ChipCorders - Where to go for Single Message

For those that need to redesign a project that used an old single message ChipCorder, you have several options. If you need to record and play for a relatively short time, your best bet is the ISD1600B or ISD1800 series products. These products give you simple access to a single message from 6 to 40 seconds according to the internal size of the memory and the sample rate of the device.

Each device has a single pin to control record and the option of 2 pins to initiate PLAY. One pin, PLAY EDGE (PLAYE) starts playback with a momentary pulsed level while the other pin PLAY LEVEL (PLAYL) plays the message as long as the level is held. The ISD1800 uses an active HIGH going pulse or level for record and play while and the ISD1600 uses an active LOW going pulse or level to control the part.

These devices include a simple microphone interface; just add the microphone plus 3 caps and 3 resistors and your done. The speaker is driven directly from 2 pins (don't ground either pin, you can let the smoke out).

I prefer the ISD1600B family because of (in my opinion) less distortion and background hiss and more speaker drive. The ISD1600B family may cost a little bit more but its worth it (again in my opinion). Additionally, the ISD1800 requires a 28 pin package while the ISD1600B uses a 16 pin package. Smaller is better.

I'll cover the multiple message options in a later Blog.

By the way, I don't work for Nuvoton, Winbond or ISD. I'm an independent consultant. I can be reached at joe@jarrett.com.

Note: ChipCorder is a registered trademark of Nuvoton. This blog is an independent effort and in no way connected to Nuvoton.

ChipCorders - Whats real, whats not

I have been searching around the web to see what other people are saying about ChipCorders. Unfortunately there is a lot of old data floating around regarding ChipCorders that are no longer available. For example, I found a site with a bunch of PDFs for down load with content I wrote for ISD in the early 1990s. This information is totally out of date and covers some products that haven't been available for 10 years.

Let me get one piece of data out immediately. All of the first generation ChipCorders, are gone. This list includes the ISD1000, ISD1016A, ISD1020A, ISD1420, ISD1416, ISD2560, ISD2590, ISD2575, ISD25120, and the ISD1110 . There are probably more like these I've forgotten about. All of these devices were built in non Winbond fabs and those processes haven't been viable for a number of years. You may find some stock in places, but don't do any new designs with these parts. That supply could disappear and there are no replacements.

If you come upon application data on any of these products, its pretty much worthless. None of the newer Nuvoton products are pin and function compatible with the older ones. If you need to respin a product that used one of these older devices, you will have to do some redesign to use the newer (and available) devices.

Helping with these redesigns is part of the reason I set up this Blog.

Note: ChipCorder is a registered trademark of Nuvoton. This blog is an independent effort and in no way connected to Nuvoton.