I've read in my research that most microcontrollers are not built with DAC outputs as they are expensive to include on silicon chips. Also applications that require analogue outputs typically need a higher resolution than is feasible on a microcontroller and would probably use a dedicated IC anyway.
I am planning to build an analogue synthesizer with patch memory(storage and recall of voltage states). Apparently these functioned by reading the voltage of an analogue potentiometer into a microcontroller and applying a control voltage to the synthesizer using a DAC. This state could then be saved and recalled as 'presets'.
What I would like to know is a suitable way to control multiple analogue outputs to a circuit from a microcontroller.
Best Answer
You could use DACs or you could use PWM outputs from the MCU. Quad DACs are available and I've used one recently from MAXIM - it was a 12-bit version and was controlled from the MCU via a serial link. You could easily add several of these depending on how many voltage outputs you need to generate. I believe MAXIM also produce a DAC with 32 outputs!! Just checked - it's a MAX5773 (edited) 14 bit DAC