[sdiy] SSM2040

[Jason Proctor]

there are discrete options for making 2040 modules, but there are no 
options for replacing the chips in old synths.

given that the option is there, and you can have an MOTM-440 PCB plus 
extra parts kit for $110 or thereabouts, isn't that best course of 
action? you don't need to buy a built 440, or use spectrol/bourns 
pots, etc...

actually though GregM's words are ringing in my ears right now. i 
remember this topic coming up regarding Yamaha IG chips and he said 
IIRC that people shouldn't be too bothered about using them in other 
designs because he'd only seen a handful of bad IG chips in years of 
fixing CSes.

how often do these synths need their SSMs replaced?

disclaimer - i have modules built on 3320s and one coming up based on 
an IG156 - but there's no discrete alternative. i don't have any 
2040s, but i do have 440s.

</babble>

>  >> > They are yours. You should enjoy them however you see fit.
>>>
>>>  Absolutely. But [...]
>>
>>The argument that chip owners have any responsibility to polysynth
>>owners cannot be made on a purely pragmatic basis. It is an
>>ideological argument and a shallow one at best.
>
>Just wanted to point out that I don't have any ideological argument, just a
>purely pragmatic one.
>If these SSM2040's aren't worth 100 Dollars today, they *will* be in a
>couple of years.
>And maybe twice as much after some more years.
>Which, maybe, also means that at some time it will even be economical to
>create discrete replacements
>(in a kind of SMD that's proably even smaller than today's SMDs) for
>*polysynths*.
>
>JH. (who is guilty of claiming all of the world's remaining TDA1022s chips,
>apparently, right now. :) )