I'd like to essentially design a bass preamp/DI with IR cabinet emulation, like the ones that are now starting to become popular. Of course it would be a homemade effort, so that rules out surface mount components (for me, anyway). I already have the preamp design, and I'd be looking to add either a digital compressor + IR feature or just the IR. Through-hole DSPs are too weak for IR cabinet emulation, since this really means FIR filters; one could approximate an IR by converting the 3000 or so filter taps to an IIR filter, but that would be worse yet for processing power. Of course, one could also just smooth the 3000 taps to, say, a bank of a dozen biquad filters or so, which should be OK, but since there are plenty of IR cabinet emulators on the market, I'm presuming there must be a low-cost chip allowing you to go with FIR filters, which means there might be a ready-made module to be added onto an existing design. I've seen this:
https://store.sure-electronics.com/product/AA-AP23122
which could fit the bill? Perhaps? Are there any alternatives?
https://store.sure-electronics.com/product/AA-AP23122
which could fit the bill? Perhaps? Are there any alternatives?
It uses an ADAU1701, which has a few GPIO pins that can be used for push-buttons or rotary encoders. Otherwise, its programmed through SigmaStudio. So one question might be how much control functionality might you need without a computer to reprogram the device? For example, a compressor typically has a few controls. How do you envision that working?
https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADAU1701.pdf
BTW, SMD isn't that hard to learn how to deal with. It just takes a little practice, and there are practice soldering kits you can buy so that you don't make any mistakes with your real project. Taught one guy how to do pretty professional looking SMD soldering in less than an hour. Of course, having the right tools is always part of being able to do things well.
Also, if you really can't handle SMD at all, you can usually get a PCB manufacturer to stuff whatever components you want them to. Just costs more money is all.
https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADAU1701.pdf
BTW, SMD isn't that hard to learn how to deal with. It just takes a little practice, and there are practice soldering kits you can buy so that you don't make any mistakes with your real project. Taught one guy how to do pretty professional looking SMD soldering in less than an hour. Of course, having the right tools is always part of being able to do things well.
Also, if you really can't handle SMD at all, you can usually get a PCB manufacturer to stuff whatever components you want them to. Just costs more money is all.
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You really need only three knobs (with preset attack and release, which is common on MI compressors): threshold, makeup volume (or gain into the fixed threshold compressor, attenuation) and IR selection. Even just two, with some heuristic preset volume change according to the threshold (or gain into the compressor).