[sdiy] arduino module mission

[Jason Proctor]

>Okay, I think I'm starting to get you.  Basically a module that fits 
>into one of the modular synth backplanes/racks, has an atmel chip, 
>USB connector, runs the arduino bootloader and has a DAC?

yes. it's a modular synth module. from the front the only indication 
that something weird is up is the USB connector. otherwise it behaves 
just like an LFO, or ADSR, or MIDI to CV, or whatever. and when you 
want it to do something else, you plug the USB cable in and upload a 
new sketch.

>It sounds interesting to me - you could have a connector on the front

...back :-)

>for the I2C/SPI/etc bus, so that you could have an independant DAC 
>module on the same backplane plugged into the bus.  Makes me wonder 
>about serial bus DDS chips as an option.

yes indeed. but why would you, when you have a decent 8-channel DAC 
on the board itself, which can be addressed in a platform compliant 
way?

(in theory i'm not opposed to having an expansion slot, but i'm 
thinking of software compatibility. and the current design maxes out 
the most common Ard chip (168) and i'd like to avoid mandating a Mega 
etc...)