Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

I recently stumbled onto a ARP 2600 system that is missing its requisite keyboard. All I have is the oscillator/control module. I have a few questions:

1. Judging from pics it looks like not any old keyboard will interface with this thing. Is that true?
2. Is there a way to make a modern controller work with the "brain?"
3. Are there any other features that would not work if I were able to implement another controller?
4. How often to orphaned keyboards show up and what do they cost?

Welcome to VSE.

1. Yup. It's an Arp specific keyboard interface. But any V/oct keyboard can patch in, or you could build one with a Cinch Jones type thingy.
2. MIDI to CV.
3. The Arp 3604P keyboard has an LFO and portamento.
4. I passed one up for $150 a few years back, turns out their expensive as h**l and turn up every few months for $700 and up

I always use midi to CV and a modern controller, instead of the Arp keyboard. It's just not worth it, and they're more of a collectors item than something you actually need.

Thank you, food for thought. I've seen a handful of MIDI to CV boxes out there. Where would one find the pinout for the ARP Jones connector so that I can get the CV signals properly laid out?

http://www.synthfool.com/docs/Arp/Arp26 ... Manual.pdf
http://synthdiy.com/files/2007/Arp3620K ... Manual.pdf