Core STM32F4 PCB | MIDIbox

MBHP_CORE_STM32F4 is the successor of the MBHP_CORE_STM32 module, and an alternative solution to the MBHP_CORE_LPC17 module.

Main features of the STM32F407G-DISC1 based MBHP_CORE_STM32F4 module:

• 1MB Flash and 192k RAM (significantly more than previous core modules)
• The STM32F407G-DISC1 evaluation board is available for 15 EUR at Mouser, 17 EUR at Watterott(Germany), 11 GBP at Farnell (GB) - an meanwhile even at Amazon!
  It will be attached on the MBHP_CORE_STM32F4 PCB, but can also be used standalone for mini applications which only require USB MIDI and a small number of IOs or the Audio DAC.
• Easily available for private persons in small quantities and no SMD soldering skills required
• ARM Cortex-M4 CPU is widely supported by the GNU toolchain, accordingly source code can be compiled under Windows/Linux/MacOS w/o spending money for an expensive ARM compiler
• increased performance compared to STM32F1xx and LPC17xx because of the higher frequency (168 MHz)
• the enhanced instruction set with DSP operations makes Cortex-M4 very interesting for audio applications (e.g. Synths and Fx)
• MIOS32 applications are typically running more than 2..3 times faster than on STM32F103RE @72 MHz, and ca. 50% faster than on a LPC1769 @120 MHz
• Very useful integrated peripherals for MIDI and Synthesizer applications, such as UART, SPI, I2C, USB, CAN, Timers, ADC, DAC
• The USB OTG (Micro-USB) socket supports MIDI Host, which means that it's possible to connect a USB MIDI Keyboard or Synth (see also this forum article)
• The on-board Audio DAC predestinates this module for synthesizer projects - it could even be used standalone without the MBHP_CORE_STM32F4 breakout board for this purpose.
• in distance to STM32F103RE, CAN and USB can be used in parallel
• It's easy to interface external components like SD Cards and MBHP_ETH
• STM32F4xx is supplied at 3V, but 5V tolerant inputs allow to access all existing MBHP modules without additional hardware.
• Performance boost by using the DMA for background operations, such as scanning DIN/DOUT modules, analog inputs but also I2S transfers (Audio Output) w/o loading the CPU
• Supported by a free available Realtime Operating System: FreeRTOS
• no external flash programmer required, ST-LINK/V2 is part of the STM32F407G-DISC1 board to program the MIOS32 bootloader into a "virgin" device
• Fast upload of application code via USB MIDI (ca. 50kb/s) - thanks to the MIOS32 Bootloader