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ATSAM9753

1774D–DRMSD–11/02

Product Overview

The ATSAM9753 is part of a new generation of integrated solutions for electronic musi-

cal instruments. The device includes all key circuitry on a single silicon chip: sound

synthesizer/processor, 16-bit control processor, interface with keyboards, switches, slid-

ers, LEDs, LCD display, etc.

The synthesis/sound processing core of the ATSAM9753 is taken from the ATSAM97xx

series, the quality of which has already been demonstrated through dozens of different

musical products: electronic pianos, home keyboards, professional keyboards, classical

organs and sound expanders. The maximum polyphony is 64 voices without effects. A

typical application is 38-voice polyphony with reverb, chorus, 4-band equalizer and

surround.

The ATSAM9753 is directly compatible with most available musical keyboards. This

includes configuration options for spring- or rubber-type contacts and for common

anode- or common cathode-type matrices. A 64 µs timing accuracy for velocity detec-

tion provides a very reliable dynamic response even with low-cost unweighted

keyboards. The time between contacts is coded with 256 steps on a logarithmic time

scale, then converted by software to a 128-step MIDI scale according to the type of key-

board and selected keyboard sensitivity.

The ATSAM9753 can handle directly up to 176 switches. Switches, organized in matrix

form, require only a serial diode. Up to 88 LEDs can be directly controlled by the

ATSAM9753 in a time-multiplexed way. Additional LEDs can be connected through

additional external shift registers using the GPIO lines (general-purpose I/O lines) of the

ATSAM9753. The built-in analog-to-digital converter of the ATSAM9753 allows connec-

tion of continuous controllers like pitch-bend wheel, modulation, volume sliders, tempo

sliders, etc. Up to 16 sliders can be connected.

The ATSAM9753 can be directly connected to most LCD displays through an 8-bit dedi-

cated data bus and three control signals.

Configuration options allow the ATSAM9753 to cover a wide range of musical products,

from the lowest-cost keyboard to the high-range digital piano, thanks to flexible memory

and I/O organization: built-in 64K bytes of RAM and up to 32M bytes of external memory

for firmware, orchestration and PCM data. The external memory can be ROM, RAM or

Flash. Memory types can be mixed, but for most applications there is no need for exter-

nal RAM memory as the built-in 64K bytes of RAM is enough to handle firmware

variables and reverb delay lines. External Flash memory can be programmed on-board

from a host processor through the ATSAM9753.

The ATSAM9753 operates from a single 11.2896 MHz crystal. A built-in PLL raises the

frequency to 45.2 MHz for internal processing. This allows radio frequency interference

(RFI) to be minimized, making it easier to comply with FCC, CSA and CE standards.

A power-down feature is also included which can be controlled externally (PDWN pin).

This makes the ATSAM9753 very suitable for battery-operated instruments.

The ATSAM9753 was designed with a rapid time-to-market in mind. The ATSAM9753

product development program includes key features to minimize product development

efforts:

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Specialized debug interface, allowing on-target software development with a source

code “CodeView” debugger

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Standard sound generation/processing firmware

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Standard orchestration firmware

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Standard soundbanks

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