_[sdiy]_ICL8038 worst ic off all time!

[James Patchell]

The Oscillator chip I always liked was the XR2207.  I built a VCO out of it 
once even (please don't do this, the XR2207 has extremely poor linearity, 
and you will never be able to tune it).  I always thought it was too bad it 
was not suitable for musical applications.  The CEM3340 was definitely the 
best musical VCO ever made, but alas....

At 12:52 AM 3/9/2004 +0100, Karl Dalen wrote:
>I cant understand why such a crap design are still made?
>Even a simple neatly done discreete design would out perform
>the 8038!
>
>There should be a list of "worst-IC-designs-of-all-time" it would
>also be nice with a list of the most "neat" IC design of all time to!
>In the first list i would definitively put the 8038 and a bunch of
>early FM chips! In the second list i would put the 555, the 4046.
>
>KD
>
> >I used ICL8038 for my test bench setup. It is there only to make noises,
> > generate clock etc. Doesn't have to be linear, exp, whatever, no need to
> > be stable.
> > And still I don't like it. Especially waveshaping is terrible (read:
> > changing slopes in triangle wave). It affect frequency a lot.
> > Must admit it's pretty stable. Without worrying about temperature (small
> > plastic box with power supply and other stuff in it) it stays within
> > 0.1% of set frequency for hours.
> > Mine has range from 0.2Hz to about 0.5MHz. Usable range of CV is 10:1 in
> > frequency
> >
> > Roman
> >
> > ---- Wiadomo¶æ Oryginalna ----
> > Od: "Mark L. Reiser" <mlreiser0 at msn.com>
> > Do: synth DIY <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
> > Data: Sat, 06 Mar 2004 18:21:14 -0700
> > Temat: [sdiy] ICL8038
> >
> > >1. I just came upon some ICL8038 function generator ICs
> > >
> > >How do people feel about building a VCO with an ICL8038?
> > >
> > >Keep in mind, that I am not looking for a great VCO. I would use it
> > mostly
> > >as a small unit to interpret CVs from various controllers for testing
> > and
> > >experimentation. If it sounds like a bad casio, though, let me know --
> > it's
> > >not so hard to just build the oscillators the hard way.
> > >
> > >Mark L.
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>Höstrusk och grå moln - köp en resa till solen på Yahoo! Resor på adressen 
>http://se.docs.yahoo.com/travel/index.html

         -Jim
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