Hardware

You can’t make sound without it!

Signal Essence has years of expertise in building hardware systems. We have long-established relationships with transducer vendors, or can gladly work with your preferred vendors. We can help you select the right transducers and work with your industrial and mechanical designers to provide a comprehensive design review, thereby avoiding potential problems early in the process and ensuring an effective design which meets or exceeds all required specifications.

Signal Essence MD 20/22 Audio Interface Board… A 64-channel PDM Microphone Array Interface

The Signal Essence MD 20/22 Audio Interface board is a high-performance, 64-channel USB audio interface board that is optimized for developing microphone arrays and other demanding audio applications. It offers up to 64 perfectly synchronized digital inputs, 2 analog audio inputs, 2 loudspeaker outputs and a headphone jack, it’s able to support a wide variety of highly sophisticated applications.

The MD 20/22 board has a wealth of features that makes it possible to quickly create a prototype microphone array system, including perfectly synchronized analog/digital codecs, dedicated AEC reference feedback channels to make AEC latency perfectly predictable, USB synchronous clocks to ensure perfect synchronization between multiple MD 20/22 interface boards.

Features:

  • 64-channel PDM mic input

  • 2-channel 1.5 Watt loudspeaker amp

  • Headphone

  • USB Audio Class 2.0

  • SD Card slot

  • Li-Ion battery connector/charger

  • Zero power during shutdown

  • 2-channel analog input

  • Ethernet streaming capability

  • Clock synchronization to the USB clock to ensure multiple boards don’t drift

  • Display & Navigation

  • Quick Select buttons

  • 600 MHz Arm M7 CPU (i.MX RT 1062)

  • 65mm x 71mm (2.6” x 2.8”)

Signal Essence Equipment List

  • SoundCheck 16.0 with nearly all options

  • 2x CROWN D-45 Power amplifiers

  • Fireface UC multi-channel audio interface

  • ACO Pacific ¼” FF reference microphone (type 7016) (5Hz – 120 kHz)

  • ACO Pacific ½” PF reference microphone (type 4016) (5Hz – 70 kHz)

  • Custom turntable for polar and spherical plots. WiFi Controlled, 0.1 degree resolution

  • Custom Artificial Mouth

  • Custom HATS (non-standards compliant, but good for A/B testing)

  • Access to B&K HATS when necessary

  • Access to Anechoic chamber when necessary

  • Oscilloscope

  • In house 3D printers for acoustic prototypes

  • Zortrax Z-200 — FDM 3D printer for ABS models

  • Creality CR-10 — FDS large format 3D printer for PLA models

  • In-house expertise with 3d CAD programs (Autodesk Inventor & others)

  • In-house circuit design and PCB design expertise

  • Altium Designer for schematic & PCB