Bucket Brigade (BBD) IC's

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BBD ("bucket brigade device") IC's were developed in the 1970's by Reticon and Panasonic, and were used in analog flanger, delay, and guitar effects poducts. These are interesting components that consist of a series of capacitors sections which carry the analog signal. The charge in each cap stage is passed into the subsequent stage using transistors as switches, at a rate determined by an external clock. Because BBD based audio effects do not require A-D and D-A converters they are simpler than digital effects and have very high resolution, though dynamic range is limited. Most of these devices have been discontinued and are very hard to find now.