New from Behringer and Coolaudio

[Mark Hammer]

So Youtube was abuzz with three things today that weren't Covid-19 or Trump-related:

• The new Unreal Engine 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8B1LNrBpqc
• The new Moog Subharmonicon
• The new Behringer clone of the Korg Mono/Poly

I pulled up the service manual for the Mono/Poly to see what it used, and saw it used SSM2033 chips for the VCOs and SSM2044 for the 4-pole lowpass filters.  "Well, they won't be able to authentically clone", says I, "given that SSM2033 and 2044 chips have't been produced in decades."  Just for the hell of it, I decode to see if maybe Coolaudio has started making them, and much to my surprise, the Coolaudio site announces SSM2044 chips as a new product.

Well this could be interesting.  One more for Small Bear to add to the catalog.

[Scruffie]

Soon they're also doing a dual version of the BA6110 is it? The one from the BOSS VB-2.

[smallbearelec]

One more for Small Bear to add to the catalog.

Thanks for the heads-up! I have to take inventory and see what else I need from them. Also, because of cash flow issues, can't add new line items until I am able to open for normal business.

Regards
SD

[anotherjim]

CA3046 array clones seem to have crept in too.

I well remember the original Unreal game release with the 3d flyby. But you can't beat Doom on a 486.

[vigilante397]

Well crap. You got me. I've come really close to getting into synths in the past, and this may push me into it. An affordable (Behringer, so most likely), analog, polyphonic option that I can just start playing with.

[Mark Hammer]

Soon they're also doing a dual version of the BA6110 is it? The one from the BOSS VB-2.

The BA6110 is a better quality OTA from Rohm.  Roland used a proprietary OTA chip - the BA662, which is supposedly even better - for many of their synths and some effects, including the VB-2.  I take it one can obtain BA662 chips if you're willing to comb the Akihibara, but apart from that, historically unavailable to us mere mortals.  With Behringer starting to clone Roland System 100 synth modules (that use BA662 chips), perhaps Coolaudio will also start making BA662 clones available for sale, the way they have been cranking out other "golden oldies" like the Curtis chips and BBDs.

I have to emphasize that I do not know this for a fact.  But as the supplier sidekick to Behringer's re-issuing of golden-era synth clones from a host of '80s companies, it would not surprise me if Coolaudio made the 662 available to us.

[Scruffie]

The BA662, that's the one, saw a datasheet for a dual version of it from them.

[aron]

I used to have a Mono/Poly. It was cool but not as cool as it may seem. hahahaha ambiguous.....

[Mark Hammer]

The BA662, that's the one, saw a datasheet for a dual version of it from them.

Going to their site, now, there is no listing for a V662.  There IS, however, a listing for a V2162, which seems to correspond to the partial datasheet you show.  Given that the 662 is a single OTA, and the 2162 is a dual, and that the partial datasheet you show describes the chip as a dual OTA, I'm guessing they simply had to rename it to avoid confusing it with the single-OTA 662.  As a dual unit, I'm wondering how it could be deployed in circuits that use only a single OTA..

[rockola]

I well remember the original Unreal game release with the 3d flyby. But you can't beat Doom on a 486.

How about Doom on a FPGA?

https://www.engadget.com/doom-chip-fpga-173503758.html

[Scruffie]

The BA662, that's the one, saw a datasheet for a dual version of it from them.

Going to their site, now, there is no listing for a V662.  There IS, however, a listing for a V2162, which seems to correspond to the partial datasheet you show.  Given that the 662 is a single OTA, and the 2162 is a dual, and that the partial datasheet you show describes the chip as a dual OTA, I'm guessing they simply had to rename it to avoid confusing it with the single-OTA 662.  As a dual unit, I'm wondering how it could be deployed in circuits that use only a single OTA..

There's no mystery, it's just not just been released yet.

The V2162 is a THAT2162 copy.

[ElectricDruid]

I'm all for Coolaudio producing more synth chips for us all to use. Here's some other interesting developments too.

Sound Semiconductor, the new company started by some of the people involved in the old SSM, have been producing an updated version of the 2044 for a while - the SSI2144. They didn't just clone it, they fixed some of the niggles with the original. They've since done the same thing with the SSM2164 quad VCA too (SSI2164).They've recently done the SSM2040 filter, but again improved - they added an on-chip resonance VCA for example, a nice touch. They've got an oscillator chip in the works too based on the SSM2030. This looks awesome and includes a voltage-controlled waveform mixer on the chip.

http://www.soundsemiconductor.com/downloads/ssi2130datasheet.pdf

CA3046 has been being cloned by Alfa for a good while as the AS3046. Since it's such a fantastically simple chip, I can't see much advantage to Coolaudio's version, but Behringer like to have stuff in-house. Cheaper for them, I guess.

BA662 clones would be good, but again Alfa have been producing the CA3280 (another improved dual OTA) as the AS3280, so it's not something we haven't got.

Honestly, we live in the greatest age of analogue synthesis ever. The chips that are being produced now are starting to improve on anything that was ever produced in the golden age of analogue, both in terms of features and quality. Plus we've got far more powerful microprocessors and better/cheaper DACs to control it all with, so we don't have to put up with envelopes and LFOs and mod matrices that only update at 250Hz or worse. The possibilities now are *way* beyond anything a Jupiter/MemoryMoog/Prophet T8/Chroma could have imagined.


Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention that Alfa have introduced the AS3350 dual state variable filter too, one of CEMs more unusual chips. It was the basis for the interesting dual-filter structure of the Rhodes Chroma.

[Mark Hammer]

Tom, I don't know if I could be as happy about a post declaring that a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine was now available, Gibson decided to drop their prices by 50%, and world peace had been declared, as your post made me.

Scruffie: about the BA662.  I always thought that the 662 was a single-OTA chip, like the 3080 or 3094.

[Scruffie]

Scruffie: about the BA662.  I always thought that the 662 was a single-OTA chip, like the 3080 or 3094.

It was, evidently they decided two on one chip would be more useful for their purposes.

[StephenGiles]

Tom, I don't know if I could be as happy about a post declaring that a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine was now available, Gibson decided to drop their prices by 50%, and world peace had been declared, as your post made me.

Scruffie: about the BA662.  I always thought that the 662 was a single-OTA chip, like the 3080 or 3094.

What about news of a Cool Audio VAD1024 - big wishful thinking I'd wager!!

[Mark Hammer]

From your lips to God's ears, as they say.  And if Uli is listening or lurking, even better. 

[anotherjim]

On the BBD front, I've a feeling that Behringer are convinced they can get away using the 3207 in any of the vintage recreations. Although I've not found evidence of anybody bothering to look, it's highly likely the 3207 is used in the VC-340 chorus and nobody complained. They complained about plenty of other things, but not about the ensemble chorus.
News is that the Solina module has had its hardware development done and it's now gone for firmware tweaks. The 3207 is even more wrong for the Solina but odds are that'll be what is in it.

[Scruffie]

There is a long held suspicion that Behringer/CoolAudio make the MN3204 clone used in the reissue MXR stuff as it's called a v3204, so it's possible they're using that in their synths.

Xvive reissued the MN3005, 7 & 9 so... never say never for anything else!

[Kevin Mitchell]

I don't often browse the market for new toys. But I'll tell ya... I'm hanging onto my seat waiting for news on the Behringer DS-80.

-KM

[Mark Hammer]

On the BBD front, I've a feeling that Behringer are convinced they can get away using the 3207 in any of the vintage recreations. Although I've not found evidence of anybody bothering to look, it's highly likely the 3207 is used in the VC-340 chorus and nobody complained. They complained about plenty of other things, but not about the ensemble chorus.
News is that the Solina module has had its hardware development done and it's now gone for firmware tweaks. The 3207 is even more wrong for the Solina but odds are that'll be what is in it.

It's a matter of opinion, I suppose, but the principle reason for cherishing the Reticon chip/s is what they can do without help.  Some of our collectively favorite BBD-based pedals have used Panasonic chips, with "outside assistance" to overcome what they can't do on their own.  And some of the more disappointing ones use MN32xx chips as per their datasheet appnotes.  I'm confident that repros of the Panasonic chips can be coaxed to do everything we want and need.  Signal loss and dynamic range can alweays be addressed by other means.  It's a matter of providing the technical help required to accomplish that.  Would it be wonderful if the SAD1024 and 8-pin SAD512 were reissued?  Certainly.  Every year we get requests here from folks trying to repair a pedal from the late '70s and early '80s, that such repro chips would address.  But will our analog time-delay world collapse without them?  Nah.