[sdiy] Any synths with SPDIF output?

[Magnus Danielson]

From: Glen <mclilith at charter.net>
Subject: [sdiy] Any synths with SPDIF output?
Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2004 00:56:34 -0500
Message-ID: <4.1.20040108003652.028c2b20 at mail.charter.net>

Hi Glen,

> I was wondering if SPDIF outputs were ever put on any of the digital
> synths? It seems this would be a good way to preserve the integrity of the
> synth's sound, but I don't remember ever seeing this done.
> 
> I'd like to add SPDIF to a Yamaha TG77, but I have no idea how hard or
> expensive it would be to do. The TG77 used 16 bit audio, and at least some
> of the audio is rendered at a 48 kHz sample rate. The internal DACs are fed
> via serial inputs, but I don't know how much "adaptation" the data streams
> would need, to be compatible with SPDIF.

Well, there used to be (don't know for sure about the current state of things)
neat little AES/EBU & S/P-DIF chips eating the 16 bit serial format and
spitting out propper AES/EBU or S/P-DIF format. The surrounding curcuit was
very simple back then, so I suspect it should not be very difficult to do it
now either. So, if you is running standard sampling speeds and formats, it
should be fairly simple to do.

> There are a few artifacts in the analog audio outputs. There's a bit of
> analog background hiss, and what sounds like "interference" being picked up
> from some of the digital circuitry, or perhaps from the LCD EL backlight
> driver. I seem to remember disconnecting the power to the EL driver once,
> and I think there was still a little interference of some sort, but that
> was some time ago and I might be mistaken. 
> 
> Anyway, I was thinking that a SPDIF output would bypass a lot of the little
> background noises I get through the analog output channels. It isn't that
> bad and I could live with a certain amount of noise, if adding SPDIF would
> be a nightmare project, but if SPDIF would eliminate the background noises,
> I'm interested in trying to figure out how to add it.

Well, go and look for S/P-DIF chips. Which DAC do you have?

Cheers,
Magnus