Convention Paper
Economical Special-Purpose Computers for Processing Audio Signals
AES Convention 42 · Paper 866 · May 1972
Abstract
The extreme versatility and stability of the digital processing of signals have been long apparent, while the economic advantage has not. Large -number cruncher- computers can solve any problem, but their use in real time signal handling is very costly. Inexpensive minicomputers, on the other hand, frequently lack the capacity to solve the problems given to them. An alternate approach is to -roll your own- minicomputer, an inexpensive little machine that has the capacity to solve your kind of problem but is too dumb (i.e., lacks the programming versatility) to solve more general problems. This paper presents a discussion of the problem types that can be most easily solved with simple special-report hardware building blocks. An example is presented.
