Manufacturer “Kato Development”
7 expansions in database
CDTV Clock
Manufacturer
Kato Development, Germany
Amiga
CDTV
Interface
68000 socket
    clock port interface
  • provides an A1200 compatible clockport connector for the CDTV
  • connects into the 68000 socket

Melody
Manufacturer
Kato Development, Germany
Amiga
A2000, A3000, A4000
Interface
Zorro II
Autoconfig ID
2145 / 128
  • Texas Instruments TMS320AV110PBM
  • MPEG layer I / II decoding in realtime
  • fixed sample rate and resolution, 16 bit 44.1kHz output
  • 128 kB FIFO buffer for internal CRC checking - error protection avoids noise
  • 16 bit audio playback for replacing Paula - native AHI support
  • Paula passthrough - simple analog mixing with Melody output
  • Toccata emulation
  • expansion bus for the sampler module with high speed serial port in development
  • 2 audio in (for Paula passthrough), 2 audio out, all RCA
  • AHI driver
  • supported by NetBSD
Photos
Kato Development Melody - Rev 1.3 front side
Rev 1.3, front side
Kato Development Melody - Rev 1.3 back side
Rev 1.3, back side
Kato Development Melody - Rev 1.3 front side
Rev 1.3, front side
Kato Development Melody - Rev 1.2 front side
Rev 1.2, front side
Driver / Installation Disk

Melody 1200, 1200 Plus & Pro
Manufacturer
Kato Development, Germany
Date
1998
Amiga
A1200
Interface
clock port
  • recording and playback at 44.1 and 48 kHz, full duplex
  • analog and host part is connected via ribbon cable which transports digital data only
  • AHI driver
    analog part (same for all models)
  • 20 bit Crystal AD/DA converter
    • 108 dB signal to noise ratio
  • 9 pin DSUB connector for plugging the adaptor with 6 RCA connectors
  • two stereo line in connectors (RCA) - analog mixed and value controlled
  • one internal input for CD-ROM audio
  • one stereo output connector (RCA)
  • passthrough and monitoring
    host part
  • connects to clock port
  • clock port passthrough for the optional RS232 module, Twister 1200
  • 2 or 4 kB FIFO buffer to prevent interruption of playback and recording
  • Melody 1200 Base
    • 20 bit resolution
    • 4 kB FIFO buffer
  • Melody 1200 Plus
    • 16 or 20 bit resolution
    • 2 kB FIFO buffer
    • 128 kB RAM for playback
    • MPEG 1 audio layer I / II decoder DSP (Texas Instruments TMS320AV110PBM)
  • Melody 1200 Pro
    • 20 bit resolution
    • 4 kB FIFO buffer
    • MPEG 2.5 audio layer II / III decoder DSP
    optional Digital I/O module
    • connects to the ribbon cable between the analog and host parts
    • Crystal A-Lan controller for audio networking
    • 24 bit input and output
    • golden RCA and fibre connectors
    • jobs like Analog-In to Digital-Out or Digital-In to Analog-Out are done without the computer incorporated
Photos
Kato Development Melody 1200, 1200 Plus & Pro - front side
front side
Manual
Driver / Installation Disk

SIMMfonie
Manufacturer
Kato Development, Germany
Date
1998
Amiga
A3000
  • allows using SIMMs instead of ZIPs
  • the board covers the entire area of ZIP sockets and connects into some of them
  • two 72 pin SIMM sockets accept 16 MB RAM
  • supports 4 or 8 MB SIMMs, 80 ns or faster
  • SIMM sizes can be mixed
  • the SIMMs operate in page mode (static column ZIPs are up to 10% faster)
  • separate version for the A3000T which has larger distance between the ZIP sockets
Photos
Kato Development SIMMfonie - front side
front side
Kato Development SIMMfonie - back side
back side
Manual

Twister 1200
Manufacturer
Kato Development, Germany
Date
1998
Amiga
A1200
Interface
clock port
    serial interface
  • connects to the clock port
  • ST16C650 serial interface chip
  • 460800 bps transfer speed
  • connects directly to the clock port or to the clock port passthrough of the Melody 1200 audio board
  • FIFO based automatic flow control - the receiver is able to hold the transfer if the sender is too fast, no "hardware buffer overrun" messages
Photos
Kato Development Twister 1200 - front side
front side
Manual
Driver / Installation Disk

Twister 1200 Mk2
Manufacturer
Kato Development, Germany
Date
1999
Amiga
A1200
Interface
clock port
    serial interface
  • connects to the clock port
  • a redesigned, cost reduced version of the original Twister 1200
  • reduced interferences to other boards compared to the original Twister 1200
  • ST16C650 serial interface chip
  • 460800 bps guaranteed, 691200 bps typical transfer speed
  • 32 byte send and 32 byte receive buffers
  • compatible with the four clock ports of Power Computing's Z4 board
  • compatible with the Melody 1200 audio board
  • FIFO based automatic flow control - the receiver is able to hold the transfer if the sender is too fast, no "hardware buffer overrun" messages
Photos
Kato Development Twister 1200 Mk2 - front side
front side
Kato Development Twister 1200 Mk2 - back side
back side
Manual
Driver / Installation Disk

Unity
Manufacturer
Kato Development, Germany
Date
1999
Amiga
A2000, A3000, A4000
Interface
Zorro II
    clock port and PCMCIA interface
  • allows using expansions initially done for the A1200
  • onboard high speed serial interface - the same as Twister 1200
  • the card is prepared for an onboard parallel interface
  • two clock ports, one PCMCIA port and one external serial port
  • variable bus speed - it makes possible to run expansions nearly as slow as in the A1200 but it's even possible to go up to twice that speed
  • optional PCMCIA Ethernet modules
      • Unity-Net 10
    • 10Base-T and 10Base-2 connectors
    • 16 kB databuffer
    • auto detection of TwistedPair / BNC connection
      Unity-Net 100
    • 100Base-TX connector
    • 64 kB databuffer
    • auto negotiation of 10Base-T and 100Base-TX
    Notes
  • the Unity never left prototype status
    • standard version was too expensive
    • the cost reduced version was easily destroyable due to lacking buffers