Submission declined on 26 December 2025 by Ktkvtsh (talk). This submission appears to read more like an advertisement than an entry in an encyclopedia. Encyclopedia articles need to be written from a neutral point of view, and should refer to a range of independent, reliable, published sources, not just to materials produced by the creator of the subject being discussed. This is important so that the article can meet Wikipedia's verifiability policy and the notability of the subject can be established. If you still feel that this subject is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia, please rewrite your submission to comply with these policies. If you would like to continue working on the submission, click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window. If you have not resolved the issues listed above, your draft will be declined again and potentially deleted. If you need extra help, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors. Please do not remove reviewer comments or this notice until the submission is accepted. Where to get help If you need help editing or submitting your draft, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors. These venues are only for help with editing and the submission process, not to get reviews. If you need feedback on your draft, or if the review is taking a lot of time, you can try asking for help on the talk page of a relevant WikiProject. Some WikiProjects are more active than others so a speedy reply is not guaranteed. How to improve a draft Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia – a basic overview on how to edit Wikipedia. Help:Wikitext – how to use the markup Help:Referencing for beginners – how to include references Wikipedia:Article development – how to develop your article Wikipedia:Writing better articles – how to improve your article Wikipedia:Verifiability – make sure your article includes reliable third-party sources You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Add tags to your draft Editor resources Easy tools: Citation bot (help) | Advanced: Fix bare URLs Declined by Ktkvtsh 4 days ago. Last edited by WhaleFarm 7 hours ago. Reviewer: Inform author. Resubmit Please note that if the issues are not fixed, the draft will be declined again.

Submission declined on 13 December 2025 by Cabrils (talk). This draft's references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article. In summary, the draft needs multiple published sources that are: in-depth (not just brief mentions about the subject or routine announcements) reliable secondary strictly independent of the subject Make sure you add references that meet all four of these criteria before resubmitting. Learn about mistakes to avoid when addressing this issue. If no additional references exist, the subject is not suitable for Wikipedia. Declined by Cabrils 18 days ago.

• Comment: Page probably meets notability criteria but contains numerous spelling and basic grammatical errors that require correcting.
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  It would help our volunteer reviewers by identifying, on the draft's talk page, the WP:THREE best sources that establish notability of the subject.
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  Once you have implemented these suggestions, you may also wish to leave a note for me on my talk page, including the name of the draft page, and I would be happy to reassess. As I said, I do think this draft has potential so please do persevere. Cabrils (talk) 02:41, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

• Comment: AI-generated? —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 15:17, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

• Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. WhaleFarm (talk) 19:13, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

WaveFrame was an American digital audio technology company founded in 1986 in Boulder, Colorado. Its flagship product, the AudioFrame, was an integrated digital audio workstation system, introducing fixed-rate digital sampling synthesis, multi-phase interpolation, hard-disk recording, automation, and SMPTE-time code based non-linear editing.^[1]

WaveFrame engineers used the term “Digital Audio Workstation” in industry publications, as documented in a four-part series in Music Technology magazine in 1988.^[2] The AudioFrame was labeled and trademarked as "The Digital Audio Workstation".^[3][4][5]

"Back in the 80's the WaveFrame AudioFrame was the second generation of mega samplers, in line with the NED Synclavier and Fairlight CMI. A complete 48-voice system would sell for over $100,000, and at the time the feature set was worth it! The Audioframe was used by renowned artists like Peter Gabriel and Stevie Wonder and by leading sound designers and foley artists."

The company later merged with Digital F/X (DFX). DFX then entered bankruptcy in late 1993, and the combined assets were acquired by Timeline Inc. in early 1994 for $2.1M.^{[6] [7]} The TimeLine MMR-8 editing system was derived from the WaveFrame.^[8] TimeLine Vista was acquired in 1998.^[9] The system was sold as Tascam/Waveframe in 1999.^[10] In June 2002, TimeLine Vista declared chapter 7 bankruptcy.^[11]

TimeLine Vista recieved an academy award for the MMR-8.^[12] The MMR-8 maintained file compatability with earlier WaveFrame systems.^[13][14]

"The WaveFrame name has been around since the dawn of sampling which of course eventually begat the DAW."^[15]

Similar sampling-based systems to the WaveFrame were Fairlight and New England Digital.^[16] As the business evolved into audio for film, WaveFrame was compared with the Akai dd1000, Audiofile Plus, Lexicon Opus, NED Postpro, ScreenSound, Sonic System, and Studer Dyaxis. A detailed shootout between the systems was published in March 1991.^[17]

In 1986, a typical WaveFrame system used 16-32MB of RAM (enough for a good piano sample), and 4, 300MB SCSI disk drive (approximately 4 track-hours of sound). In 1986 dollars, the RAM would cost $3000-$6000. The disks were about $5000/each. The cost of storage was dropping rapidly,^[18] allowing systems such as the WaveFrame to be economical for high-end studios. By 1992, the cost of disk storage fell by more than a factor of 15.

Prison^[19] was scored by Richard Band and Christopher L. Stone on the WaveFrame system. Also relased as audio CD by Intrada.^[20]

" ... early Renny Harlin horror movie with Lane Smith, Viggo Mortensen, Chelsea Field. Band & Stone pushed WaveFrame synthesizer technology to limits, created music with symphonic composition in feel yet electronic in execution."^[21][22]

"Band and Christopher L. Stone really pushed the technology of the time, using the WaveFrame AudioFrame synthesizer that was made famous around the same time by the likes of Peter Gabriel and Stevie Wonder. They managed to create an orchestral sounding score without using any traditional instruments and it’s an absolute gem, from the opening main theme right through to the finale, it features eleven tracks of creepy, atmospheric electronica that make me want to watch the movie again."^[23]

Credited as "Mus score comp and performed entirely on the WaveFrame AudioFrame"^[24]

"Last temptation of Christ movie" and later CD used the WaveFrame AudioFrame.^[25]

In 1992, the former MGM/ Columbia Westside sound studio had been re-equipped with WaveFrame 1000 and 400 editing stations.^[26]

"We found that the WaveFrame's capability of going directly to disk—while still almost an infant technology at that point—had some big pluses going for it. We all found it to be very versatile, with an incredible sound quality and with great flexibility that we'd been lacking on 24-track PAP systems."

In the fall of 1991, they brought the number of WaveFrame systems to 21.

In 2004, Chuck Grindstaff and John Melanson received the Scientific and Engineering Academy Award (Oscar) for development of the WaveFrame system:

"To Christopher Alfred, Andrew J. Cannon, Michael C. Carlos, Mark Crabtree, Chuck Grindstaff, and John Melanson for their significant contributions to the evolution of digital audio editing for motion picture post production. Through their respective pioneering efforts with AMS AudioFile, Waveframe and Fairlight, their work contributed significantly to the development and realization of digital audio workstations with full editing capabilities for motion picture soundtracks."^[27]

A 1999 Studio Sound review noted that WaveFrame systems had been used on Academy Award–winning films, reflecting their long-standing role in Hollywood dialog and effects editing.^[28]

A 1999 advertisment from WaveFrame + Tascam claimed:

"It's no surprise that 4 of the 5 Oscar nominees for Sound and the Emmy winner for Sound chose WaveFrame to edit on. Because WaveFrame is the only editing platform designed with them in mind."

The WaveFrame engineering team was founded by John Melanson, Eric Lindemann, and Dana Massie. Melanson previously co-founded NBI, Inc.; Lindemann later founded Synful (sample modeling); and Massie contributed DSP expertise later applied at Apple.^[29]

Early engineering staff included Charles W. Anderson and John B. Britton, co-authors of the 1989 AES paper describing the system.^[1] Dave Erb served as Director of Software Engineering, documented in Recording Engineer/Producer (March 1989).^[30]

Ted Smith contributed digital design before joining PS Audio.^[31]

Kevin Gross, later the creator of CobraNet, is confirmed as a WaveFrame engineer in AES presenter biographies.^[32]

Musicians Andy West (Dixie Dregs) and Roger Powell (Utopia) contributed performance-workflow design; West confirmed his WaveFrame tenure in a 2024 forum exchange.^[33]

A 1989 Recording Engineer/Producer report listed early AudioFrame installations, including:^[30]

• Wonderland Studios (Stevie Wonder)
• Rob Arbittier Studio
• Sheffield Recordings (Maryland)
• Sound Associates (New York)
• Processing Studios (Greensboro)
• Trax Sounds (Toronto)
• UCSB Electronic Music Department
• West Productions (Burbank)

The corporation never applied for a single patent.^[34] Give the novelty of the architecture, this is an unusual decision for a technology company of that era. Many of the same inventors applied for numerous patents in follow-on companies, see the patents below. The 400 system below used DSP based time code and clock synch, this was an important competitive issue in the industry, see the Timeline purchase of assets below.

WaveFrame’s AudioFrame architecture was documented in an AES conference paper by Anderson & Britton (1989).^[1]

The system employed a proprietary:

• 64-channel, 24-bit
• 44.1 kHz sample-rate time-division multiplexed bus

with a deterministic 45.4 μs device-to-device latency.^[1]

WaveFrame implemented fixed-rate sampling synthesis using:

• 512× oversampled interpolation
• polyphase filtering
• logarithmic encoded coefficient tables

These details are supported both by the AES paper and modern reverse-engineering by Qualia Audio Lab.^[35]

CommandLink was a 1 Mbit/s internal control network, providing real-time and non-real-time messaging between modules.^[1] Each module included a 80186 processor for local control. Communications with the host PC was via token ring.

A typical configuration documented in the AES paper included:^[1]

• 8 analog I/O channels
• 2 digital I/O channels
• 32 sampler voices
• 16 disk tracks
• 16×4×2 mixer with stereo reverb
• shared SCSI subsystem

There were 10 slots available in a chassis.

A detailed, 4-part review and analysis of the products was written by Chris Meyer^{[2][36][37][38]}

Part I discussed the advantages of a fixed rate system as contrasted to multiple clock, variable-rate systems such the Synclavier or Fairlight.

"The Sampling Synthesizer cards create 512 points for every existing sample. The bonus that falls out of this is that these 511 extra points are also used to pick zero crossings from for looping.  Therefore, there's a better chance of picking a point where the original signal would have actually crossed zero, and single-cycle waves are better in tune (no need to settle for points just short or just long of where the signal would have crossed)."

Part 2 discussed the architecture. Part 3 discussed the mixer

"As far as subjective comments go, the EQ responds smoothly, and more importantly, sounds great. I'm inordinately picky about EQ sections, and this is the first digital EQ I've used and heard that I feel as comfortable with as a high-quality analog EQ."

Chris Anderton reviewed the WaveFrame AudioFrame for Sound on Sound. He reported on the advantages of fixed-rate sampling.

"Regarding sound quality, it's gorgeous, real, and smooth. The AudioFrame employs fixed sample rate technology, and interpolates literally hundreds of samples in between sample points to smooth out a wave." ^[39]

A 1988 Broadcast Management/Engineering article reported that WaveFrame demonstrated AudioFrame from a truck outside the SMPTE conference in Los Angeles, alongside competing systems from New England Digital, Fairlight, Lexicon, and SSL.^[40]

A 1989 Recording Engineer/Producer update listed:^[30]

• Audio Images (Northern California, Oregon, Washington)
• Amptown Electroacoustic (West Germany)
• Wave Trade (Sweden)
• New Musik (Denmark)

European technical contributors such as Hermann Quetting, Michael Wehr, and Burkhart Burgerhoff (associated with AmpTown) are documented in user-community archives.^[41]

Stephen Paine, cousin of Peter Gabriel, of Syco Systems was the UK distribution.^[42][43]

In 1990,

"On the Monday after NAMM, Boulder, Colorado-based WaveFrame boosted its profile in the post-production market by merging with Cyberimation, Inc., of Long Beach, Calif., maker of the CyberSound sound editing system. ... Charles Grindstaff, founder of Cyberimation, is now president and CEO of WaveFrame; John Melanson will serve as chief technical officer; and Steve Krampf will continue on as senior VP of sales and marketing."^[44]

The system was then sold as the AudioFrame, the CyberFrame-E and the CyberFrame-M.

The focus was now on sound for film. "System prices start at $50,000 (Audio Frame), $39.950 (CyberFrame -M) and $64.650 (CyberFrame -E)."

The smaller AudioFrame 400/401 (internally “MiniFrame”) was introduced in 1992.^[45] Studio Sound carried advertisements and product notes for the 401 model.^[46] This system was built from cards plugged into a PC motherboard. One of the boards was the sync card.^[30] This interface used a ADI 2100 dsp, all of the sync code was in DSP software.^[47]

Digital F/X was a video-editing and frame-store firm; both WaveFrame and DFX received investment from Kleiner Perkins, with John Doerr and Vinod Khosla serving on WaveFrame’s board.^[48] The companies merged in 1991.

WaveFrame and Magna-Tech announced that they will "jointly develop a new multitrack disk -based recorder /playback system for film -mixing application"^[49]

U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings dated 19 November 1993 document DFX motions to “Sell Assets Free and Clear of Liens” and to assume or assign broadcast-division contracts.^[6]

Timeline Inc. (a manufacturer of studio synchronization equipment) acquired the assets in early 1994, The system was re-named the StudioFrame. TimeLine "aimed the renamed StudioFrame pretty directly at film tracklaying."

"Furthermore, the technology acquisition came with a nearly 60% market share in the film -dialog editing market, a share TimeLine has maintained."^[7]

In 1999, the products returned to the market under the WaveFrame name.^[15] Michael Bard, an early adopter, became part owner.^[50]

The products began to lose support by 2010^[51]

A sound library, derived from the original samples, is sold by UVI.^[5]

UVI has a short history of the WaveFrame product.

Following the DFX merger, engineers Melanson, Smith, and DiNapoli founded the Digital Audio Company, developing the MiniFrame architecture. The firm later split into:

• AudioLogic – DSP, hearing aids, and algorithms
• Peak Audio – networked audio; later acquired by Cirrus Logic

DA company and Peak Audio designed Peavey’s MediaMatrix DSP platform, used for the modernization of the United States Senate sound system.^[52][53][54]

Kevin Gross later developed CobraNet (1996), the first commercially successful Ethernet-based digital audio networking system.^[32]

Qualia Audio Lab has documented the AudioFrame hardware, including backplane timing (~350 ns), interpolation clocking, and sample-memory architecture.^[35] Failed Muso published a detailed retrospective covering UVI’s PX WaveFrame library and surviving AudioFrame units.^[47]

• John Melanson – Cirrus Logic Senior Technical Fellow (500+ patents)
• Eric Lindemann – founder of Synful
• Dana Massie – Apple Advanced Audio
• Charles Anderson – AES author; medical DSP
• Dave Erb – Director of Software Engineering
• Gus Skinnas – Product Manager
• Chuck Grindstaff – later CEO, Siemens PLM
• Kevin Gross – AES Fellow; creator of CobraNet

• Gross, K. et al. (1996). US 5,675,548: Digital Audio Network Using Packet Switching (CobraNet).
• Peak Audio MediaMatrix patents US 5,357,511 US 5,406,634