Overview

In the year 2001 RME started a revolution in mobile audio recording: the HDSP System, consisting of a PCI or CardBus card plus an external I/O-box has been the world's first audio system, operating at both desktop and laptop. And the world's first professional multitrack system for notebooks at all.

Today we are proud to look back and conclude: the HDSP system has become a true 'industry standard'. Thanks to continuing firmware and driver updates it stayed a cutting-edge product, still offers un-beaten performance, and still enjoys great popularity among the users.

PCI and CardBus have not been surpassed by any other interface technology for professional audio - no other solution can keep up regarding low Latency and lowest CPU load. Also in regards of competition RME's HDSP system is still unsurpassed after so many years. No other manufacturer offers such a flexible, robust, performing and expandible solution.

A PCI Express version (HDSPe PCI) is also available.

Connectivity

• PCI interface

• Connection of Multiface, Multiface II, Digiface and RPM

Features

Based on the legendary Hammerfall PCI core with its innovative zero CPU load technology, the new PCI core developed for RMEs Digiface, Multiface and RPM, is optimized for even higher performance. Thanks to the latest chip technology, internal hi-speed RAM can be used faster and more efficient than external SRAM.

The PCI engine of the Hammerfall DSP System is built on a Zero wait state PCI Busmaster core. With up to 130 MB/s transfer rate in both directions the maximum performance available on the 32 bit PCI bus is used. Additionally the card offers highest compatibility by being 100% Plug & Play compatible under Windows and Mac OS, and being able to share interrupts. The card itself will only use one interrupt (IRQ) for all functions (audio/MIDI.)

The connection between PCI card and I/O box is established using ordinary firewire cable (IEEE 1394, 6-pole.) The data transfer does not use Firewire protocol, but our own proprietary bus protocol. The supplied cable is 4 m (12 ft.) long. The PCI card operates as power supply for the attached I/O-box (Digiface, Multiface, Multiface II, RPM) over the FireWire cable.

Technical Specifications

• Short PCI 2.0 compliant PCI card, 32 bit, 3.3 V, PCI-X compatible
• Zero wait state PCI Busmaster interface (130 MB/s transfer rate in both directions)
• Secure BIOS Technology: card stays fully functional even when the flash process fails
• Output: IEEE 1394 connector, RME bus protocol
• Package contents: PCI card, cable 4 meter (12 ft) IEEE 1394a