Reason Products Brings Surround Sound Recording to Portable Devices

March 2004 --Reason Products, a San Francisco-based product design company, announced the debut of its patented solution, Surround Sound Microphone (SSM) Embedded™ that for the first time provides surround sound recording capabilities to any portable recording device. SSM Embedded records surround sound as a software solution for any product containing a digital signal processor (DSP) chip, simplifying the process for developers and manufacturers while delivering to consumers an industry first; state-of-the-art, surround sound recording.

Reason Products has reduced its surround sound recording solution to an efficient DSP algorithm, which is intended to enable any portable recording device, such as a camcorder, to record in surround sound. With SSM Embedded, microphone elements are the only incremental hardware cost to enable surround recording in a camcorder or other portable recording devices.

“We view this as the next revolution in audio technology. Just as the video recording market moved from mono to stereo, we believe it will make a similar shift from stereo to surround sound. Reason Products is the only company that can provide this technology for portable devices,“ said Rod Rougelot, President, Reason Products. Further, the market potential is enormous; surround sound is now available in almost every home amplifier sold today.”

Reason has completed ports of its SSM Embedded solution to three major DSP platforms with additional platform ports underway;

• Texas Instruments low-power TMS320C54X™ generation used in portable audio applications
• Texas Instruments line of digital media processors optimized for use in portable digital media applications including digital still cameras
• Alesis 1K DSP: used in digital microphone and audio markets

“The addition of this technology enhancement to portable devices is an exciting new development for consumer electronics,” said Gerard Andrews, audio solutions marketing manager, TI. “Consumers can now look forward to creating the same multi- channel listening experience from their portable digital media recorders as they have come to expect from other sources. Reason has pioneered the DSP algorithms that can bring this technology to consumer price points.”

Reason Products is actively pursuing partnerships with additional silicon technology providers in the video and audio recording markets and is currently in negotiations with several manufacturers of consumer products that record audio for in-home use.

According to Rich Kellaher, vice president of Sales, Reason Products, “The manufacturers who add our surround sound technology to their products will be the first to do so and, will have a competitive advantage that will differentiate their products through an enhanced feature set that adds significant value to the product.”

Reason Products is the developer of the Surround Sound Microphone (SSM). SSM, designed as an after-market accessory for recording devices including camcorders and computers, allows users to record home video and audio in surround sound. It is the perfect accessory for any consumer with a home theater system, and the ranks of those consumers are growing rapidly. SSM is currently available exclusively through Reason Products at www.reasonproducts.com for $49.

SOURCE Reason Products