Hi guys. I found this new PIC that is capable of some curious sound stuff…

http://oopic.com/soundgin/

The Soundgin is a serially controlled Sound Synthesizer in a PIC.
It produces complex sound effects, synthesizer style music and English speech with an unlimited vocabulary.
For use in manufactured electronics and home projects.

Now Shipping

Available in an 18-Pin DIP or SOIC package.

2.0 to 5.0 Volts Operation

16Khz Sample Output Rate

2400 or 9600 Baud Serial Connection

6 Independently Controlled Voices

Amp, Freq, Ring Modulation

Hard Sync.

ADSR Envelopes

Musical Notes

English Phonemes

Sound Morphing

Rather than writing directly about the NIP workshops, I’m going to focus on the micro work I’m now beginning, spurred on by the NIP events. I’ve been waiting a while to get into using Atmel AVR microprocessors. So while much of the NIP events so far have been using computer based applications, I’m going to be using embedded micros - - due to the fact that I don’t like to have to have a computer in the middle of any works I make (..though I do use computers for development, obviously..)

So, this new little thing pictured is the AVR Butterfly demo kit - its tiny (smaller than a pack of smokes) & cheap. Based on ATMega169 micro, its got an LCD disply, little joystick, temperature sensor, piezo speaker (for sound gen) and a load of techy details.. This is a good cheap way to begin learning with Atmel chips - add on serial connection and you can start reprogramming the system using WinAVR / AVRStudio..

I’ll try to get back and update with more links / info / projects / pics
……soooooon….

Intial links of interest:
Atmel AVR Micros
AVR Studio software
WinAVR - C compiler for AVRs!
Smiley Micros (good starter e-book for learning)