[sdiy] [OT] LM13700 spotted in commercial product of big Manufacturer

[Tom Wiltshire]

> On 15 May 2022, at 12:04, Matthew Skala via Synth-diy <synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:
> 
> Remember that one important reason the LM13700 is
> so popular now is because it is pretty much the last OTA available.  Many
> people using the LM13700 would really prefer to use the CA3080, CA3280, a
> Roland custom chip, or similar... but those are all gone.  Being the last
> one available improves its marketability, but the reasons why the others
> were discontinued do also apply to the LM13700.

The irony here is that *all* of the chips you just mentioned (CA3080, CA3280, IR 3109, and BA662) have now been cloned by Alfa Rpar (along with a whole range of old CEM designs) so they're not really "gone":

https://alfarzpp.lv/eng/sc/application.php

They also do a quad version of the 13700 without the buffers, the AS13704D, but don't do a straight clone of the LM13700 itself. Their "clone" of the 3080 adds the linearising diodes of the 13700 on a spare pin, which keeps compatibility with the original but adds a feature if you want it. Nice touch, I thought. Plus the spec is as good or better than the "A" variant selected CA3080s, so it's better than the best of the originals.

Still, I do love/hate the LM13700 as much as the next synth nut. It's a chip that's been around since as long as I've been doing electronics, and I remember buying them from Maplin when I was a kid and messing about with filter designs using them from R.A. Penfold's books on my first breadboard.


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