What platform to use instead of PIC to make a more powerful midibox?

[intellijel]

I would really like to develop my own type of MIOS but I am no whiz with embedded systems like TK. This means that I would not likely be able to take an inexpensive uP and write efficient code, super low latency code.

I look at stuff like Arduino that uses a really nice high level language like processing but I assume the added overhead, smaller amounts of i/o and less interrupts would result in a far more clumsy midibox type system.

Instead I am looking for an over spec uP platform for which C compliers exist in an effort to compensate for less pro coding. Basically trading low cost for increased performance.

Also what I am trying to build would require the equivalent of two cores anyways so I wonder if I can just use a uP with tons more i/o?

The whole purpose of this is to just learn more and then eventually graduate to writing slicker code.

[intellijel]

So from what I can tell, the new Atmel XMega series should be exactly what I want. The ATxmega128A1 is supposedly out but I have not found a source for it yet.

One disadvantage for a hobbyist is the TQFP and BGA packages instead of the DIP variants. This means that I would need to buy the ATSTK600 development board  and a ATSTK600-TQFP100 for the chip. Not to mention the expensive jtag programmer.

I guess another option is to use Atmega32-168  but chain several together and have each one do a few functions.

On the AVR freaks site one guy has recommended the ATmega640, ATmega1280, ATmega2560

Lot's to learn!

[intellijel]

So it looks like I was misunderstanding the Arduino, I think the fact that a lot of the includes and defines were hidden it gave me the impression that I was somehow working with higher level version of C but it IS C. The arduino bootloader takes up a whopping 4k but other than that it is reasonably efficient code.

I just need an arduino platform that runs on a more powerful uC and then I am homefree :)  OR I just take code I develop on an arduino and then port it to proper C code on a more powerful platform.  (they both use the avr-gcc compiler anyways)

[nILS]

hmmm, how about a laptop or a smart-phone or a palm? ;)

[TheAncientOne]

There is really only one sensible answer to this: ARM.

There are a great many variants and sources. There are good free toolchains, it's 32 bit and fast as well as scaleable. There have been over 10 Billion made, so it's not likely to go away for a long time. There are FPGA's with embedded ARM's and all manner of flash sizes available. There is even a cute dev kit for an ST variant here: ST ARM DevKit

You can get an embedded Linux for ARM, as well as several other real time cores.

[sebiiksbcs]

There are a great many variants and sources. There are good free toolchains, it's 32 bit and fast as well as scaleable. There have been over 10 Billion made, so it's not likely to go away for a long time. There are FPGA's with embedded ARM's and all manner of flash sizes available. There is even a cute dev kit for an ST variant here: ST ARM DevKit

You can get an embedded Linux for ARM, as well as several other real time cores.

Looks cool! What exactly is this? And is it really only 25$ ? Is this a possible answer to my microcontroller synth programming inquiries? sorry, I just started reading some microcontroller programming books yesterday, so maybe I get something wrong

EDIT: I see now, the price is in UK pounds, exclusive VAT ;)