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KeyboardMag.com >> This Month >> Soul Of The Machine
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A tribute to chip designer Doug Curtis. Soul of the MachineIn January of this year, the synthesizer world lost one of the most important and least known synthesizer pioneers of the 20th century, Douglas R. Curtis. For those in the know, the term “Curtis Chips” might ring a bell. But for most, Doug’s work was hidden behind the scenes. While great pioneering names like Oberheim, Sequential Circuits, Roland, Korg, Moog, Ensoniq, Rhodes, PPG, and countless others graced the front panels of many amazing instruments, Doug’s chips delivered their soul. The practice of analog circuit design is a mysterious art, but Doug was one of its true wizards. His natural gift for physics and mathematics, coupled with his early fascination and love of synthesizers combined to create his calling. He started building his own analog synthesizers in high school, and continued through college. After attending Northwestern University, Doug managed to win a contest (and a job) at the company Interdesign with an innovative VCA chip design, which he also patented. Doug’s winning design was published in an electronics magazine, and caught the attention of Tom Oberheim. In the mid-’70s, Tom asked Doug if he would be able to design a voltage-controlled envelope generator that he could use to make the Oberheim 4-voice programmable. Of course, Doug was able to design the chip, and Curtis Electromusic Specialties was born. Before long, Doug had designed dozens of versatile and great sounding chips that would lead the analog synthesizer world for decades. I had the good fortune of working with Doug during my days at Oberheim from 1980 through 1985. Tom was my first boss and mentor, and Doug quickly became a mentor to me as well. Tom, myself, Doug, and Michel Doidic (another analog wizard) would sit around dreaming up the ultimate in analog synthesizer capabilities, and Doug would go off and design some more magic oscillator and filter chips to make it all a reality. Products like the Oberheim OB-8, Xpander, and Matrix-12 (to name just a few) would not have been possible without Doug. The sounds of these instruments live on, thanks to his designs. Doug wasn’t interested in being in the spotlight for his work; he was a unique mix of technical brilliance and humble kindness. But despite his relative anonymity, his permanent mark on the musical world is undeniable. In recognition of this, Doug was inducted last year into the San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame for his technical contributions to music. Sadly, at the young age of 55, Doug lost a brief but fierce battle with pancreatic cancer. He is survived his wife, Mary, and two daughters, Ashley and Julia. Donations in Doug’s honor can be directed to www.pancan.org. Chips off the old BlockA partial list of instruments that contain Doug’s chips. Dave Smith RemembersI worked with Doug since the late ’70s, when I redesigned the Prophet-5 to use his circuits, simply because they worked better. From then on we used his parts exclusively in all Sequential products. When I started designing hardware synths again five years ago, Doug was the first person I spoke to; I wanted to once again have his magical analog circuits as the backbone of the Evolver sound. |
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