OnChip Systems: Difference between revisions

== The company ==

After working for four years at [[Interdesign, Inc.]] [[Doug Curtis]] went on to found Curtis Electromusic Specialties in 1979.<ref name="strom">[http://synth.stromeko.net/DIY.html#CEMpics Pictures of dead CEM chips] at Stromeko Synth World</ref> He did this specifically to design and manufacture [[integrated circuit]]s for [[Synthesizers|music synthesizers]]. Curtis Electromusic Specialties manufacturered a wide variety of [[Integrated circuit|ICs]], many of which incorporated an entire synthesizer functional component, for example, the [[CEM 3340]], which contained a complete [[voltage controlled oscillator]]. By using chips from Curtis (and its competitor, [[SSM]]), synth manufacturers were able to considerably reduce the size of their circuitry. This (along with the advent of inexpensive [[microprocessor]] control) is what led to the wave of [[polyphonic]] [[analog synthesizer]]s in the 1980s. By using the Curtis and SSM chips, manufacturers were able to shrink the size of their circuitry to where it could all fit in a package no larger than what was necessary to also house a keyboard and control panel.<ref name="emwcem" />