Creamware Audio GmbH was a manufacturer of DSP

Digital signal processor

A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...

-based sound card

Sound card

A sound card is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using hardware...

s and synthesizer

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

s. These cards are used to create synthesized sounds for audio production in music and other audio environments. The company was founded in 1992 and operated until 2006. In 2007, the company 'Sonic Core' purchased certain Creamware assets and intellectual property.

Creamware also developed several digital audio software/hardware combination systems that became very popular with radio broadcasters throughout the late 1990s. These systems included 'TripleDAT' and a scaled down version called 'CutMaster'. Both versions were widely used by German commercial radio as well as government owned state controlled radio in China.

Background

The software made by Creamware was acclaimed for its time, as it offered far superior visual handling of audio 'samples', sometimes called 'clips' or 'items' in similar software. A user could easily drag samples up and down virtual digital multi-tracks in a window called the 'arranger'. Zooming functions were also ahead of their time, with the ability to zoom in to the finest detail of wave forms, then quickly return to a position where the user could gain a complete overview of their work.

The hardware Creamware created was among the first linearly scalable DSP systems, with expansion DSP boards being offered to increase the processing power of the platform. As a real time DSP platform, there was no processing (waiting) time for changes to take effect. In an era when most personal computers ran on a maximum of 64 megabytes of RAM, the processing power of the Creamware software/hardware systems was highly advanced.

The 'media popular' software/hardware systems were well known in Australia, Canada, China and Germany. In the United States, while many home-users had purchased systems, American media preferred to use either Pro Tools (a system designed for music production, but able to also produce professional media content, such as commercials and promotions) or *Cool Edit Pro (a low-cost shareware system that was considered by broadcasters to be user-friendly because of, among other criteria, its standard Windows short-cuts). [*Cool Edit Pro has since been acquired by Adobe Software Corporation and has been re-branded as 'Adobe Audition'].

Creamware Ceases to Exist

After several long periods of financial trouble, the company was finally taken over and reorganized by 'Sonic Core'. Sonic Core have acquired all Creamware hardware technology and a former Creamware engineer acquired the software code (for products such as TripleDAT), establishing a new development company in India.

Products

• Elektra
• Minimax ASB
• Noah
• PowerSampler
• Pro-12 ASB
• Pulsar
• Pulsar II
• TripleDAT / CutMaster / EasyCut (Variations of the standard Creamware Digital Audio Workstation environment)

External links

• http://www.sonic-core.net/
• http://www.planetz.com/forums - the user forums
• http://cwmodular.org - dedicated site for the Modular synthesizer
• http://www.scopedia.net - dedicated Scope Wiki