[deepspace]

Another allrounder and close cousin in time and but with much more functionality is the 4046 CMOS Phase Locked Loop.

It can be configured as a versatile oscillator like the 555, but it can also implement an FM modulator / demodulator, a FSK modem, a tone discriminator, a clock multiplier, a phase detector, a voltage to frequency and frequency to voltage converter a speed control loop and much more.

Not bad for a $1 chip. My circuits professor always carried a bunch in his lab coat pocket and handed them out like candy almost everyone anyone needed a circuit to do something to do with oscillation.