TC Electronic Ships New Flagship Processor
February 3, 2000
TC Electronic introduced the System 6000 in late
1999 and will be shipping complete Systems worldwide this month. The System
6000 offers multi-channel, hi quality tools never before available in
an audio processing system.
It is targeted specifically towards music, film/post-production, broadcast
and mastering applications in surround environments. "The System
6000 has been designed to offer the most innovative audio signal processing
tools on the market, and will offer years of continuous development and
improvements in software and hardware, like it's predecessor the M5000.
In continuing support of M5000 owners, hardware and software upgrades
to the System 6000 will be available at a reasonable cost," comments
Niels Helbo, Product Manager for TC Electronic.
System 6000 algorithms include the industry standard VSS(tm) reverb
technology in a newly developed multi-channel version, called VSS-5.1(tm).
VSS-5.1 is a multi-source input to multi-channel output space simulator
that incorporates advanced positioning generators and five totally uncorrelated
reverb diffused fields. The integration of discrete positioning generators
and source related diffused fields provides the most realistic room simulation
ever heard. Time spent achieving convincing results during mix for music
and post can be cut dramatically, regardless of the output format being
stereo or multi-channel, 48 or 96kHz.
Multi-channel, multi-band Dynamics processing is available for System
6000. Four-band processing of multi-channel audio can be realized; including
expander, compressor and final sample accurate Brickwall limiter. Sample
rates up to 96kHz are covered. For mono or stereo signals, the famous
MD2 algorithm from M5000 has been improved to MD3, incorporating dual
mono modes, sample accurate Brickwall limiter and 96kHz operation.
Multi-channel pitch change processing is available, as well as classic
TC algorithms: Several Reverbs, Chorus, Delay, Phaser, EQ, etc, all at
their highest implementational quality and of course capable of 96kHz
operation. 100 of the most famous M5000 factory presets are included with
System 6000. System 6000 consists of several components and options -
the core system includes the Mainframe 6000, Remote CPU 6000 and a remote
user interface called the TC ICON. Options include various different software
licenses for specific DSP functions, and up to three ADA 24/96, two channel
analog I/O cards can be added inside the Mainframe 6000. The design is
intended to provide a mainframe that is so powerful and flexible, that
it can cover a wide variety of different applications depending on what
algorithms are loaded and hardware configuration is used. The System 6000
holds hundreds of Factory presets and can store User settings internally,
on PCMCIA card or Floppy Disc.
The TC ICON remote is the System 6000 remote user-interface controller.
Together with the CPU 6000, (which integrates the CPU, power supply and
all control-I/O connections), this is the most modern approach to a signal
processor user-interface on the market today.
The TC ICON has a large touch screen and six touch sensitive motorized
faders built into a high tech metal chassis, providing the best possible
overview to operate the System 6000. The user-interface of the TC ICON
is designed to be extremely intuitive and fast to navigate.
The Mainframe 6000 is the core of the System where a powerful processing
card called the DSP-6000 resides. It is capable of running several very
DSP-demanding effects simultaneously. The DSP-6000 card has eight channels
of digital I/O (four pairs AES/EBU) and Word-Clock input. The mainframe
can also house up to three analog I/O cards and/or additional digital
I/O's. All I/O's are 24bit resolution and can run up to 96kHz clock-rate.
The Engine and I/O structure of the System 6000 internally operates
with Four Engines, meaning you can run 4 powerful algorithms simultaneously.
Each Engine has up to 8 channels of I/O, within an internal routing matrix,
depending on what kind of algorithm currently is running. The Engine I/O's
can be assigned to either of the physical I/O's (digital and analog) -
plus the Engines can be interconnected.
Acting as a communications module for the System 6000, a single rack
space device called the CPU 6000 runs in tandem with all the Mainframe
6000s in the system and communicates via standard Ethernet connectors.
One multi-pin socket connects CPU 6000 to the TC ICON, and additionally
USB connectors are provided for connecting optional keypads, joysticks
and other types of USB control devices. MIDI I/O and extra VGA and Keyboard/Mouse
connections are available.
Basic System 6000 retail prices start from $8,495.
For more information, visit TC Electronic at www.tcelectronic.com. | 
