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The MBHP Core Module is the heart and brain of every MIDIbox. It holds the PIC microcontroller which runs MIOS and your MIDIbox application. It handles MIDI communication, it drives an LCD (or two), and it connects to all the other modules.
The PIC is a “system on chip” (SoC), this means, it contains not only a CPU, but also an integrated 32k flash program memory, 1536 bytes data memory, 256 bytes data EEPROM, and a lot of usefull peripherals like AD-converter and UART (for MIDI). The low prices and worldwide availability for hobbyists makes it a good choice.
Main part of this module is the PIC, a microcontroller manufactured by Microchip. It is clocked at 40 MHz (externaly with a 10 MHz crystal) and offers enough performance to handle analog and digital modules with latencies below 1ms.
In distance to other (more modern) microcontrollers, the PIC is easy to program, requires no external memories, is almost non-destroyable and comes in a handy DIP package, so that also electronic beginners can work with this chip without the danger of damaging small SMD pins within some seconds with their soldering iron.
The Core Module can be equipped with following microcontrollers:
There are different possibilities to have multiple Cores.