chapter

A UDIO S UBSYSTEM
Functional Description
The Armada 6500 has an internal-industry standard audio controller, the Maestro 2E
from ESS Technology. It supports 16-bit stereo audio, wavetable synthesis, and fouroperator FM music synthesis. The Maestro 2E provides all digital sound creation and
reproduction tasks and uses an AC97 compatible CODEC, the ES1918, as its interface
to the analog world.
It can record, compress, and playback voice, sound, and music with built in mixer
controls. It consists of an embedded microprocessor, 16-bit stereo A/D and D/A, 64voice wavetable synthesizer, 20-voice FM music synthesizer, DMA control, and ISA
bus interface logic. The Maestro 2E also takes the PC Speaker output and converts it to
an analog signal with volume control.
Keyboard hotkeys control volume through firmware control.
Fn :

Volume increase

Fn :

Volume decrease

Fn F7:

Speaker Mute/Un-mute

Audio Subsystem 7-1

A register in the ES1918 controls the volume output to the speaker. New features of the
Maestro 2E are listed below.

Mono full-duplex using two DMA channels

Self-timed joystick port
Support for up to seven general purpose outputs and seven general purpose inputs
I2S interface to internal stereo D/A for external ZV port
Complete general interrupt mapping

The Maestro 2E with ES1918 CODEC supports inputs and outputs that are listed below
with a description:
Left/Right Audio Output: This output is mixed with the PCSPKR output and
amplified by a Texas Instruments TPA0102 1W amplifier. This output of the amplifier
connects to two internal speakers and a stereo out jack for external speakers/
headphones, which provide stereo 16-bit audio. When a plug is inserted in the jack, the
internal stereo speakers are disabled.
MIC Input: The MIC input connects to an external microphone jack and an internal
microphone which are mono 16-bit audio only. When a microphone is plugged into the
microphone jack the internal microphone is disconnected.
I2S Interface: The I2S interface is a four signal serial audio interface. It is only used
internally in the Maestro 2E.
Aux A Input: The Maestro 2E auxiliary A stereo input connects to the dock interface
and supports stereo 16-bit audio from the CD-ROM module.
Aux B Input: Not used.
Line-In Imput: Not used.
The audio subsystem can be disabled in the Setup program. When disabled, the
Maestro 2E is put in a low power state via software. The amplifier is placed in a low
power state using the AUDIO_PWRDOWN output from the PIIX4E, which is the
GPO3 pin.
Many devices have speaker output pins that they use to generate beeps or slightly more
sophisticated sounds. These outputs are digital outputs that are combined using logic
which is mixed in with the left and right audio output at the audio amplifier. The
speaker outputs that are combined into the PCSPKR are CardBus, H8, UMI controller,
and PIIX4E. PCSPKR is also delivered to the docking connector for use by the Mobile
Expansion Unit.
The Maestro 2E also supports a four pin serial DSP interface. These four pins connect
to the UMI slot and allow a special UMI card with a DSP access to the Maestro 2E.
This is used for such features as speakerphone and DSVD. Refer to the UMI
INTERFACE section for more details.

7-2 Audio Subsystem

Audio Docking Solution

When a Mobile Expansion Unit is attached to the system, the audio output only
generates from the dock. The notebook internal speakers cannot be functional and the
audio amplifier is disabled via the AUDIO_DOCKED and HP_ON signals. Selecting
between input channels from the notebook and the docking station is done by the user
through ESS Windows application software. This allows each individual input source
to be enabled or disabled. These include microphone inputs and CD-ROM audio.
The audio docking interface consists of a total of seven pins:
Two pins for left and right channel audio to the dock
Two pins for left and right channel CD audio returned from the dock
One pin to supply PC speaker data to the dock

Two pins are used to enable/disable the system and dock audio amplifiers.

Mono Full Duplex Mode

The Maestro 2E allows host based software applications to use full-duplex mode via
two 8-bit DMA channels. The restrictions are that both record and play are
monophonic, and record and playback are at the same sample rate.

Audio Subsystem 7-3

7-4 Audio Subsystem