E-mu Systems and SSM ICs - Sand, software and sound

E-mu Systems and Solid State Micro Technology for Music (SSM) were pioneers in analog synthesis. E-mu Systems was founded in 1971 by Dave Rossum, Steve Gabriel and Jim Ketcham. Solid State Music Technology was founded by Ron Dow and John Burgoon in 1974. E-mu, of course, is renown for its ground-breaking Emulator keyboard.

E-mu and SSM developed several integrated circuits (IC) for analog synthesis. Also in that era (1978), Curtis Electromusic Specialties (CES) introduced their own line of analog synthesis chips.

In 1978, I was finishing up my stint in Silicon Valley and heading to grad school at the University of Utah — as far east as my meager savings could take me. Little did I know that Ercolino Ferretti at the U was investigating computer music and I would soon enjoy his expertise and banter!

Nonetheless, I was interested in building my own synth gear and I wrote to E-mu/SSM for information about the SSM demonstrator board and their chips. Here are three PDFs covering the E-mu/SSM offerings in 1978:

Check out these prices!

SSM 2010 VCA: $12.50
SSM 2020 DVCA: $7.50
SSM 2030 VCO: $10.00
SSM 2040 VCF: $10.00
SSM 2050 TG: $7.50

Good luck finding E-mu/SSM chips today. They’re worth their weight in gold.