1996 DSP 56800 Family Manual

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1996 DSP 56800 Family Manual

Image by JD Hancock
In February 1996 Motorola unveiled a new digital signal processor family whose manual was my responsibility as part of the technical writing staff. I was told it was the first time that the DSP division had ever published a family manual on time.

This is one of many curious items collected in JD’s House of Miscellany.

Manta Sound Studio 3

Image by Bobolink
This was the last studio to be completed at Manta Sound. It was a state of the art analogue facility with a couple of AMS digital signal processors. After Manta Studio 3, most studios were built for digital recording.

MVI_0156

Image by krunkwerke
The DP/4 in burn-in test mode. While in this mode, it cycles repetitively through a series of self-tests, to confirm that its internals are functioning correctly. Included in these tests are two of particular interest: one which tests each of the ESPs (the Ensoniq custom digital signal processors) and another which tests the DRAM that is attached to each ESP.

Unlike when the unit first arrived on my bench, both the ESP and DRAM tests now pass.