[sdiy] SSM2164 last time buys

[Neil Johnson]

Hi,

Tom Wiltshire wrote:
> Don't know if everyone is aware of this. If not, be advised.
>
> Analog Devices have listed SSM2164 as "Still In Production but Not Recommended for New Designs", and have "last time buy" by the available product models (leaded devices became obsolete some while ago).
>
> http://www.analog.com/en/amplifiers-and-comparators/variable-gain-amplifiers/ssm2164/products/product.html

Yeah, David Dixon mentioned this a couple of weeks ago.  Digikey have
~6000 of the DIP variants in stock.  I quizzed AD about this and they
don't have any replacement devices other than the SSM2018 (same price
for a single VCA!!  I.e. 4x the equivalent cost).

> Very disappointing. Seems like no sooner have we got a decent synth chip than someone decides to take it off us. Hopefully CoolAudio will keep making the clones for a while longer - indeed, cheap cloning may even be why AD have decided to abandon it.

Apparently the fab in San Jose has closed down so they aren't making
any more from that line.  Fabs are very expensive to run, so I guess
they're rationalising what facilities they have.

> Still, it can't be a good sign for analog audio.

Trouble is its a relatively small market, so you have the low-volume
niche suppliers like THAT Corp keeping on selling low volumes at high
prices.  Larger firms like AD just can't compete - the cost of making
the chips turns them in a loss line, so they get canned whenever they
do a product line rationalising.

Or you have CoolAudio who are based in a low-cost country (China) with
a backer with specific needs (Behringer).  If all their chips are on
the same or similar process they just run batches of wafers through
their fab and slice-n-dice-n-package them as they need.

Neil
-- 
http://www.njohnson.co.uk