Use of High-Speed Microprocessors for Digital Synthesis

This paper describes a processor specialized for the synthesis and treatment of sound signals, realized with bipolar bit -slice microprocessors. This processor has been studied at the Musical Department of I.N.A., within a project aiming at the development of digital systems for sound processing with real-time control (SYTER Project). A prototype has been built with the help of Denis Valette. The main characteristic of this processor is that it is completely programmable, which makes it possible to use many existing methods of synthesis or to adapt it to new methods, without modifying the hardware. Three other points have also been crucial for the conception of the processor: