Digidesign has announced the availability of the Digidesign 64-bit Expansion Chassis. Designed and built by MAGMA, the Chassis expands the capabilities of Pro Tools|HD Accel systems by compensating for the PCI slot limitations typical of most host computers, giving users access to all the DSP and video power needed for the most demanding music and post production projects.

The Digidesign 64-bit Expansion Chassis supports up to seven Digidesign PCI cards: a Pro Tools|HD Core card, and/or HD Accel cards and legacy HD Process cards for additional mixing and processing power. The Chassis makes high track counts in the Pro Tools|HD environment a reality, which was not the case with previous-generation chassis. A complement to the modular, power-on-demand nature of Pro Tools, it also ships with an ample 400-watt power supply and extra cooling.

With the Digidesign 64-bit Expansion Chassis, MAGMA’s patented PCI Expansion Technology is incorporated into a short “universal” PCI card, extending the PCI bus outside of the host computer. An included 1.5 meter flexible cable provides a high-speed communication link from the host computer to the Chassis, providing up to a 264 MB/second data transfer rate between the computer and the hardware within the Chassis.

Expanding a Pro Tools|HD system is a simple matter of installing HD Accel cards into the Chassis’ slots, rebooting the host computer, and launching Pro Tools. Installation is quick and easy, with no special software needed. Courtesy of MAGMA’s patented PCI Expansion Technology, everything installed in the Chassis actually behaves as if inside the host computer, providing optimal data transfer rates and high track counts along with room to grow.

Features:

• Includes seven 64-bit/33 MHz expansion slots
• Supports higher Pro Tools|HD Accel track counts than with 32-bit chassis
• The only expansion chassis qualified for full 64-bit performance with Pro Tools|HD & Pro Tools|HD Accel
• Supports the Digidesign AVoption|XL system
• Enables incremental growth of Pro Tools systems
• Employs the latest expansion chassis technology from MAGMA
• 1.5 meter cable included
• Quick and easy installation

System Requirements:

• Digidesign-approved Pro Tools TDM system.