Motorola Inc’s Microcontroller Technologies Group has extended its 56000 family of signal processors with the launch of the 24-bit 56007, including a low-voltage version, and a ROM-based version of the 56004. The former has 4Kb on-chip ROM suitable for on-chip audio processing and compression and decompression algorithms, and Motorola sees it being used in television audio and video receivers and amplifiers, and the 56007 in cable and satellite set-top decoders and in MiniDisk recorder-players. The 56007 is a pin- and function-compatible derivative of the original 56004 Symphony chip, but offers 12 times the program memory and four times the data memory. The 56L007 runs at 3.3V for battery-operated and low-power applications. The 56004 ROM version has a moderate increase in memory – Motorola does not say how much it has – for applications such as audio and video receivers – enough to hold Dolby Pro Logic, Lucasfilm Ltd Home THX system decoding and additional sound processing algorithms at the same time. Volume quantities of the 56007 and 56L007 will be out in April at $34 and $37.75 respectively for 10,000-up, and the 56004 follows in May, at $23.50 for 10,000-up.
