
ThunderBird Q3D PCI Audio
Accelerator
SAA7780
Philips Semiconductors
Product Specification
1999 Sep 30
2
853-2174 22449
FEATURES
Full H/W acceleration of 64 audio sources
64 H/W sample fetch channels
64 H/W sample rate convertors
H/W mixing of 64 streams
H/W DSP filter/effects/music synthesis applied
to 64 streams
Concurrent processing of up to 384 audio sources
Up to 64 DirectSound/wavetable sources pro-
cessed in H/W
64 plus DirectSound sources processed on host
Up to 128 total DirectSound sources
Up to 64 3D sources
Up to 64 H/W wavetable voices
Up to 256 host wavetable voices
QSound3DInteractive
TM
interactive positional 3D
H/W DSP processing for maximum performance
Stereo speaker, headphone and quad speaker
algorithms
Proprietary technology eliminates crosstalk can-
cellation and broadens "sweet spot"
A3D
TM
compatible
QSound Multi-Speaker System
TM
stereo-to-quad pro-
cessing
Transforms ordinary stereo applications to quad-
raphonic
Non-3D games become immersive quad 3D
games
Enhanced DVD movie playback
True quadraphonic music playback from CD's,
music DVD's and MP3 players
Effective with both stereo and Dolby Pro-Logic
TM
encoded material
QSound Environmental Modeling
TM
Add's reverb as an additional positional que
Reverb preset's can be applied to any
DirectSound3D application
EAX
TM
Compatible
QXpander
TM
and Stereo to 3D remapping
Second Generation ActiMedia
TM
Programma-
bleDSP architecture
Comprehensive Real Mode DOS and DOS window
support
SoundBlaster Pro
TM
Compatibility
PC/PCI, DDMA and LAM
TM
PCI DMA support
FM, MIDI stereo and MIDI quad music in Real
Mode DOS
Supports low cost AC97 1.0 and serial stereo DAC
output
Dual gameport accelerator with legacy and digital
joystick modes
Integrated 16650 UART for Modem or other serial
port applications
Windows
(R)
95, Windows
(R)
98, and Windows
(R)
NT 5.0 (WDM) Drivers
0.35u TLM manufacturing technology
3.3v operation with 5v tolerant I/O
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The SAA7780 ThunderBird Q3D
TM
is a high-perfor-
mance PCI audio accelerator targeting PC gaming
and music applications. Developed by QSound Labs
and Philips Semiconductors, it combines the most
compelling 3D, quadraphonic and music synthesis
technologies available with the powerful yet cost
effective ActiMedia
TM
DSP architecture. Full H/W
acceleration of DirectSound
TM
, 3D audio, music syn-
thesis, and gameport functions guarantees excep-
tional system performance. QSound's new Q3D
TM
algorithms not only render exceptional 3D sound-
scapes for 3D applications but add a new dimension
to stereo applications using their unique stereo-to-3D
and stereo-to-quad remapping capabilities. Three
available PCI DMA modes assure full SoundBlaster
Pro
TM
compatibility on most platforms without addi-
tional hardware. The Intel AC97 architecture pro-
vides high audio quality using a low cost AC97
codec.