The ELM701 is a low-power chip for creating mouse-like noises [pdf]

elmelectronics.com

28 points·sgt··8 comments

They actually specify that this is a PIC12C5xx in the datasheet. Still, a fun part. :)

Are they in that type of business generally?

Their ELM327 OBD chip is also a PIC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELM327

Seems like. It's a fairly practical model for a lot of simpler devices. I've seen dedicated mouse controllers along similar lines. Microchip themselves produce a number of devices that I'm sure are PIC-based internally too.

It's been mentioned that their USB-serial converters are PICs that failed tests of other peripherals:

http://hackaday.com/2011/01/18/mcp2200-usb-to-serial-chip-ha...

One of the code samples they have on the site is a USB-serial converter, so it is likely to be running that firmware too.

That's probably a microcontroller like a PIC that has been flashed to run the pseudorandom generator. I doubt it is an ASIC.

How do they ever expect to sell an audio generator, without publishing a sample of the audio it generates?

I don't think I've seen a sheet on any sort of audio generator that has a sample file. Normally, you'll buy or request a couple samples to use in prototyping. There are way too many factors that affect what it'll sound like to make a sample file non-useful.

Haha awesome, I've always wondered what kind of chips were in those toys

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