CEM3340 back in production!

[_ADSR_]

Heard this at some other forums and it appears to be true.

Will this forum be adding a "New" Vintage section?

[Paul Dither]

Heard this at some other forums and it appears to be true.

Will this forum be adding a "New" Vintage section?

What's the source?

[_ADSR_]

Gearslutz and Muffwiggler.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-electronic-music-production/1089212-cem-3340-back-production.html

$15 a piece.  Available now.

[Paul Dither]

$15 a piece.  Available now.

How many will you buy?   

[_ADSR_]

Well, my Pro-One has 3 but it was just refurbished.  It is nice to know this is happening as it gives me piece of mind that I didn't pay to get a synth refurbished that could be dead forever tomorrow.

It is speculated that Onchip/Curtis Electro will be back making other chips as well since they filed for several other chip trademarks at the same time as the CEM3340.

I speculate within one year it will be 1981 all over again as far as PolySynths go.  Hurray! 

[Paul Dither]

Here's all the info in one spot: http://www.matrixsynth.com/2016/06/curtis-cem3340-vco-chips-re-issued.html

The Curtis CEM3340 VCO has been reissued by Curtis Electromusic. Note the Rev G in the image. That is the new chip. This is pretty big news. If the info below is correct you will be able to order a single chip for $15 or in bulk discount.

The CEM3340 was responsible for the main VCO used in quite a few classic synths including the Oberheim OB-Xa, OB-Sx & OB-8, the Voyetra 8, Roland SH-101, MC-202, Jupiter-8, and early model MKS-80, The Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 Rev 3, Prophet-10, Prophet-600, Pro-One, and Prophet T8, Moog Memorymoog, Banana Polysynth, Crumar Spirit, Digisound 80 VCO modules, the Synton Syrinx, Steiner Parker EVI, Doepfer's A-111-1 High End VCO and more.

I saw mention that Dave Smith might have been involved with the re-issue. This would make sense as Dave Smith was close to Doug Curtis and DSI uses a later revision of Curtis chips in many DSI synths, however, I checked with DSI and they let me know: “DSI wasn’t involved in the reissue and if anyone would like to find out more about it, they should contact susanonchip@covad.net directly.” More info including price follows.

First, via their Facebook page:

"Founded in 1979, Curtis Electromusic Specialties created a line of signal processing chips for electronic musical instruments and accessories.

Curtis Electromusic currently offers the sought after CEM3340 VCO, a rework of the original design."

And via johnny83 on the Muff Wiggler Forum including contact info, price, and availability.

"Dear all, I've been speaking with onchip for the last 3 months and they have already produced a new batch of CEM 3340. They are available for $15 each! We have tested them and they are revision G and pass our tests on the original Curtis test boards and also various synths we tried them in.

The person to contact is susanonchip@covad.net, she has been remarkably helpful and can process your order. Please be aware that revision G has meant the following:

"After reviewing the prior specifications I did decide to change the minimum VCC spec. The old VCC min. was +10V and the new VCC min. is +11V. This is based on my own bench experience with several versions of the device. Many devices will work with a VCC of +10V and others won’t. Devices that won’t work at +10V should easily work at +11V or higher. This is the only specification that we’ve changed" John Borg (Onchip Engineer)

Additionally they have no plans to release the 3310, 3320 and 3360 yet but I think if they see the success of the 3340 it may be apparent the market needs them. I am in communication with them and will continue to push for the other chips to be brought back but to be honest the release of the 3340 is great news as that was the most common curtis chip used.

Here are the price breaks for anyone wanting to get more than a handful:
1 - 499 = $ 15.00
500 - 999 = 12.82
1000 - 4999 = 9.64
5000+ = 7.46

Postage is in addition to this.

I hope you enjoy and spread the word!!"

[Paul Dither]

I've also heard from someone in Germany who's in touch with him that Dieter Doepfer has been involved. So maybe his VCO A-111-1 module will return at some point. The interesting thing about the CEM3340 is that it's capable of Thruzero-FM, although that has never been utilized. But apparently, Dieter Doepfer seems to be interested in that aspect.

[chysn]

This is exciting news. I've been coming up with various barriers in building a VCO, specifically trying to find discontinued op-amps used in numerous DIY circuits. Something like this could drag me back into that project.

[Paul Dither]

And here we go: http://www.doepfer.de/A1112.htm

[chysn]

That looks nice. My next euro synth (and, of course there's going to be a next euro synth) will be built on a really good oscillator, so I'm going to keep my eye on this one. 10 octaves of perfect tracking!

[Paul Dither]

That looks nice. My next euro synth (and, of course there's going to be a next euro synth) will be built on a really good oscillator, so I'm going to keep my eye on this one. 10 octaves of perfect tracking!

Yeah. I just read that Dieter Doepfer received his first batch last week, so he can start manufacturing now.

[DavidDever]

It should be obvious, but the fact that this component is through-hole likely limits its applicability to manufacturers whose boards utilize through-hole components already, or have enough 2nd-ops on mostly-surface-mount PCBs to justify the additional cost.

By comparison, the Marion / DSI / Curtis ICs are surface-mount - a fact that, on its surface (pun intended) may very well help to keep things a bit more thermally stable, as well as less expensive to manufacture on a modern PCB.

[Paul Dither]

First and foremost, this is good news for some vintage gear owners - particularly those, who for example own Oberheim and Sequential Circuits instruments from the early 1980s. The new Doepfer VCO ist just one step. Whether someone takes the (economic) risk to develop a new synth with through-hole components for new, reimagined, or reissued stuff is to be awaited.

[blewis]

Could OnChip offer it in a different package?

[DavidDever]

Could OnChip offer it in a different package?

That's a really good question.

Would larger manufacturers get on the analog bandwagon, consuming enough quantities on a frequent enough basis to make it a reasonable business? (I'd wager that it would make more sense for VCOs than VCFs, frankly.)

By my reckoning, there have only been two newish analog-building-block synthesizer ICs within the last two decades: the Marion/DSI Curtis-based IC that most of us are familiar with, and the Wavefront/Alesis IC used in the Andromeda.