I've been taking a close look at PSoC chips (series 1 in particular). With the reconfigurable analog blocks, they seem like a great solution for general data acquisition needs for prototype projects.

I'm thinking about buying the programmer ($37 academic) and a few PSoC 1 chips so that I can avoid building amplifiers and filters and design electronics in a more intuitive way (more like Max/MSP).

Here's the signal chain I'm looking at for my current project:

(noisy) textile resistive sensors => voltage divider => PSoC(amplifier => lowpass filter) => (Xbee => Xbee?) => Teensy((decodeXbee|ADC) => micro-OSC code => USB) => Max/MSP/Jitter

People didn't have much good to say about PSoC in the last thread. Do you think they're overkill for general signal processing tasks in prototypes? Not worth the convenience? Wait a few years for the bugs to be ironed out?

Edit 1: I'm not looking for the best solution for my current project, I'm curious as to whether you think PSoC is a good investment for general prototyping. I see two advantages for myself:


I get to learn (and share with the local community) a new technology
When I need to do signal processing in prototypes, rather than hunting for circuits, spec'ing parts, ordering them, waiting, then assembling them, I can whip out a PSoC, configure the blocks I need, and plug it into a breadboard


This was prompted by the answers to a previous question I asked here. I thought, rather than buying and learning to use PGAs and instrumentation amplifiers, I could get to know PSoC and turn a hardware problem into a software problem.

Edit 2: I ordered the MiniProg1 kit from NKC Electronics. I'll let you know how it goes.

Areas where the common breadboard does poorly:


High voltage
High frequency (above 10MHz)
Where the additional breadboard capacitance would present problems (oscillators, etc)
Where glitches due to poor wire connections would result in poor operation
Where most of the parts are not through hole 0.1" (2.54mm) centers
For anything but on-the-bench prototyping (ie, don't take it out of the lab and expect it to work)
Sensitive analog electronics, such as sensor usage

