crystal.bk : glossary.fb4 Page 156 Monday, March 23, 1998 4:09 AM

Glossary

Polyphonic More than one voice played simultaneously.

Plug and Play Plug and Play is an architecture designed to simplify installation and configuration of new devices in a PC.

POST Power-On Self-Test. A series of tests your computer performs when you switch the computer on.

Q-SoundAudio-processing technique to simulate reverb/ surround sound.

RAM Random Access Memory. This memory is used to hold programs and data temporarily.

resolution A measure of the visible detail on a screen or printout. Screen resolution is measured in ‘pixels across’ by ‘pixels down’ by ‘number of colors’. Printer resolution is measured in dpi (dots-per-inch).

ROM Read-Only Memory. Computer memory used to store parts of the computer’s operating system permanently. ROM chips can contain instructions and data.

Sampling The process of converting an analog signal into digital data.

Sampling rate The rate of analyzing a sound. The more frequently a sound is sampled, the more closely it will match the original sound.

SCAM SCSI Configured Automatically. A protocol which automatically assigns device IDs to SCSI devices which support SCAM.

SCSI Small Computer System Interface. A high-speed data bus used for connecting hard disks, tape drives, and other accessories to your computer (see 8-bit SCSI and 16-bit SCSI).

SCSI chain Devices connected on a single SCSI bus.

SDRAM Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. This memory is used to improve performance of your PC Workstation

Sequencer A device used to record note information from MIDI devices.

Setup program Used to inform the computer about its configuration, for example the amount of memory installed. The setup program is stored in ROM on the system board.

shadow RAM A method of relocating the system and/or video BIOS from slower ROM chips to faster RAM to improve system performance.

SIMM Single In-line Memory Module. These memory modules can provide a 32-bit data path.

Sound files Files containing sound data. Sound files are usually stored in one of two formats, with the extension .WAV or .MID.

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