--- In
AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com, Peter Korsten <peter@...> wrote:
>
> The AN1x, for some reason, has a daughter board that does the second half of the 10-voice polyphony.
The "some reason" is probably easy to explain, if 5 notes was as much as they could achieve without pushing the per-chip clock higher than was practically possible or desirable, but they wanted more than 5.
And/or maybe each individual synthesis chip can, for some reason, only load one timbre for all 5 of its notes, in which case they would need to use two separate chips to enable the bitimbrality of the AN1x.
The PLG150AN also only offers 5 notes and one timbre. Chances are this is because it's almost the same chip(s) on a card and they probably couldn't and/or didn't want to fit two sets of 5-voice ICs on a card that size. Anyway, the reason is probably related somehow.
> I have no idea where this daughter board is
It's very easy to find. It's basically sticking right in your face when you open the AN1x. It's plugged into the main board and simply mirrors two chips that exist on the main board underneath it, each pair being one synthesising chip and one RAM chip, 5 voices each.