Developed with Chace Productions, the Chace Digital Stereo® (CDS) processor combines an advanced Window NT user interface and a true real-time system to run Chace Vector Automation (CVA). A custom, multiprocessor PCI hardware card, with proprietary FPGA cores is the enabling technology that drives the CVA process. The all-digital CDS processor enables a sound engineer to create true directional, 5.1 multi-channel stereo sound (with stereo surrounds) from monaural sources, as well as conventional stereo formats. Both Chace and XiChron are collaborating on exciting new applications and enhancements based upon this powerful and flexible system.

• Patented CDS Process
• Multi-processor PCI Hardware Engine
• True Real-time Multitasking Audio Operating System
• Flexible COM based GUI

 

	Chace Digital Stereo® (CDS) CDS is a patented (#4,792,974) process which transforms mono sound tracks into stereo, 5.1 and even 7.1 delivery formats for full surround-sound spatialization. Issued in 1987 to founder Rick Chace, CDS has grown and evolved over the years and has made Chace Productions one of the most highly regarded and sought after surround sound production houses in the business.
	Advanced CDS PCI Card The Chace CDS™ PCI card was designed from the ground up with an eye towards achieving a flexible, yet scalable, architecture from both a hardware and software point of view. The hardware itself is a combination of host ColdFire embedded controller, up to 10 Motorola DSP56303 DSP chips, and a proprietary FPGA based router and summer which manages a multiplicity of 32-bit summing busses known as the XiRing (pronounced Zi-Ring). The PCI card itself has two XiRing nodes, the host ColdFire, all digital input/output, timing reference, and a PCI interface. A XiRing node includes a 100mhz DSP56303 with up to 384k of SRAM. In addition, the PCI card can accomodate 2 plug-in daughter cards, each with two to four additional XiRing nodes.
	Custom I/O Interface The PCI card connects to the outside world via a custom I/O interface box that can be connected to Analog/Digital conversion units such as the Apogee AD8000, Lucid ADA1000, or any number of others. In addition, the interface unit connects to MIDI control surfaces, such as the JL Cooper FaderMaster, for intuitive, user friendly operation. Each interface box accomodates up to 8 channels of digital input and output, as well as 4 MIDI control ports.
	DSP Real Time Kernel The XiChron DSP operating system is a true multi-tasking, multi-channel, real-time kernel (RTK) which supports multiple mixer configurations. This executive for the DSP56303's runs the CDS processing algorithms and provides efficient automation of multichannel audio. The Motorola Coldfire embedded microcontroller provides sample accurate VITC synchronization and automation timebase for the CDS system. The Coldfire also supervises a custom FPGA based DMA subsystem that is in charge of distributing audio parameter and control data to all the DSP's. This architecture offloads most realtime tasks from the WinNT Pentium host and allows the PC to perform the GUI tasks that it is best suited for.
	Windows NT Graphical User Interface The CDS™ WinNT application is a COM based graphical user interface. Component Object Modeling (COM) is a software technique that allows changes and enhancements to the user interface without having to rework any of the underlying system structure. This facilitiates and encourages custom user interfaces targeted to specific market segments to be developed without the need to re-design the whole system.

 

VHDL cores XiChron has built up a large library of VHDL cores. Most of these are written in VHDL and have been implemented in Xilinx FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). Our VHDL cores are written with strict adherence to synchronous coding styles to make them suitable for ATPG in an ASIC design flow, as well as suitable for FPGAs. These cores range from generic functions like UARTs, to digital audio transmitters and receivers (AES/SPDIF, SDIF, ADAT), as well as application specific functions such as intelligent DMA controllers for audio automation.

FPGA Based DSP The amazing growth in FPGA densities has allowed XiChron to develop a synthesizable DSP core optimized for basic audio processing tasks. Tasks such as level, gain, EQ, and summing functions, as well as metering, parameter smoothing, and streaming I/O are easily accommodated. The processor core has a very simple and extensible instruction set with many tasks, such as EQ or vector summing, executing in only a single instruction cycle. Such capabilities translate into reduced programming effort and faster time to market.