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The guiding principle of this research was to apply the digital technology invented for computer network products to audio equipment, and develop an interconnect that would be:
The above stated goals were to be accomplished by augmenting, not diminishing the acoustic, electric, or physical characteristics of musical instruments. MaGIC is the result of these efforts. The Media-accelerated Global Information Carrier (MaGIC) is motivated by these ideas: 1. Enhanced digital sonic fidelity: Despite dramatic advances in recent history, real-time high-fidelity digital audio has yet to permeate both production and live performance. Increasing demand has motivated little effort to apply modern network technology towards producing superior quality real-time audio devices, at low prices. MaGIC uses state-of-the-art technology to provide up to 32 channels of 32-bit bi-directional high-fidelity audio with sample rates up to 192 kHz. Data and control can be transported 30 to 30,000 times faster than MIDI. Added cable features include power for instruments, automatic clocking, and network synchronization. 2. Interoperability: There is a compelling need in the audio industry for an Open Architecture digital interconnect that would allow audio products from different vendors (musical instruments, processors, amplifiers, recording and mixing devices, etc.), to seamlessly communicate. MaGIC provides the ability to create such audio networks appropriate for use in a wide variety of environments ranging from professional audio to home music installations. 3. Complete digital solution: A small number of isolated digital systems do exist but they rely on archaic analog interfaces to connect with other devices. An increasing demand for more interconnected devices has resulted in diminished sound quality in these systems, caused by repeated analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversions. Additionally, this conversion requires capability that often results in prohibitive size and power requirements. These problems beg for a universal end-to-end digital solution. 4. Simple installation and ease-of-use: A large number of existing systems are difficult to install, lack flexible reconfiguration capabilities, and do not take advantage of intuitive user-friendly hardware and software interfaces. MaGIC provides a single cable solution that is trivial to install, requires little or no maintenance, and offers a data link layer that supports a simple yet sophisticated protocol, capable of offering a superior user experience. Several digital interconnection specifications such as AES/EBU, S/PDIF, ADAT (Light Pipe), and IEEE 1394 (Fire Wire), do indeed exist. But none satisfy the unique requirements of live audio performances, particularly in the areas of clocking, distance synchronization, and jitter/latency management. MaGIC was developed to overcome these limitations of point-to-point solutions by providing inexpensive yet seamless enhanced digital sonic fidelity.
An evaluation board and developer kit are available now. Go here to order or for more information regarding technology, licensing and product development. Go here for MaGIC License FAQ. Media-Accelerated Global Information Carrier
(MaGIC)
Low-latency Real-time System
Standard Connections
Superior Bandwidth
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