June 2000, Issue 119

The Chips are Alive with the Sound of Music
Imitatiing the Dead Melody IC

PIC AND CHOOSE

Both Microchip and Atmel’s microprocessors can do the job. Comparable tools are available for Microchip and Atmel’s 8-pin wonders. Microchip has a wide selection. Atmel’s larger instruction set handles the total program space easier, despite confusing register restrictions. On the other hand, Microchip’s smaller instruction set is easily memorized. Although its handling of tables is not as straightforward as Atmel’s 16-bit pointer, it works well for small tables. Although the Atmel device handles table space efficiently, Microchip’s instruction set provides more compact code.

The interrupt routine is critical in this project, and neither processor has an execution advantage over the other. So, there isn’t any overwhelming reason to choose one over the other.

Jeff Bachiochi (pronounced"BAH-key-AH-key") is an electrical engineer on Circuit Cellar’s engineering staff. His background includes product design and manufacturing. He may be reached at jeff.bachiochi@circuitcellar.com.