Mark ????/ checking sad 4096's

[steve b.]

They are very easily destroyed right ??/ what about ne571n's and is there a way to see if they are good / i have several of each and want to know if they still work.Probally a real dumb question but i rather ask than ruin them. thanks steve

[Mark Hammer]

Neither of these are *easily* destroyed, although high voltage jolts to the 4096 can render it useless.

For just about ANY chip, there are usually application circuits in the datasheets that provide a sort of barebones minimum configuration for evaluating the state and functioning of the chip.  These are rarely circuits that are desirable for their sonic qualities, but they let the user make a workling circuit with the chip.  Try one of those.  Alternatively, if you have something or know someone with a pedal/circuit that has a socket with one or both of these, try chip swapping.