[Fpga-synth] Analog MCU

[Eric Brombaugh]

Scott Gravenhorst wrote:
> Ah, I figgered it out (I'm still a relative newbie in this field...), the Cypress Mixed Signal PSoC...
> 
> If I read on the Cypress site correctly, they say "up to 9 bits DAC".  A tad short for audio and I didn't notice info on how fast it will go, but I'd guess for those who wish to process CVs, this with the "up to 14 bit ADC" works.  The 16 MHz clock is kind of slow, but I suppose the DCMs on the FPGA can help there, easily kicking it up to 32 MHz.  I'd guess that the reason for the 16 MHz clock is a Cypress requirement.

The DAC is built up out of switched capacitor building blocks in the 
analog array. There are actually about 13-bits of data going into it, 
but they can't guarantee monotonicity under all conditions, so they spec 
it as a 9-bit DAC.

I've used these PSoC parts in the past - they're not awesome, but they 
have some fun capabilities. Definitely useful for some things, and the 
development tools are fairly well rounded.

Eric