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Bob Yannes
Robert "Bob" Yannes (born 1957) is an American electronic engineer who designed the SID audio generator chip for the Commodore 64 and co-founded digital synthesizer company Ensoniq. He designed the Ensoniq 5503 Digital Oscillator Chip (DOC) which was used in both commercial synthesizers and the Apple IIGS home computer. Biography Robert Yannes graduated from Villanova University in 1978. He started out as an electronic music hobbyist before being hired as a chip designer at MOS Technology which had become a part of Commodore. Albert Charpentier recruited Yannes partly for his music synthesis knowledge. He has been infatuated by electronic music since the early 1970s. He claims the song '' Lucky Man'' by Emerson, Lake & Palmer influenced him more than any other single song, and also lists Kraftwerk and Mike Oldfield among his influences. He designed the ''MicroPET'' with help from Albert Charpentier which became an unintended prototype for the VIC-20 home computer. He designed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronic Engineer
Electronic engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering that emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current flow. Previously electrical engineering only used passive devices such as mechanical switches, resistors, inductors, and capacitors. It covers fields such as analog electronics, digital electronics, consumer electronics, embedded systems and power electronics. It is also involved in many related fields, for example solid-state physics, radio engineering, telecommunications, control systems, signal processing, systems engineering, computer engineering, instrumentation engineering, electric power control, photonics and robotics. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is one of the most important professional bodies for electronics engineers in the US; the equivalent body in the UK is the Institution of Engineering and Tec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English retired musician, songwriter and producer best known for his debut studio album ''Tubular Bells'' (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a guitarist, Oldfield played a range of instruments, which included keyboards and percussion, as well as vocals. He had adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career, including progressive rock, World music, world, Folk music, folk, Classical music, classical, Electronic music, electronic, Ambient music, ambient and new age music. Oldfield took up the guitar at age ten and left school in his teens to embark on a music career. From 1967 to 1970, he and his sister Sally Oldfield were a folk duo, the Sallyangie, after which he performed with Kevin Ayers. In 1971, Oldfield started work on ''Tubular Bells'' which caught the attention of Richard Branson, who agreed to release it on his new label, Virgin Records. Its opening was used in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Hardware Engineers
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', which enable computers to perform a wide range of tasks. The term computer system may refer to a nominally complete computer that includes the hardware, operating system, software, and peripheral equipment needed and used for full operation; or to a group of computers that are linked and function together, such as a computer network or computer cluster. A broad range of industrial and consumer products use computers as control systems, including simple special-purpose devices like microwave ovens and remote controls, and factory devices like industrial robots. Computers are at the core of general-purpose devices such as personal computers and mobile devices such as smartphones. Computers power the Internet, which links billions of comput ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commodore People
Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (India), in India ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a rank in the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth air forces * Commodore (yacht club), an officer of a yacht club * Commodore (Sea Scouts), a position in the Boy Scouts of America's Sea Scout program * Convoy commodore, a civilian in charge of a shipping convoy during the Second World War Fiction * '' The Commodore'', a Horatio Hornblower novel by C. S. Forester * ''The Commodore'' (book), a novel in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian Music and music venues * Commodore Ballroom, a nightclub and music venue in Vancouver, British Columbia * Commodore Records, a jazz and swing music record label * Commodores, an American soul/funk band People * "The Commodore", the nickname of American entrepre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operational Amplifier
An operational amplifier (often op amp or opamp) is a direct coupling, DC-coupled Electronic component, electronic voltage amplifier with a differential input, a (usually) Single-ended signaling, single-ended output, and an extremely high gain (electronics), gain. Its name comes from its original use of performing mathematical operations in analog computers. By using negative feedback, an Op amp circuits, op amp circuit's characteristics (e.g. its gain, input and output impedance, bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth, and functionality) can be determined by external components and have little dependence on temperature coefficients or engineering tolerance in the op amp itself. This flexibility has made the op amp a popular building block in analog circuits. Today, op amps are used widely in consumer, industrial, and scientific electronics. Many standard integrated circuit op amps cost only a few cents; however, some integrated or hybrid operational amplifiers with special p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MOSFET
upright=1.3, Two power MOSFETs in amperes">A in the ''on'' state, dissipating up to about 100 watt">W and controlling a load of over 2000 W. A matchstick is pictured for scale. In electronics, the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, MOS FET, or MOS transistor) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which determines the conductivity of the device. This ability to change conductivity with the amount of applied voltage can be used for amplifying or switching electronic signals. The term ''metal–insulator–semiconductor field-effect transistor'' (''MISFET'') is almost synonymous with ''MOSFET''. Another near-synonym is ''insulated-gate field-effect transistor'' (''IGFET''). The main advantage of a MOSFET is that it requires almost no input current to control the load current under steady-state or low-frequency conditions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wavetable Synthesis
Wavetable synthesis is a sound synthesis technique used to create quasi-periodic waveforms often used in the production of musical tones or notes. Development Wavetable synthesis was invented by Max Mathews in 1958 as part of MUSIC II. MUSIC II “had four-voice polyphony and was capable of generating sixteen wave shapes via the introduction of a wavetable oscillator.” Hal Chamberlin discussed wavetable synthesis in Byte's September 1977 issue. Wolfgang Palm of Palm Products GmbH (PPG) developed his version in the late 1970s and published it in 1979. The technique has since been used as the primary synthesis method in synthesizers built by PPG and Waldorf Music and as an auxiliary synthesis method by Ensoniq and Access. It is currently used in hardware synthesizers from Waldorf Music and in software synthesizers for PCs and tablets, including apps offered by PPG and Waldorf, among others. It was also independently developed by Michael McNabb, who used it in his 1978 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Numerically Controlled Oscillator
A numerically controlled oscillator (NCO) is a digital signal generator which creates a synchronous (i.e., clocked), discrete-time, discrete-valued representation of a waveform, usually sinusoidal. NCOs are often used in conjunction with a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) at the output to create a direct digital synthesizer (DDS). Numerically controlled oscillators offer several advantages over other types of oscillators in terms of agility, accuracy, stability and reliability. NCOs are used in many communications systems including digital up/down converters used in 3G wireless and software radio systems, digital phase-locked loops, radar systems, drivers for optical or acoustic transmissions, and multilevel FSK/ PSK modulators/demodulators. Operation An NCO generally consists of two parts: *A ''phase accumulator'' (PA), which adds to the value held at its output a frequency control value at each clock sample. *A ''phase-to-amplitude converter'' (PAC), which uses the phase acc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyphony
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ( homophony). Within the context of the Western musical tradition, the term ''polyphony'' is usually used to refer to music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Baroque forms such as fugue, which might be called polyphonic, are usually described instead as contrapuntal. Also, as opposed to the ''species'' terminology of counterpoint, polyphony was generally either "pitch-against-pitch" / "point-against-point" or "sustained-pitch" in one part with melismas of varying lengths in another. In all cases the conception was probably what Margaret Bent (1999) calls "dyadic counterpoint", with each part being written generally against one other part, with all parts modified if needed in the end. This point-against-point conception is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signal-to-noise Ratio
Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or S/N) is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. SNR is defined as the ratio of signal power to noise power, often expressed in decibels. A ratio higher than 1:1 (greater than 0 dB) indicates more signal than noise. SNR is an important parameter that affects the performance and quality of systems that process or transmit signals, such as communication systems, audio systems, radar systems, imaging systems, and data acquisition systems. A high SNR means that the signal is clear and easy to detect or interpret, while a low SNR means that the signal is corrupted or obscured by noise and may be difficult to distinguish or recover. SNR can be improved by various methods, such as increasing the signal strength, reducing the noise level, filtering out unwanted noise, or using error correction techniques. SNR also determines the maximum possible amount of data that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synthesizer
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI. Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century with instruments such as the RCA Mark II, which was controlled with punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The Moog synthesizer, developed by Robert Moog and first so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VIC-20
The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit entry level home computer that was sold by Commodore International, Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the Commodore PET, PET. The VIC-20 was the first computer of any description to sell one million units, eventually reaching 2.5 million. It was described as "one of the first anti-spectatorial, non-esoteric computers by design...no longer relegated to hobbyist/enthusiasts or those with money, the computer Commodore developed was the computer of the future." History As the Apple II gained momentum with the advent of VisiCalc in 1979, Jack Tramiel wanted a product that would compete in the same segment, to be presented at the January 1980 Consumer Electronics Show, CES. For this reason Chuck Peddle and Bill Seiler started to design a computer named ''TOI'' (The Other Intellect). The TOI computer failed to m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
