Comments on: Revealed: Digital Brain of the Korg RADIAS Synth http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/04/11/revealed-digital-brain-of-the-korg-radias-synth/ The latest gear, software, and techniques for electronic music production and performance Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:29:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: james http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/04/11/revealed-digital-brain-of-the-korg-radias-synth/#comment-2761 james Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:32:14 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/04/11/revealed-digital-brain-of-the-korg-radias-synth/#comment-2761 The combination of a microcontroller and dsp core in a single package makes sense for a variety of common non-music applications, and companies are beginning to release "all in one" DSP systems (Microchip's dsPIC lineup is a good low cost example). So it's only a matter of time... :) The combination of a microcontroller and dsp core in a single package makes sense for a variety of common non-music applications, and companies are beginning to release “all in one” DSP systems (Microchip’s dsPIC lineup is a good low cost example). So it’s only a matter of time… :)

]]> By: Peter Kirn http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/04/11/revealed-digital-brain-of-the-korg-radias-synth/#comment-2757 Peter Kirn Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:05:05 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/04/11/revealed-digital-brain-of-the-korg-radias-synth/#comment-2757 I guess the question is, would TI, Motorola, or Analog Devices have enough impetus to do that; the DSP chips are getting sold for very different applications that wouldn't require that particular microcontroller. Thanks for the added insight, James! I guess the question is, would TI, Motorola, or Analog Devices have enough impetus to do that; the DSP chips are getting sold for very different applications that wouldn’t require that particular microcontroller.

Thanks for the added insight, James!

]]> By: james http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/04/11/revealed-digital-brain-of-the-korg-radias-synth/#comment-2753 james Wed, 12 Apr 2006 04:43:03 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/04/11/revealed-digital-brain-of-the-korg-radias-synth/#comment-2753 Thanks for daring to post about the dark and mysterious world of DSP! The frustrating thing about incorporating DSPs into a hardware design is that you still need a separate microcontroller to handle mundane tasks like polling the front panel, driving LEDs and displays, keyboard scanning, and MIDI/USB processing. By the end of the design process, you find yourself having built a fairly capable little computer. As an example, the prototype synth sitting on my design bench actually has several times the memory of a vintage Commodore 64 and a 40x faster clock speed – and that’s without factoring in the sound generation circuitry. To keep R&D costs down, most designers like to build new machines around chips from existing MCU and DSP chip families, which lets them port bits and pieces of existing software to shiny new hardware. And -- in an effort to get costs even lower -- a chip company called Atmel actually produces single-chip DSP/microcontroller systems optimized for synthesis and audio effects (the ATSAM3103 / ATSAM3108 series, if anyone's interested in Googling them). I hope that companies like TI, Motorola, and Analog Devices take a similar "all in one" approach -- it will help to fuel development of the next generation of hardware synthesis. Thanks for daring to post about the dark and mysterious world of DSP!

The frustrating thing about incorporating DSPs into a hardware design is that you still need a separate microcontroller to handle mundane tasks like polling the front panel, driving LEDs and displays, keyboard scanning, and MIDI/USB processing.

By the end of the design process, you find yourself having built a fairly capable little computer. As an example, the prototype synth sitting on my design bench actually has several times the memory of a vintage Commodore 64 and a 40x faster clock speed – and that’s without factoring in the sound generation circuitry.

To keep R&D costs down, most designers like to build new machines around chips from existing MCU and DSP chip families, which lets them port bits and pieces of existing software to shiny new hardware. And — in an effort to get costs even lower — a chip company called Atmel actually produces single-chip DSP/microcontroller systems optimized for synthesis and audio effects (the ATSAM3103 / ATSAM3108 series, if anyone’s interested in Googling them). I hope that companies like TI, Motorola, and Analog Devices take a similar “all in one” approach — it will help to fuel development of the next generation of hardware synthesis.

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