[sdiy] Proposed DSP board

[cheater cheater]

Hi Tim,
great that you're going on with the project.
Some thoughts:
1. if you use an AVR you'll be able to use the new uCApps MIOS. This
is a complete system which solves almost everything you need in a
synth as far as janitorial work goes. They're moving away from PIC for
the exact purpose of getting more power. It's all coded in C so you
and others can use it so much more easily
2. a dsPIC is very inefficient. You won't be able to do much with it;
or with any reasonably priced dsp chip for that matter - the movement
as I understand it (and as I was told by people smarter than me :) )
is away from classical dsp's since they have a very limited number of
multiplication units; for hardware, your best bet is an FPGA now,
which allows you to do umpteens of multiplications in one cycle. I
don't remember the exact numbers for FPGA, but even the comparison
with a core 2 duo was staggering.
3. you want to check that the codec serves you well. If you want to
output pitch CV, you're going to have a hard time with a cheap codec.
The ESS Sabre is a nice multi-channel decoder.
4, extension of 1. the midibox community (the people surrounding the
MIOS) would receive a virtual synth very well. They've been asking for
it for quite some time now :) That's one way to get many many people
interested in your project. The community has had lots of exposure and
has some very good coders on board and is full of supportive people;
bottom line is if you get bored or real-lifed there will be people to
keep pushing the rock.

On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 10:37 PM, Eric Brombaugh <ebrombaugh1 at cox.net> wrote:
> Tim Ressel wrote:
>
>> In general I don't like Microchip. Part of the is deserved, part is not.
>> Your suggestion however is very tempting. You are correct in that the
>> processors and tools are the same, so the learning curve is not affected, at
>> least by much. I will have to think about this.
>
> I understand - MCHP rubs some folks the wrong way (like an old friend who
> was shown the door there years ago). The alternative would be to build your
> entire board around something like the new TI Digital Signal Controllers:
>
> http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/landing/f280xx-piccolo/index.htm
>
> I don't think any of these parts have appeared in DIY projects yet.
>
> Eric
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