KRISTAL Audio Engine
 | |
 | |
| Original author(s) | Matthias Juwan |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Kreatives |
| Initial release | 31 January 2004 |
| Final release | 1.0.1
/ 1 June 2004 |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Type | Digital audio workstation |
| License | Proprietary Software |
| Website | kreatives |
The KRISTAL Audio Engine (commonly referred to as KRISTAL or KAE) is a digital audio workstation for Microsoft Windows. It is free for personal & educational use, with licensing options for commercial use.
The successor to this product became what is now known as Studio One.
History[edit]
Initial Development[edit]
KRISTAL began development in 1999, as the university thesis project of Matthias Juwan. At that time it had a different look and feel, and was known as the Crystal Audio Engine, a name derived from the song The Crystal Ship by The Doors.[1]
Following a public beta period, the initial version, renamed to the KRISTAL Audio Engine, was released in 2004, under the developer name of Kreatives.[2]
K2 and KristalLabs[edit]
On 24 December 2004 the KRISTAL development team announced that they were working on the successor to the KRISTAL Audio Engine, based on a new infrastructure. The development team planned for this successor to include cross-platform support for both Windows and macOS.[3] The new software, known as K2, entered the Alpha development stage in July 2005.[4]
On 18 September 2006, it was announced that all work and rights to the source code of K2 had been taken over by KristalLabs Software Ltd., a private start-up company co-founded by KRISTAL lead developer, Matthias Juwan, and Wolfgang Kundrus, who had previously worked on Cubase, Nuendo and HALion.[5][6][7] Ownership for the original KRISTAL Audio Engine, however, did not transition to KristalLabs.[8]
PreSonus and Studio One[edit]
KristalLabs further developed K2 in cooperation with the American music technology company, PreSonus, before becoming part of PreSonus in 2009.[9] Following this acquisition, the final result of the K2 development was re-branded and released as the first version of the PreSonus DAW, Studio One, for macOS and Windows.[5][10] The former KristalLabs logo (representing a series of hexagons, like the one from the original KRISTAL Audio Engine logo, tessellated together) was used as the basis for the logo of Studio One.[11]
Since this time, all versions of Studio One have been developed and released by PreSonus.
Functionality[edit]
KRISTAL is free for personal & educational use, with licensing options for commercial use.[12]
The primary window of the application is a digital mixer, but it provides separate, built-in components for additional functionality, such as audio sequencing and live audio input/recording.[13] It includes built-in effects, such as EQ, chorus, delay and reverb, but also supports the use of third-party VST plug-ins.[14] It can support up to 16 channels of audio; however, it does not provide support for MIDI.[14]
The application uses 32-bit audio processing and supports both MME & ASIO drivers. In addition to its native Kristal project files, it is also compatible with WAVE, AIFF, FLAC and OGG Vorbis files.[14]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Details - KRISTAL Audio Engine". Kreatives. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ "Kristal Audio Engine v1.0 released". KVR Audio. 3 February 2004. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ "KRISTAL 2 - The Future". KRISTAL User Community. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ "KRISTAL 2 reached Alpha Status!". KRISTAL User Community. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ a b "News - KRISTAL Audio Engine". Kreatives. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ "Kundrus is Senior Developer for Software Architect". Music Connection. 26 May 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ Randall, Brent (29 April 2009). "Interview with Jim Odom and Jim Mack- President Of Presonus". ProRec. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ "K2 - KRISTAL Audio Engine". Kreatives. 19 September 2006. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ Teignos, Los (2 January 2013). "AudioFanzine met Studio One's technical director". AudioFanzine. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^ "PreSonus announces Studio One". KVR Audio. 2 April 2009. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- ^ "Where Did The PreSonus Studio One Logo Come From?". Pro Tools Expert. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
- ^ Walker, Martin. "PC Freeware Sequencers & Editors |". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ Juwan, Matthias. "KRISTAL Audio Engine :: Reference Manual :: 1.0". Kreatives. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
- ^ a b c "Kreative's Kristal Audio Engine". Home Recording Connection. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
