[sdiy] Using 8051 to build a synth

[synthplayer88 at spymac.com]

On Mon Aug 16  7:52 , 'Paul Maddox' <P.Maddox at signal.qinetiq.com> sent:

>Hi,
>
>> I was wondering if anyone could direct me to a source/schematic that uses
>a 8051
>> as a OSC and a VCA plus envelope generator?
>
>ambitious...
>Why not use something faster like one of the AVRs, these are 8051 based, but
>much faster.


Hi Paul,
Thanks for the suggestions!!! :) Is there any other advantage that AVRs have over
8051s?



>> I have heard some of the old Roland synth are built on an 8051 eg JX10 but
>can
>> not find any schematic to see how that it done.........
>
>they may have done, but only to control the hardware, certainly not to
>generate and modify.


Right, don't think DSP was quite up to it back in those days? However, I don't
think my programming skill is quite up it yet by a long way to do all that DSP
stuff. Still trying to grasp the concept of Fourier Analysis ...... breaking a
complex waveform down to a single sinusoidal in mathmatical terms that is........ :(

So generating clock rate and control voltage using the 8051 is more of what I can
handle.....



>> Also, I am very puzzled about using 8051 to create an VCA and a envelope
>> genrator. Can anyone shed a light on that?
>
>Multiplier is your VCA, the EG, well in its basic form, just an up/down
>counter with start and end points.
>
>Paul
>

Do you mean a seperate multiplier chip or use write the machine code to use 8051
as a multiplier?

Thanks!

Scott 
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