microcontroller for simple audio project
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From: ethan on 2 Feb 2005 10:22 hi, i'm looking for a uC for a simple portable audio project. the basic specifications i'm looking for are: - 8/16 bit datapath - hardware multiply (8x8 ok, more bits the merrier) - 20+ MHZ instruction execution - onboard flash/SRAM (8kbytes+ FLASH, 1kbyte+ SRAM) - UART - onboard DAC (mono ok, stereo better) - free build tools - cheap! right now i'm looking at the SI Labs C8051F330. it's right at the low end of most of my criteria, but it's the only inexpensive uC ($4.27 quantity 100) i've seen with an onboard DAC. does anyone out there have experience with this part? also, is there something else i should be looking at? SI Labs have some larger FLASH variants (for example the C8051F017) but they sell for $12 in similar quantities, so that's out. the atmel AVRs are appealing for a number of reasons, but they don't have a DAC. anyone aware of a cheaper option than the C8051F330 for a full uC/flash/DAC system? is there a good very cheap DAC one could easily interface with an AVR? i'd love to use a DSP, but i believe they're just too pricy and don't come with the level of integration i need. feel free to prove me wrong on this assumption. thanks a lot for the help! ethan
From: Bob Stephens on 2 Feb 2005 11:01 On 2 Feb 2005 07:22:46 -0800, ethan wrote: > hi, i'm looking for a uC for a simple portable audio project. the > basic specifications i'm looking for are: > > - 8/16 bit datapath > - hardware multiply (8x8 ok, more bits the merrier) > - 20+ MHZ instruction execution > - onboard flash/SRAM (8kbytes+ FLASH, 1kbyte+ SRAM) > - UART > - onboard DAC (mono ok, stereo better) > - free build tools > - cheap! > > right now i'm looking at the SI Labs C8051F330. it's right at the low > end of most of my criteria, but it's the only inexpensive uC ($4.27 > quantity 100) i've seen with an onboard DAC. does anyone out there > have experience with this part? also, is there something else i should > be looking at? SI Labs have some larger FLASH variants (for example > the C8051F017) but they sell for $12 in similar quantities, so that's > out. the atmel AVRs are appealing for a number of reasons, but they > don't have a DAC. anyone aware of a cheaper option than the C8051F330 > for a full uC/flash/DAC system? is there a good very cheap DAC one > could easily interface with an AVR? > > i'd love to use a DSP, but i believe they're just too pricy and don't > come with the level of integration i need. feel free to prove me wrong > on this assumption. > > thanks a lot for the help! > > ethan I use some of the higher end SI-Labs parts and am relatively happy with them. One thing to watch out for: The 'free' compiler that comes with the development kit is only good up to 4K of code. The uncrippled version is over a KBuck. Bob
From: MSC on 2 Feb 2005 11:51 On 2 Feb 2005 07:22:46 -0800, "ethan" <ethan(a)dspmusic.org> wrote: >hi, i'm looking for a uC for a simple portable audio project. the >basic specifications i'm looking for are: > >- 8/16 bit datapath >- hardware multiply (8x8 ok, more bits the merrier) >- 20+ MHZ instruction execution >- onboard flash/SRAM (8kbytes+ FLASH, 1kbyte+ SRAM) >- UART >- onboard DAC (mono ok, stereo better) >- free build tools >- cheap! Theres a huge choice out there. What resolution DAC were you looking for? 16 bit audio grade might be pushing it a bit! TI have their MSC series, 33MHz 32KB Flash, 1.2KB RAM. Not sure what their dev tools are like though, and I think the DACs are only 8 bit. What about Analog Devices ADUC841? 20MIPS 62KB Flash, 2304bytes RAM, built in 12 bit ADCs and DACs $6:56 I'm not sure that an 8052-based system will have enough power for an audio app, so something like the the Analog Devices ADUC702x ARM based chips might be better: 45MIPS 62KB Flash 8KB RAM, 32 bit Multiply (also has 12 bit ADCs and DACs). They seem to be having production problems with this family though, as it was announced in August but production quantities aren't yet available. Continuing on up the ARM scale, Atmel have a wide choice of devices, most of which have more horsepower and memory than you specify. Not many have a ADC/DAC built in, but there is a huge range of converters out there to choose from. Mike
From: ethan on 2 Feb 2005 13:29 thanks for the warning and the info. if i choose an 8051 i'll probably use SDCC (or another free compiler, any advice?) for development purposes.
From: ethan on 2 Feb 2005 13:59
thanks for the reply! DAC resolution: basically just something that matches the native datatype of the processor. since i'm pretty sure i'll be using an 8 bitter, 8+ bits of precision should be fine. TI MSC: hmmm, this might be worth looking into. the MSC1202Y3 is pretty similar to the SI Labs part i'm considering. that said, i'd rather not pick a TI part since i work for analog devices. ;) ADUC841: speaking of analog devices, that one looks pretty good. lots of memory for the price. if 8k FLASH won't cut it, this looks like a viable option. ADUC702x: those look great, but i bet the price is going to be too high. plus there's that whole not existing thing to contend with. atmel ARM7 uC: i like these, but i think they were going to be too pricy. plus there's no integrated DAC and i'm trying to keep this as simple as possible. as for whether an 8052 will have the power for an audio app, i suppose that really remains to be seen. i have some synthesis code written for an ADSP-218x DSP, need to try porting a bit of it to find out just much i'll be able to get done. |