April 2015

Doc ID16895 Rev 2

1/24

1

AN3126

Application note

Audio and waveform generation using the DAC in

STM32 microcontrollers

Introduction

This application note provides some examples for generating audio waveforms using the

Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) peripheral embedded in the microcontrollers of the

STM32Fx and STM32Lx series.

This document applies to products listed in Table 1, and should be read in connection with

application note AN4566 “Extending the DAC performance of STM32 microcontrollers”.

A digital to analog converter, DAC, is a device that has the opposite function to that of an

analog to digital converter, i.e. it converts a digital word to a corresponding analog voltage.

The STM32 DAC module is a 12-bit word converter, with up to three output channels to

support audio functions.

The DAC can be used in many audio applications such as security alarms, Bluetooth

headsets, talking toys, answering machines, man-machine interfaces, and low-cost music

players

STM32 DAC can also be used for many other analog purposes, such as analog waveform

generation and control engineering.

The application note is organized in two main sections:

• Section 1 describes the main features of the STM32 DAC module.

• Section 2 presents two examples.

– In the first example, the DAC is used to generate a sine wavefom.

– In the second example, the DAC is used to generate audio from .WAV files.

Table 1. Applicable products

Type

Product series

Microcontrollers

STM32F0

STM32F1

STM32F2

STM32F3

STM32F4

STM32F7

STM32L0

STM32L1

STM32L4

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