Overviews of technologies researched for the conceptualisation and design of Chordlink

Overview of hardware synthesis technologies

Integrated Chip
Technology
year
Manufacturer
Online documentation
ease of use
Communication
signal
package-#pins
info
cons
pros
Generic MO-83 TOS (Top Octave Synthesizer) 1970 multiple aweful easy none sine DIP-16 frequency dividers needed power consuming warm sound
555 timer IC 1971 Signetics, NTE,... too much easy RC network square DIP-8 resistances, capacitors needed square wave only. widely available, good for lots of other purposes.
  DDS (Direct Digital Synthesis)   Analog Inc.,others ok complex serial or parallel sine TSSOP      
  DSP (Digital Signal Processing)   multiple good complex multiple any QTFP   complex Hi-Fi
AY-3-891x     General Instrument     parallel          
SN76489 PWM and PCM (Pulse-width modulation and Pulse Code Modulation)   Texas Instruments decent medium parallel square DIP-16 3 tone + 1 noise channels    
SID (6581)   197 Commodore ok hard parallel   DIP 3 oscillators, 4 waveforms    
UM66 Melody generator   UMC poor easy none? square TOS-3 melodies are pre-made no creative possibilities plug and play
Pokey   1982 Atari ok ? serial   DIP-40   really low-fi really low-fi
YM-xxx(Yamaha sound chips) FM (frequency modulation) OPL2   Yamaha bad unknown     DIP      
ICL8038 VCO (Voltage controlled oscillators)   Harris good unknown voltage any DIP FM abled   good resolution, precise
Speakjet Speakjet 2000 Magnevation ok easy serial   DIP-18 made for speech synthesis not made for music synthesis, baud rate can drift 5 oscillators with enveloppes

DSP FAQ

Digital Signal Processing Workshop

Speakjet

Studied technologies for audio synthesis

- TOS chips (Top Octave Synthesizer) have been one of the mainstays of the organ industry throughout the organ heydays of the 1970's. The majority of the organs in existence today were produced during the rapid growth decade of the '70's. The TOS chips produce the top twelve musical notes which are then divided by a series of divide-by-two chips or keyer LSI's to provide the multiple octaves required to generate all the notes on a given organ model. The TOS chips replaced the twelve individual oscillator/divider circuits previously utilized by the organ industry in the 1950's and 1960's.

 

Overview of Display technologies

Display type Technology company pixels communication Online documentation ease of use info
CS-2 touch screen Simmetry 128*64 serial (RS-232) pretty good easy  
CS-1 touch screen Simmetry 128*64 serial (RS-232) pretty good easy  
F-51553 monochrome Optrex 128*64 ? ok ?  
HD44780 dot matrix Hitachi   parallel pretty good medium  
               
               

How to control an HD44780 LCD

Simmetry touch screens

Overview of Power technologies

chip technology company efficiency pros
Lm7805 linear voltage regulator Fairchild semiconductors 20% inexpensive and widely found
DE-SW05 switching voltage regulator Dimension Engineering 80% no heat dissipation, no need for decoupling capacitor, pin compatible with 7805
         
         

Dimension Engineering

 

Overview of microcontroller technologies

microcontroller Company language execution time in instructions/s I/O pins EEPROM in bytes RAM in bytes PC programming interface Price Extra fees commands
Basic Stamp 2 Parallax PBASIC 4000 16 2K 32 serial 50$ none 36
Basic Stamp 2SX

Parallax

 PBASIC 10000   16K bank switched 96 serial 60$ none  
Basic Atom Pro 24 BasicMicro MBasic 33000 16 14K 368 serial 50$ none 66
BasicX   Basic 65000   32K 400 serial 50S none  
PIC Microchip assembly, basic, C ultra fast       serial/parallel 10$ programmer and compiler  
AVR Atmel C ultra fast           programmer  
OOPIC Savage Innovations Basic, C and Java 2000 33     parallel 60$ ?  

 

Overview of Data capture technology

ADC technology company channels speed interface info
TL545 ADC Texas Instruments 19 76ks serial never got the channel switching properly
ADG508 multiplexer Analog Devices 8   serial easy to work, needs ADC
ADC0817 ADC National 16   parallel  
ADC0831 ADC National 1 slow serial easy and well documented

Overview of Sensor technology

sensor type company output pros cons
GSR Galvanic skin resistance sensor home-made analog inexpensive needs calibration
FSR Force sensing resistor Interlink analog    
555 capacitive sensor NTE, etc. digital widely available needs external circuitry
2125 dual-axis 2g accelerometer+ temperature sensor Memsic digital+analog

low-cost (26$)

code for basic stamp is kinda long
DE-ACCM Dual axis 5g acceleometer Dimension Engineering analog low-cost (20$), straightforward  
flex flex sensor ? analog