Typically, when checking out a PCB, I will immidiatly check all IC, or "Intergrated Circuits", by putting the part number in an online search engine. There are a few I'm always looking for as they are commonly used in the building of simple synthesizers, and these are **Op-Amps** and **CMOS logic chips**. Additionally, you could be lucky and discover a microcontroller, allowing you to flash your own program. To my surprise I found a microcontroller in a LED lamp, but I haven't managed to figure it out yet.
## The difficulty of prototyping with IC's
Not only are loads of schematics published online based around (oddly specific) IC's, they tend to break very fast. The number of times I've accidently put a chip in upside down, causing the + and - to be flipped, and burning out the chip within seconds. In a world of plenty you'd just replace the chip with a new one, but in the reality of working with salvaged hardware, this is not that easy.
