Product Design | Audio Electronics | Acoustics | DIY | Audio Innovations
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All About Fluid Dispensing! Join the Global Virtual Dispensing Expo
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If you are interested in loudspeaker dispensing applications and products, you will want to register for the 2021 ViscoTec global virtual event, taking place from October 26-28. The ViscoTec team will be available via live chat all day and night. Listen to speeches from dispensing experts about the latest dispensing trends, or join a video-guided company tour. Learn all about fluid and paste dispensing solutions! You just have to sign in and join – 24 hours per day. Learn More and Register Here
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On-Device Voice Interfaces Driving Growth in MEMS and ECM Microphone Market
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According to SAR Insight & Consulting, the market for MEMS and ECM microphones continues to see strong growth, with 10 billion units shipped in 2020. This was driven by two main factors: increased use of voice interfaces and multiple microphones per device, according to SAR’s latest report “MEMS Microphones Focus: Market Growth, Mic Type, Input Type, SNR, Volume, Performance Density.” With the emergence of true wireless stereo (TWS), earbuds and headphones are now the second largest market. Read More
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Second Modeling and Measurement Webinar on Designing Audio Devices with Digital Twins Scheduled for October 27
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The AES Audio Product Education Institute (APEI) continues to explore the practice and benefits of simulation-driven audio architecture design. In the second Modeling and Measurement webinar in this series (October 27, 12pm EDT), experts from COMSOL, JJR Acoustic, and Facebook Reality Labs will describe and detail a real virtual architectural design story. Registration for this webinar is now available. Read More
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ARCAM Adds Dirac Live Room Correction to New AVR5 Receiver
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Swedish digital audio processing pioneer Dirac announced that the new ARCAM AVR5 receiver is “Dirac Ready” to run Dirac Live Room Correction, the company’s state-of-the-art solution to ensure home audio systems deliver the maximum sound performance across all entertainment experiences. The two companies worked together to bring Dirac’s room correction technology to the affordable ARCAM AVR5 Immersive Audio AV Receiver, which is now available. Read More
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NFC Forum Wireless Charging Specification 2.0 Allows Charging TWS Earbuds from Smartphones
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Swedish digital audio processing pioneer Dirac announced that the new ARCAM AVR5 receiver is “Dirac Ready” to run Dirac Live Room Correction, the company’s state-of-the-art solution to ensure home audio systems deliver the maximum sound performance across all entertainment experiences. The two companies worked together to bring Dirac’s room correction technology to the affordable ARCAM AVR5 Immersive Audio AV Receiver, which is now available. Read More
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L-Acoustics Raises Spatial Audio Processing Power with L-ISA Processor II
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Live music is slowly making a comeback globally and both entertainment venues and the live sound industry know that immersive sound needs to be the new production standard. L-Acoustics is leading the charge with a complete solution that includes creation and management software, loudspeakers, and 3D audio processing engines. The company has now announced its latest L-ISA Processor II, an updated hardware solution that offers scalable output count and pricing to fit any project’s needs and budget. Read More
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Synaptics Announces AudioSmart AS33970 Edge AI Headset Platform
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Synaptics announced its newest AudioSmart AS33970 headset platform SoC, directly targeting the fastest growing product categories, from work-from-anywhere TWS earbuds to hearables. As the San Jose, CA-based company details, the new SoC offers the world’s first highly integrated AI-enabled Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) and hybrid Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) single-chip solution integrating neural and voice processing engines for optimal audio performance . Read More
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Alcons Audio Introduces QRP20 Pro-Ribbon Column Array
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Pro-Ribbon pioneers Alcons Audio unveiled the new QRP20 speaker, a versatile two-way column array system with increased directivity control, to be used for both permanent and portable applications. Its slim design, with the RBN401 pro-ribbon driver in the middle, delivers natural, dynamic sound reproduction with superior intelligibility and throw. And the QRP20 column can be set up with the QB242 bass extension for portable applications . Read More
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Apple Updates Third-Generation AirPods with Focus on Spatial Audio and Personalization
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As predicted, Apple announced the next generation of AirPods during a streamed event (October 18). The new model ($179) was improved on every front and promised to be available in just a few days, which was probably the biggest surprise. Apple also announced new colors for its HomePod Mini smart speakers, while it waits for the Matter home standard to be released. And it announced a strange Voice Only Apple Music subscription plan, including countries that don’t speak English . Read More
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Editor's Desk
J. Martins
(Editor-In-Chief)
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Projecting Opportunities in Audio
AI-Powered Audio Processing
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I will use this editorial to briefly return to Descript, a promising company I referenced in my editorial for The Audio Voice about “Audio Digital Signal Processing - Perfected by ML, Powered by AI,” which was also the topic for a recent Market Update article published in the November 2021 edition of audioXpress. A few weeks ago in this space, I mentioned examples of AI applied to audio processing, and I specifically included Descript, a company that converts speech to text and allows edit decisions on recorded audio and video content, simply by editing text. It’s a unique and very rewarding process that deeply impressed me.
But Descript has been building a lot of integrated tools into the concept, allowing for very clever features that are not available anywhere – and don’t depend upon multiple pieces of very complicated (and sometimes expensive) software. Descript recently announced important updates and general improvements to all its sophisticated pro audio editing tools, including to Studio Sound, the latest example of the power of AI applied to audio enhancement, which I had mentioned recently.
Descript is directly targeting the replacement of familiar audio editing suites, such as Adobe Audition and particularly Audacity, to offer a more convenient, integrated, and powerful environment for recording, editing, and transcribing. Something that appeals immediately to creators of podcasts and streamed content. With this latest update, it seems that Descript will be able to also appeal to seasoned editors, most of which are today facing the need to deliver large quantities of work with short deadlines. That’s precisely where the appeal of these sophisticated tools resides.
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Descript is an ambitious company, building some of the most sophisticated editing and media processing tools ever imagined, and using the latest cutting edge technologies... while reinventing the whole concept of media production in the process. I believe lots of users will consider an account just to try what is possible, and will return for the unique features.
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Among the mind-blowing tools that Descript offers is Overdub, a Voice Cloning technology that enables user to produce quality voice overs for quick corrections to podcasts and screen recordings, simply by typing text. The tool converts the words we type into audio and now is able to generate very realistic voices, cloned from existing ones or totally synthesized. With their recent updates, Descript introduced improvements to Overdub, which now even learns from preexisting recordings. Previously, we needed to speak for some time directly to train Overdub. The quality of the voices - and the results - are simply astonishing. Check it out here: www.descript.com/overdub
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Descript Studio Sound removes background noise and enhances speech to produce studio-quality sound… without the studio.
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Studio Sound, Descript’s one-click noise removal and audio enhancement tool is now out of beta, while recordings can be processed with a new fully integrated effects suite including Auto-Leveling, Loudness Normalization, Room Tone, and Ducking - in addition to standard dynamics compression, EQ, reverb, and more. Script-based editing is also now improved and Descript added new collaboration and sharing tools, a screen recorder with transcripts, and more.
The company also allows users to turn Studio Sound on as a default setting for any new recording, both in the editor and in Descript screen recorder. Which means the sophisticated processing will be applied to improve all recordings, with users being able to simply adjust an intensity dial, so they can fine tune the strength of the effect.
Descript was founded by Groupon co-founder Andrew Mason in 2017 and has already raised a total of $50 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, and Spark Capital. In a recent streamed presentation, Mason detailed the updates to Descript’s suite of AI-powered tools, and added a bit more about their latest audio enhancement processing tool.
“Studio Sound is Descript's AI based take on noise reduction, but it's a whole lot more than that: removing echo, adding EQ, and just generally taking mediocre recordings and making them sound like they were recorded in a studio. We released it in beta last month. And many people were surprised by how good it is. Even we were surprised.”
This seems to be a fun ride. The company’s online tools are extremely appealing and make the whole prospect of a steep learning curve to transition from familiar editing tools seem non-existing and even appealing. Because it’s a completely new and different way of working, which adds efficiencies to the whole process.
Descript now promises to launch the next major update in just three months, including even more video editing features. Clearly, this is a very disruptive company, rethinking existing media editing software paradigms and totally leveraging the power of online processing and AI.
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Descript’s new and improved Overdub includes new high-quality synthesized “stock voices,” while allowing users to create a new voice from recordings.
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Getting Started with Automotive Audio Bus (Part 4)
Understanding A2B Features
By Brewster LaMacchia
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In this article, Brewster LaMacchia concludes his series on Automotive Audio Bus (A2B) applications (not just for automotive). The first three parts of this article series examined the basics of A2B technology, how data moves between nodes with fixed latency, A2B phantom power, and the chip’s LVDS interface. This article takes a step back and looks at creating systems and the tools that are available to speed up that process. One of the nice things about A2B development is not only that its use license/royalty is free, and ADI offers the software libraries and SigmaStudio design tool at no charge. This article was originally published in audioXpress, January 2021. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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B&C Speakers' 5CXN44 Pro Sound Coaxial Driver
By Vance Dickason
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Coaxial transducers are a growing, important category for professional audio and even home applications, and yet not many drivers of this type are submitted to Test Bench. In this article, Vance Dickason characterizes a new coaxial 5.25” driver from B&C Speakers, a woofer/compression driver combo specifically built primarily for sound reinforcement applications. This driver is built on a cast-aluminum frame, with cooling exclusively provided by the motor mass, a substantial neodymium ring magnet that powers both high-frequency and low-frequency units. No other vents are required for the 300W power rating given by B&C Speakers to the 5CXN44, which is impressive. Diaphragm materials for the 5CXN44 include a curvilinear paper cone with a front-side waterproof coating for the woofer, and a High Temperature (HT) Polymer for the compression driver diaphragm. The woofer is driven by a 1.7" diameter voice coil with a Kapton former wound with round copper wire. The compression driver has a 1.4" diameter voice coil also with a Kapton former, but wound with aluminum wire. This HT Polymer diaphragm fires into a short aluminum conical-shaped horn, which brings the sensitivity to 101dB, with a recommended crossover frequency of 2kHz. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, August 2021. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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Advancing the Evolution
of Audio Technology
audioXpress features great articles, projects, tips, and techniques for the best in quality audio. It connects manufacturers and distributors with audio engineers and enthusiasts eager for innovative solutions in sound, acoustic, and electronics.
Voice Coil, the periodical for the loudspeaker industry, delivers product reviews, company profiles, industry news, and design tips straight to professional audio engineers and manufacturers who have the authority to make powerful purchasing decisions.
The Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook is the most comprehensive collection of listings on loudspeaker material in the industry. Purchasers and decision makers refer to the guide for an entire year when making selections on drivers, finished systems, adhesives, domes, crossovers, voice coils, and everything in between.
© 2021 KCK Media Corp. All Rights Reserved.
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