MN3005 Are Baaack From The Dead!

[smallbearelec]

This Chinese company, XVive Audio www.xviveaudio.com cloned the MN3005 and had Howard Davis, designer of the Memory Man, build a pedal around it. They clearly want to sell the chip to outside users and asked if I wanted to distribute  . They are not cheap, but affordable for repairs or DIY.

http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/mn3005-re-makes-xvive-audio/

I asked Ed Rembold (Toneczar) to test samples before I ordered, and I have tested samples of the lot I received in my Stereo Memory Man. All OK and you can order with confidence.

Regards
SD

[Frank_NH]

Interesting!  While they are $22 a pop, I presume they would also work well in a DM-2 clone like Madbean's Aquaboy.  If you gotta have 'em, then the cost is secondary... 

[YouAre]

VERY happy I bought these before pulling the trigger on rather expensive NOS devices.

Steve, this is incredible!

[Luke51411]

Interesting!  While they are $22 a pop, I presume they would also work well in a DM-2 clone like Madbean's Aquaboy.  If you gotta have 'em, then the cost is secondary... 

$22 per is not that bad I'm going to try out a pair for the aquaboy.

[mth5044]

Fantastic. Is this a limited time thing, or can we expect the stream not to dry up anytime soon?

[Luke51411]

I just ordered a pair and probably forgot a bunch of other stuff I could have used from smallbear 

[culturejam]

Fantastic. Is this a limited time thing, or can we expect the stream not to dry up anytime soon?

This is clutch.

[bean]

This is awesome news, for sure. I've got plenty of projects that could use these guys.

I wonder - did they publish their own datasheet with it?

[smallbearelec]

I presume they would also work well in a DM-2 clone like Madbean's Aquaboy.

Yes.

Is this a limited time thing...?

No, AFAIK.

Did they publish their own datasheet with it?

No. The guy from the factory says that they guarantee that their clone will meet the old Panasonic spec.

SD

[analogguru]

Interesting..... did they already say how much the SAD1024A-clones will cost ? 

[armdnrdy]

Interesting..... did they already say how much the SAD1024A-clones will cost ? 

[amptramp]

This means designers can use them for new designs if they are intended to stay in production.  Aron's store or Smallbear may want to order some just to keep the devices in production.

[Mark Hammer]

I'm gobsmacked.  Though I suppose if anyone is going to find them, it's going to be Steve.

So, does Mike Matthews know this?

[boogietone]

Awesome news!

[smallbearelec]

I suppose if anyone is going to find them, it's going to be Steve.

Cher Mark--

XVive Contacted Me, not the other way around. I was as surprised as you are, though flattered at being approached. I'm pretty sure that one of the usual suspects among the pedal-makers suggested that I would be a good outlet.

So, does Mike Matthews know this?

I know that XVive has talked with some manufacturers, don't know the "state of play" and do not want to speculate too much. I can reasonably guess that they have produced a large quantity, simply because the capital investment is huge; it would make sense to do a large run in order to begin to amortize that.

So I don't know how things will play out among the potential heavy users. As for me, I'll buy more pieces for stock as capital permits. There is clearly a lot of pent-up demand, as the first dozen pieces are already gone.

[PRR]

XVive makes a line of pedals, including one reminiscent of the Memory Man.
http://www.xviveaudio.com
http://www.xviveaudio.com/productInfo.asp?id=251

So by selling BBD chips out of their stash, they are undercutting 0.01% of their sales of pedals. They ship a hundred $22 chips to the Bear, and maybe tens of thousands of $150 pedals to Thomann, Overstock Guitars, and hope to sell a million to Banjo World?

> the capital investment is huge; it would make sense to do a large run in order to begin to amortize that.

It was brave to commission a chip just for one product.

But I wonder: is the price so very high anymore? This is OLD technology. The MOS process could be the worst foundry in the world and be plenty ample speed and cleanliness. Layout used to be months of tape and RubyLith, now a kid can mouse a PC and come up with a mask-file which can certainly be sent for a 6-run of prototypes (there are shops which combine multiple masks from multiple customers twice a month and return low-cost custom chips). While the prototype process is many hundred bucks a chip, if they commit to thousands of chips the price including mask would fall to a few bucks.

It used to be that book-printing was $10,000 for the first copy and $2/each after that. It was all typesetting and plate making; once on the press the books just flew out, but a run of 1,000 had to be priced over $12 to cover the set-up. Now we have Print On Demand which takes a file from a PC and spits a $5 book any time someone clicks "Buy". Even if there is only ever one buyer. Chips is just tiny printing.

[Perrow]

Literally just days since I wondered to myself why nobody had done this with BBDs yet. There must be technology enough today that this can be done at fairly low prices, I would have thought they'd be lower than this, but I suppose this first run has to be considered quite high risk.

Let's hope it works out well and next runs/models can be less expensive.

Looking at eBay, an mn3005 costs about ten times as much as five mn3207, if $22 per chip is a realistic price for a custom made chip (replica) then I suppose we'll have to wait to see new production mn3207s. At least til there's a shortage of mn3207s.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

So, does Mike Matthews know this?

Don't know about Mike specifically but, I did get confirmation from the company that EHX is making orders. Either for repairs or for new projects 

[pickdropper]

I suspect Steve is correct that they are making the parts available to other manufacturers because the investment involved.

Setting up the raw die to make these chips is pricey.  The fact that it's old technology likely made it harder rather than easier.   

[amptramp]

A number of companies have made a business out of buying up old foundries for pennies on the dollar and producing old designs for the aerospace market where some equipment may be no longer profitable for the original manufacturer.  They then produce components that were used in avionics.  Seeing as the US still flies 60-year old designs like the B-52, the C-130 Hercules and the UH-1N helicopter that flew in Viet Nam, they do a fair amount of business keeping old equipment operational.

One of these companies gave us a presentation at one time and the salesman had the perfect name for a dealer in old components: would you buy TTL logic from a guy named Rusty Key?

The foundry that is releasing old parts could end up doing respectable business.  And has been stated before, old foundries and designs do not need the best in vacuum and deposition equipment and as semiconductor investments go, they are dirt cheap.