MultiConference Invited Talk: Multiprocessor Csound: Audio-Pro with Multiple DSP's and Dynamic Load Distribution

The latest professional Karaoke system released in Japan has no ASIC for sound synthesis and effects processing, but instead a small group of load-sharing DSP chips that cooperatively handle the varied and dynamically varying tasks of complex high-quality audio performance. The software-only system is a first for the professional audio industry, heralding a new generation of downloadable and task-sensitive software that delivers time-critical performance from distributed general-purpose silicon. The tasks of emulating a 64-voice orchestra plus real-time MPEG decode, live voice tracking with pitch and tempo following and a full range of audio effects processing are represented in a network of active objects which are just-in-time serviced by a cooperating array of SIMD DSP’s. A detailed description of the system will conclude with a brief live performance.