Designing a Modular DSP Core For Real-Time Audio Performance

This project provides an overview for building a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) core on a Digilent Nexys2 FPGA board. The DSP core is designed to give Cal Poly students interested in DSP and its applications to audio engineering a usable platform to perform signal processing and analytics. The processes of the DSP core are modular, allowing students to design their own implementations of various adder and multiplier functions. Infinite impulse response (IIR) filters and finite impulse response (FIR) filters using both cascade and parallel implementations are the primary processing tools in the core, and all output can be visually and aurally presented using an oscilloscope and acoustic speakers, respectively. The completed project is intended to act as a platform and guide for students to design their own filters and I/O modules. The completed filters show the correct inputs and outputs necessary to properly implement filters to work with the I/O controllers and external pmod controllers. Overall, the project successfully samples and processes digital signals, and provides a visual tool for understanding how various audio effects physically work.