[sdiy] Shift register options

[rsdio at sounds.wa.com]

What sort of button states are you cycling through? Would a counter  
work more simply than a shift register? Personally, I don't like  
shift registers unless I need to load unpredictable values into the  
bits. When the bits have a pre-determined relationship, such as  
address, count, decode, etc., I prefer hard-wired logic that doesn't  
start with a random state at power-up. In other words, a shift  
register is perhaps too flexible for certain applications. Hard to  
say what's 'better' without knowing exactly what you need to do.  
There are some bizarre chips out that which sometimes do exactly what  
you need with no setup required.

Brian Willoughby
Sound Consulting


On Feb 6, 2014, at 07:28, Justin Owen wrote:
> We're using a 74HC595 shift register/405x multiplexer combo to  
> cycle through some button states. I'm comfortable with the 405x  
> series but I've not used shift registers before...
>
> ...is there a 'better' option than the generic 74HC595?
>
> It's working fine, it's available in DIL and SOIC - just thought  
> I'd ask.