[sdiy] Cheap Midi->CV

[Oakley Sound]

> So I was feeling quite comfortable choosing a 12 bit DAC for my next 
> project. I am not so sure about that now...

12 bit DACs are fine so long as you use the right 12 bit DAC and you 
don't expect the DAC to do any of the V/octave scaling adjustments. The 
MAX551 is a very good serial DAC, and the parallel loading AD7545 et al 
are also good. These both will give you a linearity of +/- 0.5LSB or 
better. Using a 10.667V reference for 1V/octave and using the top seven 
bits for note number, you get an accuracy of around 1.6 cents either way.

The AD8300 is not a particularly good example of a 12-bit DAC, but it 
does have its own internal reference and is moderately cheap.

Tony

www.oakleysound.com