Gilderfluke&Co Sd-50 Audio & Show Controllers - Manual (Page 17)

Differences between Sd-50s and Mp3-50s
Many first-time users of the Sd-50/xx will be familiar with our Mp3-50/0, Mp3-50/8 or Mp3-50/40. The
Mp3-50/xx series of Audio Repeaters and Show Controllers are the direct ancestors of the Sd-50/xx se-
ries. At first glance, it may be hard to tell the two of them apart. Their cases, mounting holes, and connec-
tors are almost identical.
Some of the differences are:
• The Mp3-50s used SmartMedia Flash cards for audio storage, which were the most com-
mon type of flash card available at the time the Mp3-50s were released. The Sd-50/xx
series use Sd/MMC flash cards. Sd flash cards are now the most common type of flash card
available. SmartMedia Flash cards topped out with capacities of 128 MBytes. Sd flash cards
are widely available with capacities to four and eight GBytes.
• The Mp3-50 series required ‘blessing’ the flash card to load the firmware the player needed
to run before it could be used. No ‘blessing’ is needed with the Sd-50/xx series.
• The Mp3-50 series required drivers be loaded on your computer before it would work with
them. The Sd-50s need no drivers.
• The Mp3-50 series featured a USB port to download sounds and configurations to the
SmartMedia card. This was also the only way to ‘bless’ a flash card before use. The Sd-50s
eliminate the USB port and ‘blessing’ altogether. Cards are loaded with sounds and config-
ured by moving them to a computer with a suitable Sd/MMC slot or adapter.
• The Mp3-50 series limited the number of DMX-512 output channels to sixteen. No such limi-
tation exists on the Sd-50s.
• DMX-512 is output on the Sd-50s, no matter what mode is selected for the DMX-512/MIDI
serial input. On the Mp3-50s, the output port always followed what was set on the input
port.
• The Mp3-50s could not use the ‘ " J6 ’ port for triggering animation. The Sd-50s can. You
can select shows directly using these eight inputs, or use a binary pattern to directly select
any of 255 different shows.
• The Sd-50/8 or Sd-50/40 will allow you to take over pins used on the ‘ " J6 ’ port for con-
trolling up to eight model airplane-style PWM ServoMotors.
• The amplifier used on the Sd-50/xx series is rated for 100 Watts of class-D power, which is
equivalent to many 500 Watt linear amplifiers. The amplifier on the Mp3-50s was rated for
22 Watts stereo, or 11 watts per side.
• The inputs and outputs on the Sd-50/xx series are better protected against transients.
• Onboard flash memory is eight times larger on the Sd-50/xx series than the Mp3-50 se-
ries.
• The RTC was installed on Mp3-50s only with the ‘Atomic’ Clock option. The Sd-50/8 or Sd-
50/40 come with the Real Time Clock chip installed, so the 365 day scheduling of sounds
Gilderfluke & Co.• 205 South Flower Street • Burbank, California 91502 • 818/840-9484 • 800/776-5972 • fax 818/840-9485
Sd-50/xx Manual / October 29, 2012 2:29 PM / page 17 of 120