CPLD/FPGA

It is highly unusual to use this in hobby projects but since I started programming hardware devices in 90's, when Arduino and Raspberry did not exist, I am able to program these devices most in VHDL language.

I am used in using the Altera devices from classic to new devices. I do even own a Pentium4 PC 600Mhz with the latest version of Maxplus2 for programming classic devices as EP900 (25 years old platform). Currently Altera is owned by Intel and does provide Intel Quartus Prime software suite and most devices are programmed via JTAG.

The big advantage is the very high speeds these devices run and can run loads of parallel tasks on different clock busses.

And it is hardware that runs (fuses get programmed in logical blocks), not a processor running software.

 In the old days I designed hardware were we controlled the grid (electricity) of South Hollland with these kind of devices. 

My early hobby nixie clocks and CD-player were running on FPGAs.

You can contact me with the contact form to discuss the possibilities.