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Media Vision Pro AudioSpectrum
The Media Vision Pro AudioSpectrum (commonly referred to as "PAS") family of personal computer sound cards included the original 8-bit Pro AudioSpectrum (1991), the 8-bit Pro AudioSpectrum Plus, 16-bit Pro AudioSpectrum 16, Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Basic and 16-bit Pro Audio Studio. All PAS cards with the exception of Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Basic could connect to CD-ROM drives — variants having SCSI or various proprietary interfaces — and many were sold in multimedia kits with compatible CD-ROM drives.
Though the 8-bit Pro AudioSpectrum cards were only modestly successful, the 16 bit-series cards aimed toward semi-professional users and hobby musicians were quite popular. These gave serious competition to the SoundBlaster 16. Most games in the mid-1990s had genuine support for the PAS cards, thus the lack of Sound Blaster Pro and Sound Blaster 16 compatibility was not much of a problem.
Media Vision was the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the Logitech SoundMan (also marketed as Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Basic) card, which was compatible with the PAS and could thus use the same drivers.
The relevance of the PAS faded quickly as Media Vision was rocked by financial scandal and faded from existence.
The 16-bit PAS cards employed a relabeled CODEC chip made by Crystal Semiconductors of Austin, Texas (now part of Cirrus Logic) for digital audio playback and recording and an AdLib-compatible Yamaha OPL3 FM music synthesizer. The 8-bit versions used different DAC and ADC parts for playback and recording and used dual AdLib-compatible Yamaha OPL2 FM music synthesizers to create stereo sound.
To provide true compatibility with the Sound Blaster's 8-bit playback on its 8-bit Pro AudioSpectrum Plus and 16-bit Pro AudioSpectrum 16, Media Vision included the same sound processor chip it used on its Thunder Board card. Thus, there were actually two digital audio playback devices on these cards that could also be used at the same time. The analog output of each of the two digital audio channels was combined in the on-board analog mixer.
All Pro AudioSpectrum cards included a CD-ROM interface.
Most PAS cards were equipped with an NCR-designed 5380 SCSI controller made by Zilog that boasted a data transfer rate of 690 kB/s using PIO (DMA was not supported); though intended for use with CD-ROM drives, these could interface with other SCSI devices with drivers written by Trantor Systems; Windows 95 includes drivers for the PAS SCSI interface and autodetects it as a PAS 16 Trantor SCSI host adaptor.
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Media Vision Pro AudioSpectrum AI simulator
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Media Vision Pro AudioSpectrum
The Media Vision Pro AudioSpectrum (commonly referred to as "PAS") family of personal computer sound cards included the original 8-bit Pro AudioSpectrum (1991), the 8-bit Pro AudioSpectrum Plus, 16-bit Pro AudioSpectrum 16, Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Basic and 16-bit Pro Audio Studio. All PAS cards with the exception of Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Basic could connect to CD-ROM drives — variants having SCSI or various proprietary interfaces — and many were sold in multimedia kits with compatible CD-ROM drives.
Though the 8-bit Pro AudioSpectrum cards were only modestly successful, the 16 bit-series cards aimed toward semi-professional users and hobby musicians were quite popular. These gave serious competition to the SoundBlaster 16. Most games in the mid-1990s had genuine support for the PAS cards, thus the lack of Sound Blaster Pro and Sound Blaster 16 compatibility was not much of a problem.
Media Vision was the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the Logitech SoundMan (also marketed as Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Basic) card, which was compatible with the PAS and could thus use the same drivers.
The relevance of the PAS faded quickly as Media Vision was rocked by financial scandal and faded from existence.
The 16-bit PAS cards employed a relabeled CODEC chip made by Crystal Semiconductors of Austin, Texas (now part of Cirrus Logic) for digital audio playback and recording and an AdLib-compatible Yamaha OPL3 FM music synthesizer. The 8-bit versions used different DAC and ADC parts for playback and recording and used dual AdLib-compatible Yamaha OPL2 FM music synthesizers to create stereo sound.
To provide true compatibility with the Sound Blaster's 8-bit playback on its 8-bit Pro AudioSpectrum Plus and 16-bit Pro AudioSpectrum 16, Media Vision included the same sound processor chip it used on its Thunder Board card. Thus, there were actually two digital audio playback devices on these cards that could also be used at the same time. The analog output of each of the two digital audio channels was combined in the on-board analog mixer.
All Pro AudioSpectrum cards included a CD-ROM interface.
Most PAS cards were equipped with an NCR-designed 5380 SCSI controller made by Zilog that boasted a data transfer rate of 690 kB/s using PIO (DMA was not supported); though intended for use with CD-ROM drives, these could interface with other SCSI devices with drivers written by Trantor Systems; Windows 95 includes drivers for the PAS SCSI interface and autodetects it as a PAS 16 Trantor SCSI host adaptor.