[sdiy] Re: Microprocessors for Music

[Peter Grenader]

>From the title of this post, I remember a GREAT book on the topic:

Musical Applications for Microprocessors  by Chamberlin, published by Hayden
press.  Highly recommended.


Grant Richter wrote:

> Synthmodules.com is not paying me anything, so I feel free to discuss this
> regarding general DIY projects that could use a microprocessor.
> 
> Writing C or assembler is not fun for me, but writing BASIC is. I started
> writing BASIC when I was 11, so it is sort of a second language.
> 
> In pursuit of a BASIC programmable analog synth controller, I have built
> units based on the Sinclair ZX-81 and the Atari 800XL. Neither was fast
> enough under BASIC to be really useful (micros only had 1 or 2 MHz clocks).
> 
> Out of the blue, Brice put together the PSIM-1 which is based on the Basic
> Atom Pro, a 16 MHz Hitachi H8 with the MBasic interface.
> 
> http://www.basicmicro.com/
> 
> Well, gosh darn it if the thing isn't faster than sh*t. Updating 4 x 12 bit
> serial DACs takes 400 microseconds and reading 4 ADCs and updating 4 DACs to
> make a 4 channel chromatic quantizer takes a millisecond. This is with BASIC
> language programming. As a rule of thumb, a single line of BASIC code
> executes in 20 microseconds. Also you can program MIDI and DIN interfaces
> with BASIC.
> 
> So, for one off and hobby projects where the $50 for the stamp is doable,
> you could use a Basic Atom Pro and make the software development end a LOT
> more approachable.
> 
> If you just want to program, Brice has already done a nice job packaging the
> Basic Atom Pro into a synth module. I worked with him to make sure the
> analog end was very stable and scaled correctly for simultaneous analog and
> MIDI synthesizer control.
> 
> http://www.synthmodules.com
> 
>