Analog Devices Debuts Software Development Tool For Streamlining The Development Of Audio Systems

ADSP-21367 & ADSP-21368 processors extend the SHARCВ® Processor family's leadership position in consumer and professional audio

Continuing the rich audio tradition of its SHARCВ® Processor family, Analog Devices, announced two new audio processors that deliver the audio industry's highest performance and integration. With performance to 400MHz, the SHARC Processors ADSP-21367 and easily implement an increasing array of features required for consumer and premium audio products. These high-end third-generation SHARC Processors are designed to simplify product development, speed time to market and reduce product costs for a variety of audio applications including audio/video receivers (AVRs), professional mixing consoles and digital synthesizers. With the new SHARC Processors, manufacturers can create competitively differentiated products for their high-end customers more quickly, easily and cost-effectively than ever before.

Designed for audio applications requiring the highest possible performance, the ADSP-21367 and ADSP-21368 integrate a 400MHz core with large (2Mb RAM, 6Mb ROM) on-chip memory arrays and sophisticated audio-centric peripherals. These capabilities enable the new SHARC Processors to support today's consumer and premium audio products' requirement for features such as multi-channel decoders including lossless formats, multi-zone support, 192KHz processing and sophisticated auto-setup routines.

The ADSP-21367 and ADSP-21368 also are the most highly integrated members of the third-generation SHARC family. Their 6Mb of on-chip ROM is factory-programmed with industry-standard audio decoder and post-processor algorithms (ADSP-21367) or with customer-specified algorithms (ADSP-21368), which will enable manufacturers to implement many audio systems using a single chip.
In addition, the new SHARC Processors include eight full-duplex, high-bandwidth serial ports; an S/PDIF transmitter/receiver; two signal routing units for peripheral-to-pin configuration; two UARTS; four precision clock generators; up to 34 GPIO pins; 10 hardware interrupts; two serial peripheral interface (SPI) ports; three timers; a two wire interface (TWI); an input data port for parallel data or additional I2S serial channels; and an 8-channel hardware asynchronous sample-rate converter, which significantly reduce the number of required external components in a product design and, ultimately, the end-system costs. The ADSP-21368 also includes support for shared memory systems, a feature particularly useful in multi-processor professional audio systems such as recording studio mixing consoles.

The processors' high-bandwidth, highly efficient, 32-bit external memory interface simplifies software and hardware development by speeding algorithm development, ensuring that ADI is the first to market with the newest audio algorithms. The glueless interface to SRAM, FLASH and SDRAM allows embedded audio designers to take advantage of the most cost-effective memory technology, again resulting in lower overall system costs.

The ADSP-21367 is aimed at the mid- to high-end AVR market. The ADSP-21368 adds shared memory capabilities that make it ideal for professional audio applications. With both processors, manufacturers can frequently replace multiple DSPs in a design with a single SHARC Processor.
ADI's development tools for SHARC Processors include the CROSSCORE family, which encompasses the VisualDSP++В® integrated software development environment, EZ-KIT Lite^TM evaluation systems and emulators for rapid on-chip debugging.