Audio Engineering

(Barry) #1

Digital Audio Production


Richard Brice

20.1 Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) ....................................................................


When applied to a digital audio application, a computer hardware platform is termed a
digital audio workstation (DAW). The two ubiquitous standards in the audio arena are the
Apple Macintosh computer family (or “ Macs ” ), which use Motorola processors, and the
IBM PC and compatibles (PCs), which use Intel-based processors. The Macintosh was
always “ audio ready ” because it was designed with an audio capacity beyond the PC’s
dumb “ beep. ” Other small personal computers (especially Atari ST) became very popular
in music applications. The Atari ST computer ( Figure 20.1 ) was another 68000 based
computer (like the Apple Mac). Including a powerful ROM- based operating system and
a desktop metaphor very like that now commonplace in Windows, the Atari was pretty
much ahead of its time in the early 1980s. However, the Atari ST owes its tremendous
success, and continuing long-overdue existence in many recording studios, to the decision


CHAPTER 20

Figure 20.1 : Atari ST computer.
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