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:
- E-mu/SSM Voice demonstration board
- E-mu/SSM Data sheets (SSM 2010, 2020, 2030, 240, 2050)
- E-mu/SSM 2000/2020 Application note
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.
Copyright © 2021 Paul J. Drongowski