thats madness
having a 32-bit architecture would do buggerall to this design.
Midi is a very basic standard compared to what we have these days. The bandwidth of computing power required is minimal (with only 127 different vales??? -- 7bits...) with a total bandwidth of 31.25Kbit/s (+/- 1%)
How many Reprogrammable 32bit microcontrollers do you know of on the market? And Also, how many people do you know with the ability to programme with such a device. Sure, maybe you could do it in C and compile it down, but then you'd have to look at buying the compiler.
The basic PIC instruction set allows complete beginners to get their feet wet with assembly, but also allows cheap, easy development of new ideas.
How many 32bit microcontrollers have a basic easy to solder Dual in Line (DIL) package? The PIC's are nice and easy to put in a cheap socket whereas the majority of 32bit controllers are surface mount devices or require a REALLY expensive socket to seat them. I'm talking about devices that require a $30 socket just to put them on the PCB.
If your doubting the power of a PIC, I happen to know of a PIC thats running as a web server!
http://www-ccs.cs.umass.edu/~shri/iPic.html
I consider myself lucky enough to work for a semiconductor manufacturer. We create chips that go from basic washing machines, up to Mobile Phone basestations. When I joined the company I thought that our most powerfull chips would be our main sellers. In fact, I couldn't have been more wrong. Our most popular chips are in fact our normal run-of-the-mill 16bit processors.
In many of todays low information throughput applications (such as midi) the need for speed and power isn't at the top of the agenda. I know of customers still using 8bit microcontrollers for radio communication in wireless headset stuff!
I think what you want from your 32bit micro is to be able to tell people "mine has a 32bit microcontroller" - It's a classic marketing piece of Skjitsnack. Throw big figures at buyers without actually explaining WHY it's better than what they are using at the moment.
Currently The only letdown in the design at ucapps.de is that any movement in the motorised faders happans one after the other. So if you have eight faders running from your PIC, and they all need to go to 0db (from infinity) then the first one will complete it's 'journey' then the second, then the third etc...
The answer to this has been to use multiple pic's within the same project.
Sure, if you want something like the logic control surface, then go ahead and buy one, but i think your looking at a LOT of hard work just to develop the software, before you even look at the hardware issues.
The choice is... $1000 for
the logic control or $200 for making your own motorised midi controller.
I know which one my money is on....
Cheers n Beers
Rochey
