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.

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

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