What is an Op-amp? These are the philosophical questions that
test our souls. (Get out your #2 pencils!) Figure 1 – A Texas
Instruments op-amp in 8 pin dual in-line package (DIP) Op-Amp –
short for operational amplifier. I’m sure you’re familiar with
what an amplifier is: you plug your small signal in at one end,
and it makes it louder at the other. The operational part,
however, references their initial intended use of peforming
mathematical operations. So it’s a special amplifier that’s good
at doing precise calculations, which is why it’s used in almost
every modern electronic audio product, from mixers to digital
converters. A picture of a typical op-amp in an 8 pin DIP
package is shown in Figure 1, and the schematic representation
of a single op-amp (how you’d draw it so others know what you’re
talking about) is shown in Figure 2. The basic op-amp has 5
pins, so there are 3 unused pins in the 8 pin DIP (Dual In-line
Package). Two of these pins are power supply pins – where the
amplifier gets its power fr