designer in a standalone rack. It is a digital audio effect processor with a flexible delay based design that allows to produce such audio effects as chorus, flanger, phaser, spatial effects, various reverbs or any combination of above. Download it, what are you waiting for?
Both new skins are in beta state. Definitive releases will be done with the feedback of the users in mind, as well as other nice surprises that Soundart has in the pipeline... Stay tuned!
29th October 2002
Thank to some Chameleon users, more songs and sound clips have been added to the Australis synthesizer section of the Soundart website. The new songs published show the rich sound spectrum, the multitimbral capabilities and the smooth realtime behaviour obtained with the Australis synthesizer, playing alone or together with other equipment.
Application programmers will be happy too because additional Chameleon examples have been uploaded to the developer resources corner of our web. The new FFTFILTER example shows the realtime perfomance of the DSP by implementing several FFT convolutions to re-create an 8-band graphic EQ.
23rd September 2002
We are pleased to annouce that, from today, the Soundart website is also available in Spanish, with all the information available for users and developers.
The Spanish Soundart website is, without doubt, the most comprehensive and detailed source of resources in Spanish for people who want to enter the digital audio engineering world, and it is also the main source of information about the unlimited possibilities of the Chameleon, the first one of a new generation of digital audio devices that provide to the user the advantages of computers and standalone devices together.
We are sincerely thankful to the Spanish music technology related media, like Future Music, Instrumentos y Sonido Profesional, Hispasonic, La Oreja Digital, etc. for the coverage they have dedicated to Soundart and Chameleon, of which we would like to emphasize the interviews appeared recently in Future Music and Hispasonic.
2nd August 2002
We'll be back home on August 26. If you want to order a Chameleon or if you wish to contact us in this period, we recommend you to wait until we are here again. Anyway, you can send us an e-mail to support regarding technical aspects or to info to make comments and suggestions. We will read all of them once we'll be back home.
Soundart wishes everybody a nice Summer!
18th July 2002
The time has come! Soundart releases their two first applications for the Chameleon. We are proud to introduce Australis, a superb sounding virtual analog synthesizer skin and Chromasonic, a powerful and flexible multieffects skin. You can download these skins without restrictions, fully operative, and for FREE! Those who didn't realize the possibilities of the Chameleon now can start to get an idea about what the Chameleon can be and what Soundart is offering to musicians, sound engineers, producers, sound developers...
Flexibility, high quality and easy to use. These have been our main targets and now we demonstrate that they were not fireworks. Now they are real, they are available and no other standalone device can offer such flexibility as the Chameleon. You will believe this when you will have one in your hands. Then you will realize the power and advantages of this new concept.
Australis: 16 voices, 8 parts multitimbral, 2 multiwave oscillators, 2 resonant multimode filters, Chorus FX per part, global Delay FX per part with individual send...
Chromasonic: 3 simultaneous effects inlcuding Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Flanger, Dynamics, Parametric Equalization... Flexible routing between inputs, effects and outputs.
Those are a few details of this two great applications. Read more in the skins section.
20th May 2002
Soundart continues differentiating itself in the Music Industry by offering the best development tools available for true realtime sound processing. A significant update to the freely available Chameleon Software Development Kit has just been released with a lot of add-ons and improvements.
The new version 1.2 (available in Developers - resources) includes the full source code of a monophonic synthesizer plus the documentation to guide the developers to get easily involved in a complex Chameleon application.
Main features of this new version are:
- New monophonic synthesizer example. With no doubt, the first serious Chameleon example application with full source code and documentation included. Main aspects covered in this example are:
- Block based modular-like DSP framework, including generic blocks of code like oscillator, mixer, filter, envelope...
- Fast and generic interrupt based ColdFire to DSP communication framework
- Realtime computation of DSP parameters in the ColdFire using standard floating point functions in C
- Realtime processing of incoming MIDI data, supporting NoteOn, NoteOff, PitchBend, Controllers, ProgramChange and Sysex messages.
- Realtime generation of MIDI controller data using the panel potentiometers
- Programmable MIDI-thru-merge engine
- MidiFile player included for demosong
- Assigned of the panel potentiometers to any defined parameter
- Use of flash memory to store until 128 sound presets and non volatile configuration data (MIDI device ID, receive MIDI channel...)
- Multitasking, object oriented, message-queue and priority based implementation of the different conceptual elements involved
- Fast access to catalogued parameters by ID using a database-like parameter container
- New hostcommands example, useful to understand better the DSP host command interrupts.
- Updated documentation
- Extended functionality of the development environment and the toolkit
- New file wizards
- Extended compiler errors detection
- New utilitycalled bin2header used to include any binary file inside a Chameleon application
- Improved existing examples
- Minor bug fixes
18th March 2002
After months of camouflaged activity, Soundart's premier product, the Chameleon, debuted last week at the Frankfurt Musikmesse. Consumers and industry professionals alike praised the device, with some calling it the hottest product of the show. The friendly demonstration counter - around a dozen of demo Chameleons and a jar of fresh green apples - kept the booth constantly crowded.
Every visitor to the booth and was impressed with the quality. Instrument developers from Europe, the USA, and Japan spoke of "rich, full bottom end" and "clean, articulate highs". "Like fresh milk," joked a Japanese designer, "Nice, warm, with plenty of fat!"
"We feel vindicated," said Josep-Oriol Tomas, head of Soundart. "All winter our engineers were struggling to find the best solutions we could afford. Some people said we were hyping it up, and of course we felt nervous. But with everyone praising the sound and the development tools, now people see that the Soundart brand stands for good engineering before everything else."
The software applications on display at the show were a beta-test virtual analog synth and a multi-effects program and interest in the Chameleon among musicians was keen. The Euro 795 (plus taxes) price includes most of the high quality software applications that will be made available now and in the future by Soundart. "That's great, but I'm getting my unit as soon as the synth is done. I want that filter today!" said one player.
More than 150 developers, from students to leading plug-in designers, got copies of the development kit ? we eventually ran out of CDs. "So many industry people came ? we even welcomed competing firms ? that everyone knows the platform is hot right now." said J.O. Tomas. "But announcing deals or forthcoming applications too early will just confuse people."
Refusing to name names, Tomas admitted that it was sometimes hard to keep people away. "We had planned to ship units after returning to Spain, but in the end we gave most of our demo units to developers. Website users might see company names they recognise over the coming months, but don't go crazy with rumours. When they're ready, they'll announce."
The introduction of the Chameleon at the 2002 Musikmesse has been a huge success for Soundart. We would like to praise the organizers of the Musikmesse for putting on another great event, and we are looking forward to seeing what they will come up with for 2003.
Last, but not least, we would like to thank the many people from other pro audio companies who took the time to evaluate the Chameleon and gave us their seal of approval. The words of praise for our first instrument, coming from so many respected sources, gave us the confidence we needed to put on a great show.
Take a look at our musikmesse special pictures report.
19th Febuary 2002
We will be at Frankfurt Musikmesse in Hall 6.0 Booth A16, from 13th to 17th of March, 2002. We will show the Chameleon running some of the applications we are currently developing, and explaining to developers how easy it is to program Chameleon applications.
We'll also have lots of copies of the latest Chameleon SDK to give away to anyone who fancies learning to program their own DSP tools. Meet the Chameleon designers. They will be on hand to answer your questions about DSP and building music software, as well as listen to your suggestions for future versions of the hardware and SDK.
Do you already have good algorithms, but want to build a brand identity? Or are you interested in luxury, custom-designed synthesis hardware and software? Then speak with us about the opportunities for partnership with Soundart. We can cater for small or large production runs of custom gear based around our expandable Chameleon engine.
We gave a sneak preview of the Chameleon at last year's Messe, and the response was terrific. Now we are proud to bring you the full product, complete and ready for both new and experienced DSP developers to use. Come and see us in Frankfurt this year, and witness the reinvention of the hardware module.
18th Febuary 2002
Yes, here we are, after many trials and tribulations. It took a long time to get this website together, but we're here and what's more, we have the product ready for you!
For the first time, we are giving away professional-level development tools for all aspects of electronic music programming, completely free. We are delighted to be the first company to offer both top-quality tools and a commitment to open programming. And we are also selling the Chameleon - the only studio tool that can be reprogrammed for any purpose.
New access to synthesis
The most powerful resource on our website is the Software Development Kit (SDK). This contains the same programming tools that professionals use to create synthesizers using DSP and embedded processors. Combined with the top-quality hardware platform of the Chameleon, the SDK allows programmers to create any kind of synthesis or digital signal processing software. Now programmers need only their imagination to create tools that rival any hardware product on the market for sound quality.
On our website we make these tools available to programmers without secrecy agreements, application procedures, or fees. Both experienced audio developers and newcomers to the field have equal access to the technology. Combining programming tools, documentation, and example code, anyone can now delve into the world of deep synthesizer programming. Our proven hardware technology and a commitment to sharing knowledge as widely as possible opens the doors for a new generation of audio wizards.
Chameleon Available Direct from Soundart
We don't make it any harder to get hold of the hardware than the software. You can order a Chameleon from the Soundart website now. The list price is ¤995 but units reserved before the 13th of March will get a special price: ¤795! These are the first production run, so they will sell out quickly.
Customers who buy a Chameleon get a top quality studio rack unit with real-time controllers, MIDI, and top-notch 24-bit sound. Inside, a microcontroller and a digital signal processor can process the audio freely as programmers choose, allowing the Chameleon to function as any kind of studio tool.
Signal processing muscle is provided by a Motorola DSP56k, as found in numerous DSP synthesizers and effect processor already on the market. Combined with Motorola's Coldfire processor and our crystal-clear signal path, customers get hardware that rivals the best on the market for quality, and outdoes them all for flexibility. The 1u rack is equally at home in studio or on stage. This is the only audio tool that combines the flexibility of open computing with the quality that studio professionals demand.
Several experienced DSP developers around the world have already got their hands on a Chameleon. We have a few more of these unique specialist units available at a discount to other eager developers. Find out more in Developers Offer.
Connecting with Our Customers
Besides our SDK, from now on users will find more and more to bring them back to the site - new example code, forums for learning and discussion, and a central internet point for finding out more about DSP. Already there are many resources for music software development online.
As programmers get busy on their keyboards (both types) in the coming months, expect to see applications available for studio use - each one turns the Chameleon into a different tool!
18th Febuary 2002
The latest version of the Chameleon Software Development Kit is available Developers - Downloads. This version features a new, friendlier installer and it includes the new tool recently released by Soundart: the Chameleon Development Environment. Also included is the new Chameleon technical documentation for developers, which was omitted in a previous release.
Full toolset for audio programming
The Chameleon SDK contains all the tools you need to create your own audio software, running on our flexible hardware. An integrated development environment, the CDE, lets you manage all your code in one place, even makefiles, using syntax highlighting and a project system. You can build, compile, and do first-level debugging all in the Chameleon Development Environment.
Then, use theToolkit to transmit the application to the Chameleon. You can study program execution for debugging or optimisation purposes, until you arrive at your final release version. Then give it away - either as open source, freeware, or as a commercial product. You can distribute your software as MIDI files, just like operating system updates for other audio gear. They work the same way: transmit the file from a MIDI sequencer and see the Chameleon change! MIDI files can be made for general distribution, or locked to specific serial numbers using hardware encryption - so no worries about piracy for commercial developers.
In-depth documentation set
All developers will benefit from the vast amount of technical documentation included with the SDK. Revised with a friendlier introduction to the Chameleon hardware, this library open up the secrets of audio programming for a pro platform. It's not for the faint-hearted - you'll need some experience in programming - but our engineers will be working on the forums to give you the guidance you need to develop you own audio tools.
Find out now how you can get your code onto pro-quality audio gear, that's so versatile it will soon be an essential in studio and stage racks everywhere.
25th January 2002
Soundart extends their set of available tools to make programming the Chameleon faster and easier. The Chameleon Development Environment brings together all code generation tools in the SDK so that you can code and build your products in one self-contained editing environment.
Rich feature set tailored to Chameleon
The environment includes a highlighting syntax editor supporting C/C++, DSP assembler and makefile syntax, so you can quickly navigate large programs. The project oriented interface groups all files involved in an application. Best of all, you can set your target and rebuild your application with only a few keystrokes within the CDE.
The output window shows warning and error messages and lets you jump straight to the source code line for easier debugging. And you can configure it to your taste by changing the toolbars, menus, or even skins. But it's much more than a simple programmer's editor. Powerful regular-expression searching and file management allow you to navigate or make changes to your project fast.
Ongoing improvements in SDK
Back in October 2001, we began distributing the Chameleon SDK to interested developers. That included all the components needed to build audio software, and documentation on how to do it. Now we've taken a major step in simplifying the whole process for newcomers and experienced coders alike, with an easy Windows-style environment that brings all the compilation tools under one umbrella. You can look forward to continuing improvement of our development tools, as we pursue our goal of bringing easy access to pro DSP hardware to the widest audience possible.
Take a more detailed overview of this tool in Developers - Chameleon Development Environment.
10th January 2002
Preview Chamies are already shipping! and developers are coding away even as we speak! A small number of preview models are still available for developers who are already experienced with Motorola DSP56k family. If you've got the skills and would like to work on the first open DSP platform, you must look at Developers Offer.
22nd December 2002
We've updated our SDK, updating the toolkit application to version 1.4. If you've already got a copy of the SDK, you'll need this update to work with a hardware Chameleon. It has the same appearance on the surface, but we've added several internal improvements.
You can see a more detailed overview of this tool in Developers - Chameleon Toolkit.
