MIDI to CV - Cygnal?

[Paul Maddox]

Barry,

> We just had a product showcase kind of show in our cafeteria area with a
> bunch of vendors etc.  One company that stood out for me was Cygnal and
> their 8051 with onboard UART and a/d  conversion (flash too).  Development
> kit $99 from their website at cygnal.com.   If you firmware guys think
> this is appropriate for such use, maybe we should propose a quantity buy
> to get the price down even more?  Anyway, its a new company with a new
> product, and maybe they'll go places.

Age old discussion this about micros/midi and uarts. and I dont wanna start
any
flame wars about PICs/AVRs/68K, please....

If you want to get started quickly and cheaply, get yourself an ATMEL STK200
 you get software (assembler, complier, In System Programmer) and a board
with lights and switchs. The chip itself (90s8515) runs at 1Instruction per
cycle.
the board has a 4Mhz crystal so 4Mips (it run upto 8MIPs). It has an onboard
hardware UART, so you can setup the software to trigger an interupt each
time
a byte is received. Build yourself the opto isolator circuit from the MMA
page and
attach it to the correct port jumper, and bingo, you're off.

this board costs about 60USD.

There are examples on my webpage of a Midi>CV, Midi > LCD (shows
note/octave and gate on/off) and a 4 channel midi>CV (with velocity)
convertor.

My monowave uses a 90s8515 for the main processor and two 90s1200's to
generate the oscillators..

Im re-writing the OS for my monowave at the moment to include pitch bend
wheel,
mod whell (will control portamento time) Selectable midi channe, and include
a
buffer for the last 8 notes so you can do fast trills and stuff.

Im also working on a poly synth which again will use the 8515 to control it
all,
16 oscs (8 voice) and wavetables.

In short, its a very powerfull little processor. and the assembly language
is really
easy to pick up.

I know there are other boards out there.. but I really like this one.

If you or anyone else want more info email me off list (its not really synth
diy
though for me it is)

Just tuppence worth.

Paul Maddox
________________________________________
Modulus Synthesiser Website;-
    Http://www.noxons.ision.co.uk/