Obsolescence of groovy synth parts

[Jim Patchell]

    You have my sympathy.  I am recently just getting back into DIY after a ten year
hiatus, and have to say, things have really changed.  Most of my designs have to be
scrapped for the reason you gave below.  It used to be that there were all kinds of
matched transistor pairs out there, you had a huge choice. I mostly miss the CEM
parts.  But, hey, those who can adapt, will survive.

    -Jim

Tim Ressel wrote:

> Y'know, you go through life thinking your synth design is super. And just when
> it can't get any better, the manufacturer of the nifty little IC that made your
> job so-o-o-o easy announces they have cancelled that part. That is when you get
> that sinking feeling. I thought I was ever so cool: my VCA design using an SSM
> 2015 was working very well. Then I discover Analog Devices, who bought out SSM,
> does not make that part any more. I have exactly 5 left, so I guess 5 VCAs is
> the perfect amount for my synth. Sigh.
>
> I'm not sure what the lesson is here. None of us are into large production
> quantity design, so its not a big deal. I don't like being limited like this,
> but that's the engineer in me talking. I guess we all have to deal with the fact
> that we're hobbyists scrounging up parts wherever we can. Our designs don't have
> to be in production 3 years from now. They have to sound good and be versatile
> and easy to use. Robust fits in there somewhere. So 5 VCAs it is. If I need
> more, I'll investigate the other 25 VCA designs out there and build one or two
> or ten of them.
>
> Life goes on.
>
> Tim Ressel -- Hardware DQ
> Hewlett-Packard
> Verifone Division
> 916-630-2541
> tim_r1 at verifone.com