> Hi
> Has anybody used the ISD 2560 chip, is it good ?
> Sound quality compares to what ?
> How can I play a message over and over again in Push Button mode, should I
> use a Micro??
> Any sites, maybe with an 10W amp ??
> Thanks for your time
> Javier
>

Hi, one of my very first PIC jobs was modernising some very old
fairground/arcade equipment and I elected to use the ISD chips. I
have to say I was disappointed (don't know if they've changed the
specs on newer devices). The two I tried were the 1416 and 2590.
They are convenient to use, but they cut off around 6kHz, making them
useful only for speech, especially in an environment with a lot of b/g
noise. I suspect the reason for the low top end is the write time needed
for the EEPROM. The PIC was in circuit to detect triggers from various
sources and play the appropriate sound effect.

They were scrapped (given to the kids actually) and I went over to the
TMS3477/3478 which have much better high end specs, around tape
quality on a good day. They're designed to use DRAM but can be set
to run with EPROM. My current big project, and hopefully my income
for next year, is a 3478 project using SRAM and a couple of F84s.
Price of a 3478  is less than a 2560/2590 but there's the drawback
of inconvenience, particularly for a one-off (PCB, s/w etc). However,
if it's sound quality you're looking for, the ISDs aren't in the race.

Jinx