Fostex Foundation 2000
Encyclopedia
The Fostex Foundation 2000 was a high-end digital audio workstation
that Fostex
introduced in 1993, at a cost of about $60,000. Many of its engineers were refugees from the recently bankrupt New England Digital
, makers of the highly regarded and much more pricey Synclavier
music workstation. It was considered a very innovative product in its time for its intuitive touch-screen user-interface and very high performance. Many professional users still operate their Foundation 2000 editors today despite the clear functional advantages of software-based DAWs. The Foundation 2000 cost approximately $60,000 when it was introduced and ended up not being successful in the market. Software updates were still being released as late as 1996. A cheaper version called the Fostex Foundation 2000RE was also sold.
Among its most highly touted features was a hot-swappable SCSI
drive enclosure (referred to as the RPE, or Removable Project Environment) that maintains the entire system state at all times, allowing one to immediately switch between different projects and always able to return where they left off, virtually instantaneously. Additionally, the Foundation 2000 editor could back up and restore projects from/to a SCSI tape drive in the background, while the user continued working with the system. A user operated the machine through the 'Edit Controller' which connected to the main unit with a 25' cable that attached to either the front or back of the main unit, or the controller can be affixed onto the front of the main unit.
The Fostex Foundation 2000 was highly modular in that functionality could be added to the system by way of boards slid into the front or back of the main processing unit. On the back of the system, a variety of connectivity options were available such as analog audio, coaxial
/XLR/toslink
optical connectors for input and output, SCSI (for external hard drives or tape backup units), various sync sources (video/SMTPE/etc), MIDI, and RS-422 ports for remote controlling the Foundation 2000 from other devices, or using the it to control other devices. The front of the unit was limited to adding adding 'algorithmic computing engine' boards, basically DSPs devoted to routing sound between tracks and performing three-band EQ on each of the 16 tracks individually. Ports were provided for daisy chaining multiple Foundation 2000 units, but apparently no support was ever implemented. The system supports 24-bit audio processing but the standard analog inputs/outputs are handled by 18-bit DAC
/ADC
s (8x and 64x oversampling, respectively) and, at least with the original version of the firmware
, recorded as 16-bit audio.
Internally, the Foundation 2000 hardware is controlled by a Motorola 68030
CPU with a Motorola 68000 inside the Edit Controller to handle the touch-screen display and buttons. In addition to two Motorola 56002
DSPs, each a 40MHz DSP that operates natively on 24-bit data, on the main CPU boards, the unit could be expanded by adding up to six "Algorithmic Computing Engine" Mix Processors boards, each containing four additional Motorola 56002 DSP processor. A fully loaded Foundation 2000 contains 26 of these programmable processors, however it is unclear what benefits are gained since the last revision of the software appears to only use them to for signal routing, stereo panning and three-band eq for the machine's 8 audio tracks.
Digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation is an electronic system designed solely or primarily for recording, editing and playing back digital audio. DAWs were originally tape-less, microprocessor-based systems such as the Synclavier and Fairlight CMI...
that Fostex
Fostex
Fostex is a Japanese manufacturer that is one of the largest transducer and OEM speaker makers in the world, founded in July 1973 by Foster Electric Co. Ltd.-Company history:Fostex , founded in July 1973 by Foster Electric Co...
introduced in 1993, at a cost of about $60,000. Many of its engineers were refugees from the recently bankrupt New England Digital
New England Digital
New England Digital Corp. , founded originally in Norwich, Vermont and eventually relocated to White River Junction, Vermont, was best known for its signature product, the Synclavier Synthesizer System, which evolved into the Synclavier Digital Audio System or "Tapeless Studio." The company sold...
, makers of the highly regarded and much more pricey Synclavier
Synclavier
The Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation, manufactured by New England Digital Corporation, Norwich, VT. The original design and development of the Synclavier prototype occurred at Dartmouth College with the collaboration of...
music workstation. It was considered a very innovative product in its time for its intuitive touch-screen user-interface and very high performance. Many professional users still operate their Foundation 2000 editors today despite the clear functional advantages of software-based DAWs. The Foundation 2000 cost approximately $60,000 when it was introduced and ended up not being successful in the market. Software updates were still being released as late as 1996. A cheaper version called the Fostex Foundation 2000RE was also sold.
Among its most highly touted features was a hot-swappable SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
drive enclosure (referred to as the RPE, or Removable Project Environment) that maintains the entire system state at all times, allowing one to immediately switch between different projects and always able to return where they left off, virtually instantaneously. Additionally, the Foundation 2000 editor could back up and restore projects from/to a SCSI tape drive in the background, while the user continued working with the system. A user operated the machine through the 'Edit Controller' which connected to the main unit with a 25' cable that attached to either the front or back of the main unit, or the controller can be affixed onto the front of the main unit.
The Fostex Foundation 2000 was highly modular in that functionality could be added to the system by way of boards slid into the front or back of the main processing unit. On the back of the system, a variety of connectivity options were available such as analog audio, coaxial
Coaxial
In geometry, coaxial means that two or more forms share a common axis; it is the three-dimensional linear analogue of concentric.Coaxial cable, as a common example, has a wire conductor in the centre a circumferential outer conductor and an insulating medium called the dielectric separating...
/XLR/toslink
TOSLINK
TOSLINK is a standardized optical fiber connection system. Also known generically as an "optical audio cable," its most common use is in consumer audio equipment , where it carries a digital audio stream from components such as MiniDisc, CD and DVD players, DAT recorders, computers, and modern...
optical connectors for input and output, SCSI (for external hard drives or tape backup units), various sync sources (video/SMTPE/etc), MIDI, and RS-422 ports for remote controlling the Foundation 2000 from other devices, or using the it to control other devices. The front of the unit was limited to adding adding 'algorithmic computing engine' boards, basically DSPs devoted to routing sound between tracks and performing three-band EQ on each of the 16 tracks individually. Ports were provided for daisy chaining multiple Foundation 2000 units, but apparently no support was ever implemented. The system supports 24-bit audio processing but the standard analog inputs/outputs are handled by 18-bit DAC
Digital-to-analog converter
In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter is a device that converts a digital code to an analog signal . An analog-to-digital converter performs the reverse operation...
/ADC
Analog-to-digital converter
An analog-to-digital converter is a device that converts a continuous quantity to a discrete time digital representation. An ADC may also provide an isolated measurement...
s (8x and 64x oversampling, respectively) and, at least with the original version of the firmware
Firmware
In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...
, recorded as 16-bit audio.
Internally, the Foundation 2000 hardware is controlled by a Motorola 68030
Motorola 68030
The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorola's 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with general Motorola naming, this CPU is often referred to as the 030 .The 68030 features on-chip...
CPU with a Motorola 68000 inside the Edit Controller to handle the touch-screen display and buttons. In addition to two Motorola 56002
Motorola 56000
The Motorola DSP56000 is a family of digital signal processor chips produced by Motorola Semiconductor starting in the 1980s and is still being produced in more advanced models in the 2000s. The 56k series was quite popular for a time in a number of computers, including the NeXT, Atari Falcon,...
DSPs, each a 40MHz DSP that operates natively on 24-bit data, on the main CPU boards, the unit could be expanded by adding up to six "Algorithmic Computing Engine" Mix Processors boards, each containing four additional Motorola 56002 DSP processor. A fully loaded Foundation 2000 contains 26 of these programmable processors, however it is unclear what benefits are gained since the last revision of the software appears to only use them to for signal routing, stereo panning and three-band eq for the machine's 8 audio tracks.
External links
- Fostex company website (No information on the Foundation 2000)
- Airworks S/Link software for Macintosh claims support for reading/writing Fostex Foundation drives over SCSI and conversion to/from many other formats. The company is defunct but the software is still available.