Professional audio applications focus on the recording, playback and processing of real time performances . A mixer, for example, has to be able to take in multiple live sources, digitally encode them, mix them together, and then output them all in the smallest amount of time possible. The main concern for digital audio professionals is latency. More than a 5 ms delay may lead a drummer to miss a beat, so if a system exceeds this threshold, it will fail in the marketplace. Pro audio applications also tend to be highly deterministic. In other words, the amount of data processing doesn't change from moment to moment. These systems must also provide the same guaranteed performance when they are fully utilized as when they are only carrying one or two channels.

The key concerns when creating a professional audio system are minimizing noise in the system as well as achieving the highest performance possible. The pre-amp input noise, total harmonic distortion and noise (THD+N), and dynamic range play a huge factor in sound quality produced by professional audio systems. Due to the analog nature of sound, analog interfaces to and from the system have a tremendous impact on the overall quality of the system. Since the acquisition of Burr Brown, TI has been able to the leverage the analog experience of Burr Brown with TI 's Analog and DSP technologies to provide customers with a professional audio portfolio differentiated by functionality and performance that provide designers with devices for the entire professional audio signal chain. (See below). TI provides products that push performance to the limits while flexible enough to enable designers to make products that really allow them to shine over their competition.

Professional Audio Block Diagram

White Papers

• Meeting the Pro Audio Challenge White Paper (spraaa3.htm, 10 KB)
  31 May 2005 Abstract

News Releases

• TI Simplifies Audio Design with a New Ultra Low-Jitter S/PDIF Receiver
  27 Feb 2007  View