Hi, i am currently working with Microchip chips to build synthesizers.
The big problem is they dont give the full optimized compiler for free, so i cannot get the best out of theyr chips.
Currently i can only build a monophonic synthesizer with the unoptimized DSPICFJ128GP802, i would like to build a polyphonic synthesizer.
Sometimes i read about cortex chip being the fastest, so i signed up here with my questions :
Do i get here fully optimized C/C++ compiler for free ?
Are your chips also in DIP package ?
How many pins are the DIP package maximum ?, with Microchip i only get 28 pin DIP, i would like to have 40 pin.
Does one of your chips has build in audio DAC ?, i currently use DSPICFJ128GP802, i am very happy because it has a build audio DAC.
Does your chips have hardware UART build in ?, i need this to receive MIDI data.
Thanks in advance, greetings
I haven't experience of this area but have you looked at Microchip's own line of ARM chips, they own Atmel now -look for SMART ARM or SAM, as they may have worked through any problems of connecting their own stuff up together? Even if they haven't worked through that yet Atmel is worth a look. There's free gcc and llvm compilers for ARM chips.
Hi, i dont even know what ARM processor is,
what i do know is that Microchip dont gives optimized pro compliler, so why take a look if i cannot use 100% of the chip power ?
I need a 40 pin DIP chip with build in audio DAC and hardware UART, just checking if this is possible from other brands ?
Assuming it's an ARM core, GCC and LLVM are both free and don't require to be sourced from Microchip. Both of these are production grade optimizing compilers, used in multiple commercial devices (e.g. Android phones use GCC historically, and Apple phones use the clang frontend to LLVM).
If you don't know what an ARM chip is and are asking about cortex then we need to go back a step. I believe from what you say above you've been using a PIC processor.
Cortex is a trademark ARM has applied to its processor designs for the last few years. ARM Cortex M range means ones suitable for embedded processors like you might be interested in and they run an instruction set called Thumb, they also have R for real time and A for application which is the types used in smartphones.
ARM do not make any chips. They sell these designs to other companies. Many different manufacturers produce chips with ARM Cortex M processors in them with all sorts of different facilities, you'll have to check if the peripherals they offer are what you require, but as I said above you might like to look at the Atmel range first if you know about Microchip. They produce a number of chips with ARM Cortex M0+, M3, M4 or M7 processors in them