Tech Notes

A standard method for transferring samples via SCSI is now available. Will it catch on? I'm not one to create acronyms for the sake of acronyms, but when I tried to name a new data transfer method I developed, it made sense to link it to another well-known member of the electronic music lexicon. So yes, SMDI (pronounced "smi-dee"), an acronym for SCSI Musical Data Interchange, rhymes with MIDI.

The standard SP comes with 1 megaword (2 megabytes) of RAM in the form of a pair of 1 meg x 8 SIMMs (single in-line memory modules). These are 30 pin Macintosh SIMMs. They are not the same as the IBM 1 meg x 9 SIMMs or the Macintosh IIfx types. Upgrading the memory in your SP is as easy as buying and installing more of these 30 pin Mac SIMMs. 

The following chart is very handy for quickly determining sample time based on the DPM SP's RAM and the sample rate. Sample Memory vs. Sample Time(Sample words/Sample Rate=Time[seconds]) 512K @ 44.1kHz: 5.8 1MB @ 44.1kHz: 11.6 2MB @ 44.1kHz: 22.67 4MB @ 44.1kHz: 45.35 8MB @ 44.1kHz: 90.70 16MB @ 44.1kHz: 181.403 2MB 44.1kHz: 362.81 512K @ 32kHz: 81MB @ 32kHz: 15.6