[mikepurvis]

Is this for a production device or like a hobby type thing? Reason I ask is that I'm often resistant to adding auxiliary microcontrollers to things just due to the extra hassle of maintaining, building, and distributing the firmware for them. Like, even if it's a device with JTAG, that's still a program-once-in-the-factory affair, unless you go the trouble of also setting up an SPI bootloader or something on it.

I guess the counter argument is that a 555 circuit can't be reprogrammed either, but it also doesn't have to be programmed even the first time.

[trelliscoded]

With analog solutions, the complexity gets pushed into designing the test rigs, validating your component supply, thermal compensation, etc. Dealing with firmware instead may or may not be a net win, but the bottom line is you can change the firmware but you can't change the board.