GregAE wrote:For those who may not know, the original SSM 2044 IC was used in the highly regarded Rev 1 Prophet 5
The rev 1 and rev 2 Prophet-5 used the SSM2040 not the SSM 2044. After Sequential made the switch to CEM with the rev 3 P5, they never used any SSM ICs after that model.
Two major differences between 2040 and 2044: 2044 was fixed in lowpass and included a VCA for resonance CV control. The 2040 did not include a VCA for resonance CV control, but this was a blessing as the designer was free to design the resonance feedback path which does alter the sound. The 2040 also could be configured in modes other than lowpass.
as well as other classic synths from E-Mu (Emulator 1, Drumulator, SP12 & SP1200), Korg (Polysix, Mono/Poly & Trident), Octave Plateau (Cat), RSF (Kobol), and Steiner (EVI). AFAIK, the 2044 was never used in any Moog synth.!
Correcto, except the Cat used the 2040.
The SSM2044 is a good sounding VCF IC. Better than any CEM VCF IC (with the exception of the CEM3320 configured as 12dB mode in OBSX, OBXa, OB8).
SSM VCFs sounded great but can be damaged by ESD (static electricity). They were also sensitive to power sequencing, if the voltage rails didn't come up in synchrony the IC could be damaged. CEM ICs were more rugged.
It's a safe bet that the SSI2044 has better protection than its predecessors.
Moog's bread-n-butter is their ladder filter. They never needed any steenkin' SSM or CEM VCFs.
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