Good chips for DIY synthesizer? + What if?

[Biopharmer]

Can someone recommend any ICs that would be good for making a DIY synth?

You can't just waltz in and order like, Curtis chips, but is there a similar manufacturer who makes VCOs and VCFs that you can buy in tiny batches (perhaps even single chips)? If there isn't, there really should be. An IC manufacturer who markets to the DIY crowd.

Something I posted on another forum:

I wish a company made easily available synthesizer ICs (chips). Like oscillators and filters etc.
So anyone could easily and inexpensively build the synth of their dreams. All you'd need is a little electronics knowledge.

It would be like building a modular synth, except it would have chips as modules.
VCOs, VCFs etc. Even a MIDI converter chip or a BBD chorus chip (like the Juno-60).

That would be loads of fun, and you'd only be limited by your wallet and electronics knowledge. And you would save money because you're assembling and designing the synth yourself.

Picking out chips would make me feel like a kid in a candy store. I honestly can't see why there isn't a manufacturer that distributes chips like that. You can only buy Curtis chips (the ones in Sequential Circuits and Dave Smith synths) in runs of 1000.

And you could easily use an Arduino with them too.

It would be cool if some of the chips were clones of vintage synth components. Like a Juno filter or an Oberheim filter.

[C00kie]

Because of the nature of the production process, chips can't be produced in low quantities. Well, maybe they can if you are prepared to pay $10.000 or so for 100 chips. That makes it economically very difficult.

But: chips are nothing more than a bunch of transistors packed closely together. Nothing stops you from building basic synth blocks from transistors, opamps and other generic components that were not initially developed specifically to be used in a synth. It's a niche market...

It would be cool if ...

Yeah, keep on dreaming.

NB: have you seen our DIY section ???

[whyterabbyt]

Because of the nature of the production process, chips can't be produced in low quantities. Well, maybe they can if you are prepared to pay $10.000 or so for 100 chips. That makes it economically very difficult.

But: chips are nothing more than a bunch of transistors packed closely together. Nothing stops you from building basic synth blocks from transistors, opamps and other generic components that were not initially developed specifically to be used in a synth. It's a niche market...

yeah, what Cookies said. If you doubt him, consider why there have only really been two companies in the past 40 years who made 'OEM' ICs targeted at the synth industry, Curtis and SSM.

All in all, the majority of DIYers seem quite happy to go with discrete designs anyways. Its partially pragmatism, but back when Curtis and SSM were used in then-current designs there was actually a slight stigma about using off-the-shelf designs, and I think that seems to have continued to this day too.

[Synthbuilder]

You can do a lot with the SSM2164 and the Cool Audio version of it. Essentially four log VCAs in one chip, so you can make VCOs, VCFs, EGs and VCAs. But it's expensive and easy to kill if you are not too careful with the power supplies.

George Hearn makes some nice hybrid chips:

http://sites.google.com/site/hearnmorley/

Nice little things. Very useful if you need to reduce size.

The usual way of Synth-DIY is discrete and LSI components. This does give you more flexibility at the expense of a larger physical footprint.

Tony

[JimmiG]

Discrete components is probably the way to go. You don't need millions of transistors and other components.. Things like the Minimoog were done without IC's..


I'm wondering though, were do small companies like MFB, Spectral Audio, Doepfer etc. source their IC's?

Here's a pic of the Synth II for example. Lots of "chips" there. Do they sell enough units that they can order custom designs in bulk from some chip manufacturing company?

[Gamma-UT]

I'm wondering though, were do small companies like MFB, Spectral Audio, Doepfer etc. source their IC's?

Here's a pic of the Synth II for example. Lots of "chips" there. Do they sell enough units that they can order custom designs in bulk from some chip manufacturing company?

They are probably off-the-shelf small-scale integration parts such as multiple op amps on one die. The Doepfer DIY synth kit, for example, uses a bunch of standard parts from STMicroelectronics: mostly quad op amps for the VCOs etc and things like 555 timers for the envelope generator.

There are such things as analogue gate arrays - these are used by some of the big analogue IC companies like Maxim to do low-run parts, although you do need minimum orders in the thousands. And Anadigm, plus a couple of others, have done programmable analogue arrays although they aren't typically specced to handle high-quality audio.

[justin3am]

As others have said, for DIY it's often easier to stay discreet when it comes to analog circuits. If you want to experiment with a quad op-amp, LM13700 or a BBD chip though, I agree with synthbuilder (nice to see you at KvR btw) CoolAudio is a great resource for clones of common analog and digital ICs for audio. You can get a batches as small as 10 from them, though it's much more expensive that way than if you buy 1000.

That said, CoolAudio is as close as you're going to get to a company catering to the DIY community. Do you have any idea what it takes to manufacture ICs and other semiconductors? The DIY community simply isn't big enough to support a company making components just for that market.

[jupiter8]

http://sites.google.com/site/hearnmorle ... cts/hm2040
http://sites.google.com/site/hearnmorle ... ts/hmvco1b
http://sites.google.com/site/hearnmorle ... s/hmadsr1c
http://sites.google.com/site/hearnmorle ... ts/hmvca1b
http://www.schippmann-music.com/
http://www.analoguerenaissance.com/D80017A/

[Biopharmer]

Well, see I was thinking in terms of part sourcing for DIY-ers. Instead of getting and soldering together a discreet VCO, you'd just get a VCO chip. Simple.
For instance I have an archer brand soundchip, similar to a ZX-Spectrum chip. I haven't used it yet, but I could easily get an Arduino, a breadboard and a 1/4" jack and I could make music. Not very complex, and extremely inexpensive, I wouldn't even need to think much about a schematic beforehand.

See I think it would be cool if ICs were aquired like one might aquire eurorack modules. And the pins would just accept CV.

[justin3am]

Well, see I was thinking in terms of part sourcing for DIY-ers. Instead of getting and soldering together a discreet VCO, you'd just get a VCO chip. Simple.
For instance I have an archer brand soundchip, similar to a ZX-Spectrum chip. I haven't used it yet, but I could easily get an Arduino, a breadboard and a 1/4" jack and I could make music. Not very complex, and extremely inexpensive, I wouldn't even need to think much about a schematic beforehand.

See I think it would be cool if ICs were aquired like one might aquire eurorack modules. And the pins would just accept CV.

hmm... It seems you don't really understand how an IC works. I have an SN76477N chip, which is basically a synth voice on a chip but I can't just start sending voltage into it and expect to get sound out. There is a lot of supporting circuits that are necessary to control it properly and to get a usable signal from it. This goes for pretty much any IC.

I wish I had more encouraging words but it seems like you are trying to run before you can walk.

[Biopharmer]

Indeed I am.

[tomtoo]

Why not get one of this ??

Digital oszillators with analog filters.

Like many 80's synths.

http://mutable-instruments.net/shruthi1b

Greetings
Thomas

[Biopharmer]

Why not get one of this ??

Digital oszillators with analog filters.

Like many 80's synths.

http://mutable-instruments.net/shruthi1b

Greetings
Thomas

I've wanted one for ever! Not in stock last time I checked though.

[stuartmerchant]

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DSP offer chips (IC) specifically aimed at synths/drum machines

http://dspsynth.eu/ (http://dspsynth.eu/)