Scope is a PC-based music production system consisting of a sophisticated soundcard which comes bundled with a dedicated software application - called Scope Fusion Platform. This product is designed to provide a variety of audio functions including virtual synthesis, sampling, effects processing, mixing and studio signal routing. The name "Scope" is an acronym which stands for SCalable Object Processing Environment. This product was originally developed and marketed by a German audio company called Creamware. In 2007, the company was acquired by some of the original software programmers who are now doing business under the company name Sonic Core.

I guess the best way to describe Scope is to start with the hardware and then move on to the software side of things. 

Go grab a cup of coffee because this gets deep :-)

Scope Hardware

Scope soundcards are configured with high performance 32-bit Analog Devices SHARC digital signal processor (DSP) chips. These DSP chips provide all the processing horsepower for Scope's software which allows the host CPU to perform other processing tasks. Recording applications, for example, require a lot of computer resources. The big advantage here is that Scope "frees up" those critical resources allowing the recording application to use as much processing power as needed. This makes the system very stable and fast! Scope supports up to 24-bit audio resolution and up to 96kHz sampling rates with almost zero latency. The soundcard mounts into an available PCI slot inside the host computer. 

There is a separate input/output (I/O) module and detachable cable whip which is mounted onto the main board (as shown in the picture below). Scope boards can be purchased with one of three different I/O configurations to provide alternate audio routing options. The three I/O options are referred to as "Classic", "Plus" and "Z-Link". 

The "Classic" Scope Project configuration shown above contains the following I/O connections: 

4) Unbalanced analog RCA connectors (left & right in, left & right out)
4) ADAT fiberoptic connections (each fiberoptic cable carries 8 channels of audio for a total of 16 in and 16 out)
2) S/PDIF connectors (stereo in and stereo out via digital coaxial cable) 
3) MIDI connectors (in/out/through) 

The "Plus" option comes equipped with balanced connectors and supports the AES/EBU standard. 

The "Z-Link" option is designed to be used in conjunction with Sonic Core's A16 Ultra A/D converter unit. Z-Link is a proprietary communication interface using standard firewire cables. Z-Link permits the simultaneous transmission of 16 channels of 24-bit audio between the soundcard and converter without having to use a separate wordclock device.

The amount of DSP resources required for a project depends on the number of Scope virtual devices (effects, mixers, synthesizers, etc.) that are loaded at any given time. DSP resources can be increased by installing additional cards which are connected together via a proprietary interface system called S/TDM (Scope Time Division Multiplex). Special S/TDM cables are supplied with the boards to allow for future expansion. Up to three separate cards can be installed in a single computer. 

There are three distinct categories in the Scope product family which are differentiated by the number of DSP chips installed:

1) Scope Home  - 3 DSP's
2) Scope Project  - 6 DSP's
3) Scope Professional  - 14 DSP's

The idea here is that you can choose the product combination that best fits your needs and budget. A maximum of three boards, in any combination, can be installed in the PC. In addition to these boards, Sonic Core also makes products called Sonic Rocket Boosters (SRB) which are simply boards with DSP chips that can be used to expand the capacity of an existing Scope setup. The SRB's don't include the I/O module or any software. You can buy SRB's with either 6 or 14 DSP's depending on your needs.

Software - Scope Fusion Platform

All the Scope products share a common software application called Scope Fusion Platform (SFP). The concept behind SFP is that all the boards have the same basic software feature set. The number of virtual devices that you can load at any one given time is determined by the number of DSP's you have installed. The more DSP's you have, the more stuff you can load. And as we all know, you can never have enough stuff. 

SFP comes standard with the following virtual instruments and devices:

virtual mixers

There are a variety of virtual mixers in SFP ranging from the fairly simple to the extremely complex (including some surround sound mixers). Up to 48 channels of audio can be controlled with these mixers. Virtual effects can be loaded into the mixer channel inserts allowing for individual effects processing on each track. Or the effects can be routed through the aux busses like a normal mixer. Or both! Very powerful! You'd have to spend over $10K to find a carbon-based mixer with this much flexibility.

virtual effects and audio processing tools

If there's a hardware effect or stomp box you're familiar with, most likely it's covered here in virtual "plug-in" form. The MasterVerb reverb plug-in compares favorably to rack-mount units costing over $2K. Vinco is a Universal Audio 1176 compressor clone. Particularly cool are the latest mastering tools: Optimaster and PsyQ. There are a number of third-party developers producing plug-ins for SFP (some of which are actually free for the taking). 

Following is a "short list' of the available devices that come standard with Scope:

virtual synthesizers

Again, too many to list and they all sound wicked. Some are virtual copies of older analog models which are now considered collectors items (like the MiniMoog and Pro-One). Except these are better because they are polyphonic! 

But the flagship of the Scope synth collection is the Modular Synth:

Click on the thumbnail image above for a full-size screenshot of the Modular Synth. 

The Scope Modular synth is basically a collection of synthesizer "building blocks" or modules that you string together to create new sounds - modeled after the original Moog modular synthesizer that artists like Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, and those guys in Tangerine Dream used to play back in the early 70's. These things were huge man. If you've never seen one, click here. You needed a pretty good size room and a lot of patch cables to produce music with one of those babies. You had to let the thing warm up for a half an hour before you could actually play it. Ahh, the good ol' days. :-)

I'm not a synth guru but this stuff sure is a blast to play around with. Clients looking for fresh new sounds (or familiar old ones) can pull up interesting patches with a few mouse clicks. No rotary pots or switches to wear out! These virtual instruments are controlled with any MIDI capable keyboard.

virtual sample players

MIDI controllable and Akai compatible.

and finally, a control surface for connecting all these elements together

Click on the thumbnail image above to see the bigger picture. 

In the control surface, you load whatever devices you need in order to start creating music. Each device or element appears as a separate box with it's own inputs and outputs. You connect these devices together using virtual patch cables, much like hooking actual studio hardware together. 

SFP also contains ASIO drivers for recording/sequencing applications such as Sonar, Cubase, Nuendo, Samplitude, etc. Thanks to it's low-latency design, Scope/SFP can tie in external studio equipment allowing rack-mounted effects processors or stomp boxes to be utilized in addition to it's own built-in effects. Each project configuration can be saved and retrieved later. It's a powerful and flexible audio processing and music development system.