Doug Curtis

Doug Curtis (March 8, 1951 – January 10, 2007) was the founder of Curtis Electromusic Specialties and OnChip Systems. Curtis was the designer of many original analogue ICs, which have been used in a number of electronic music instruments. He was described in Keyboard magazine as "one of the most important and least known synthesizer pioneers of the 20th century".

In high school, with an interest in sound and music electronics, he designed and built a synthesizer. He attended Northwestern University, where he majored in radio/television/film. While there he perfected several more synthesizers. Upon graduation, he qualified for a post as junior engineer by showing circuit boards of his designs. He entered a competition to design a semi-custom chip and as a result was offered a job at Interdesign, where he worked for four years.

He founded Curtis Electromusic Specialties, which produced the integrated circuits that were used in a variety of analog synthesizers for decades. There are several patents in his name. In 2006 he was inducted into the San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame for technical contributions to music. In 1988 with the advent of digital technology, Doug formed the company OnChip Systems. Instruments with CEM ICs are said to have that Curtis sound, described as "fantastically saturated, brash and powerful".