SSM and CEM ICs
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SSM (Solid State Music) and CEM (Curtis Electronic Music Specialities) were the two major producers of analogue ICs for synthesizers from the 1970s.
ICs in synthesizers[edit]
ICs are more compact and economical than discrete circuitry to implement subtractive synthesis modules such as voltage-controlled oscillators, voltage-controlled filters and voltage-controlled amplifier. Even a complete synthesizer voice can be packaged in a integrated circuit. SSM and CEM ICs were used in many synthesizers produced by various electronic music instrument manufacturers, such as Sequential Circuits, Oberheim, Roland, Crumar, EMU, Moog Music and Doepfer. ICs were key components enabling the first programmable polyphonic synthesizers such as the Prophet 5.
Solid State Music[edit]
Solid State Music, later known as Solid State Microtechnology for Music or simply SSM, was founded by Ron Dow and John Burgoon in 1974, with assistance by Dave Rossum of E-MU Systems. The company originally produced synthesizer chip sets, and provided bare boards for the hobbyist to experiment with early SSM chips. In an unusual pairing, they also produced S-100 bus computer cards, including a Sound Synthesizer Card.[1] SSM was acquired by Precision Monolithics in 1988, who was in turn acquired by Analog Devices in 1990. New SSM-badged IC's continue to be introduced by Analog Devices, but bear little resemblance to the original SSM line. Several early members of the SSM team reformed in 2017 as Sound Semiconductor to develop audio IC's in the spirit of early SSM products.
Curtis Electromusic Specialties[edit]
Founded by Doug Curtis in 1979, CEM developed a family of signal processing products for electronic music synthesizers and audio equipment. In 1988, Doug migrated the company to become OnChip Systems.[2] In 2016, it was announced that the CEM3340 VCO had been remanufactured by OnChip using the original design, the CEM3340 RevG. Other manufacturers manufactured copies of the Curtis Chips as well since the patents had expired. Cool Audio produces the V3340 and the V3320. AS ALFA RPAR released the AS3310, AS3320, AS3330, AS3340, AS3345 and AS3360 in DIP and SMD packages.
References[edit]
- ↑ Solid State Music, S100 Computers (archived)
- ↑ About, Curtis Electromusic Specialties (archived)
External links[edit]
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