synthesiser IC's

10-18 — elektor october 1981 synthesiser ICs H.P. Baumann makes building synthesisers less of a headache The American Curtis company has recently introduced a set of special music synthesiser ICs onto the market. These "musical chips" have now found their way across the Atlantic and are well worth looking at (and listening to). The following analysis weighs up the pros and the cons. The four ICs involved are: a VCO (CEM 3340), a VCF (CEM 3320), a VCA (CEM 3330) and a voltage controlled ADSR generator (CEM 3310). Before readers rush out to the shops, however, it should be mentioned that although their quality is very good, this does not herald the "perfect IC", able to do anything. This simply does not exist. However, the ICs we"re about to intro- duce are very clever, but nonetheless still require the assistance of a few other components. Readers will find the ICs to be quite useful — provided they are properly used. So if you are thinking about building a synthesiser based on...