DDS (generating sine waves) with onboard DAC using latest PIC 16F chips?

[rmteo]

Using the right tool for the job is half the battle won - that is what you learn. Here is a 20KHz Sine Wave generated by using the built-in 12-bit DAC of the MCU which like any peripheral (such as a timer or ADC) uses little to no CPU resources once set up. Without a proper DAC, generating waveforms will consume substantial amounts of CPU resources. However, for any practical application, I would still use a DDS chip.

[HankMcSpank]

Using the right tool for the job is half the battle won - that is what you learn.

Agreed, and paying $15 for a DDS IC, that I can (hopefully) get a $1 PIC to fulfill my (modest) needs means I am indeed trying to use the right tool for the job - i wouldn't use a rotavator to dig over my garden when for my tiny bit of soil a spade is just fine (while a rotavator clearly turns soil over, I'd say it wasn't the right tool for the job in that instance)

Here is a 20KHz Sine Wave generated by using the built-in 12-bit DAC of the MCU which like any peripheral (such as a timer or ADC) uses little to no CPU resources once set up.

Again, I don't need to generate 20khz (that's 4 times higher than I need), I don't need 12 bits resolution (that's about 5 or 6 bits more than I need).

But more importantly, I don't learn a thing if I go & buy a DDS IC (& at the end of the day, isn't that why most of us do this type of stuff?)

[rmteo]

Well I did use a $1 MCU to generate that sine wave. So by your logic, that would be the right tool for the job.