Got myself a ARP 2600..

[CZ Rider]

Behold, the Roland 184 4CV keyboard. Designed for use with the Roland System 100, although you can use it with most anything. I have a friend who has one connected to a full system 700.

The 184 was one modular polyphonic keyboard, there were a few others, notably the Emu modulars. AG is correct though, as they were digitally scanned to get polyphonic voices. I would suspect the Roland 184 with it's auto arpeggio function and selectable assign mode, would also be digitally scaned to get the CV outs as well. The Emu design was licenced to Oberheim and used in thier 4 voice and Sequential for the P5.

I seem to remember one other modular polyphonic with CV outs for 8 voices with velocity, was the Polyfusion 2058. But who would have such an obscure controller?




Getting back to the 2600, I missed the boat when they were going for $2600.00 US a while back. I kept bidding just under 2 bills for the ones that looked nice but were not fully functional. Plus I was looking for a black and orange 2600. Those days are gone. I guess my black and orange Oddy with the CAE4035 filter will have to do for now.

[Hossinfeffa]

What about the Korg PS-3100? Does that use digital tracking as well? The others in the PS series have enough VCO's to support the polyphony, but the 3100 only has 12 VCO's and 48 note polyphony.

I've always had a thing for the orange and black colored ARP's, despite their "inferior" sound. I don't think I've seen an orange and black 2600 on ebay, though. But I will admit, the MK1 version of the Odyssey looks very nice as well.

[CZ Rider]

What about the Korg PS-3100? Does that use digital tracking as well? The others in the PS series have enough VCO's to support the polyphony, but the 3100 only has 12 VCO's and 48 note polyphony.

Well I have had mine apart enough times. There is one contact per key, so 48 wires going to the voice boards. Although it is a mechanical switch for every key, by strict deffinition it is either on or off ( 0 or 1 ) and is the very basis of what defines binary. Not sure if you would call that analog, same as a light switch in your house. But it is not digitally scaning the keyboard. The PS-3300 uses the same triggering scheme as well.

I've always had a thing for the orange and black colored ARP's, despite their "inferior" sound. I don't think I've seen an orange and black 2600 on ebay, though. But I will admit, the MK1 version of the Odyssey looks very nice as well.

Yep, I upgraded my Oddy Mk3 with the CAE4035 filter. Mostly changed the way the bass sounded. Before with the 4075, bass was not the Arps strongest character. But with that 4035 filter dropped in the Oddy had some balls on the low end. I was planing on doing the same mod if I found a black/orange 2600. Ditch the 4072 and drop in the CMS4012. I was also planing on using the Oddy as the CV controller for the 2600. The Mk3 Oddy makes an excellent CV controller, as the three octave keys can be transposed up/down by two octaves, and the PPC pads are summed with the CV out for pitch bends and vibrato. I could never really master the Arp pitch knob with the dead spot at center.
Here is a repost of my modded Oddy with the PPC pads demonstrating the duo-phonic keyboard.
Arp Odyssey PPC duophonic with 4035

Now that I think about it the Arp 2500 had a 4 voice analog controller.
Had a split with two hi/low priority sections on it. Had reverse keys on the lower two octaves. Not conventional, but 4 voice none the less.

[sam]

I have not heard any 'vca thumping'.....

What's all that about...?

[nathanscribe]

What about the Korg PS-3100? Does that use digital tracking as well? The others in the PS series have enough VCO's to support the polyphony, but the 3100 only has 12 VCO's and 48 note polyphony.

Well I have had mine apart enough times. There is one contact per key, so 48 wires going to the voice boards. Although it is a mechanical switch for every key, by strict deffinition it is either on or off ( 0 or 1 ) and is the very basis of what defines binary. Not sure if you would call that analog, same as a light switch in your house. But it is not digitally scaning the keyboard. The PS-3300 uses the same triggering scheme as well.

I certainly wouldn't call the PS keyboard digital. It's just a switch. Digital keyboard scanning would imply some form of matrix encoding or representation of key values as a number of bits, along with multiplexing or CPU/logic circuits so obtain poly functionality.

The 3100 has 12 oscs because it uses divide-down technology to obtain the other pitches. The 3200 has 2 banks of these, the 3300 has 3 banks. Each key triggers a separate voice board with the synth circuits on. Not dissimilar to a typical stringer in the basics, but much more complex in its realisation.

[Automatic Gainsay]

I have not heard any 'vca thumping'.....

What's all that about...?

I can't remember, exactly. There is something about the internal electronics that means that if you set the envelope in some specific way, it makes an irritating thump each time you play. I've only found it once... my normal mode of programming doesn't make it happen.
I think it is just a minor thing that techs complain about... hmmm... it might've been mentioned in Vintage Synthesizers. I'll go look.

Ah, here it is:
"Another 2600 problem is the fact that there's a DC offset that appears on the sawtooth and square wave outputs of the VCOs. If you hook those signals into the VCF input mixer, the filter is actually DC-coupled, as is the entire signal path, out to the 2600's output. If you use fast attack and release times, there will be a characteristic thumping sound as this offset is turned off an on by the VCA."

[Automatic Gainsay]

Now that I think about it the Arp 2500 had a 4 voice analog controller.
Had a split with two hi/low priority sections on it. Had reverse keys on the lower two octaves. Not conventional, but 4 voice none the less.

Splitting is cheating!
I'm not sure it would qualify unless you could simply lay your hand down and play a four note chord!

[sam]

I have not heard any 'vca thumping'.....

What's all that about...?

I can't remember, exactly. There is something about the internal electronics that means that if you set the envelope in some specific way, it makes an irritating thump each time you play. I've only found it once... my normal mode of programming doesn't make it happen.
I think it is just a minor thing that techs complain about... hmmm... it might've been mentioned in Vintage Synthesizers. I'll go look.

Ah, here it is:
"Another 2600 problem is the fact that there's a DC offset that appears on the sawtooth and square wave outputs of the VCOs. If you hook those signals into the VCF input mixer, the filter is actually DC-coupled, as is the entire signal path, out to the 2600's output. If you use fast attack and release times, there will be a characteristic thumping sound as this offset is turned off an on by the VCA."

Cheers for the advice...

Mine has an audio output on it's side ...Is it usual to use the L/R minijack outs (Top right)..?

[Soundwave]

The VCA thump is made too big a deal of. It's really not that big of a thing.

It's more noticable when the ARP is sequenced than played by hand but it can be fixed if you know the right chap.

[Automatic Gainsay]

Mine has an audio output on it's side ...Is it usual to use the L/R minijack outs (Top right)..?

Is it quarter inch?
I can't stand using the minijack outputs... I feel like the adapters and cables put stress on them. If you've got a quarter inch output, I'm jealous!

[sam]

Mine has an audio output on it's side ...Is it usual to use the L/R minijack outs (Top right)..?

Is it quarter inch?
I can't stand using the minijack outputs... I feel like the adapters and cables put stress on them. If you've got a quarter inch output, I'm jealous!

Yes it's a quarter inch jack....

I fed my odyssey though the mic amp and to the osc mixer.

The filter is certainly better than a mk3 odyssey.

I guess we all know that...

[Micke]

Now that I think about it the Arp 2500 had a 4 voice analog controller.
Had a split with two hi/low priority sections on it. Had reverse keys on the lower two octaves. Not conventional, but 4 voice none the less.

Splitting is cheating!
I'm not sure it would qualify unless you could simply lay your hand down and play a four note chord!

It seems to me the ARP model 3222 4-voice keyboard is more of a '2-part' duophonic keyboard -- i.e. it has two duophonic sections: one in the bottom two octaves (reverse color) and one in upper three octaves --rather than a 4-voice (multitimbral) keyboard like the Oberheim Four voice polyphonic whose four voices are independent of each other.

Micke

[Hossinfeffa]

Getting back to the 2600, I missed the boat when they were going for $2600.00 US a while back. I kept bidding just under 2 bills for the ones that looked nice but were not fully functional. Plus I was looking for a black and orange 2600. Those days are gone. I guess my black and orange Oddy with the CAE4035 filter will have to do for now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ARP-2600-with-3620- ... dZViewItem

Don't you wish all synths were under $1000 and there was a limitless surplus of them? Oh well.. maybe someday prices will lower once more.

[Mooger5]

A.R.P. patented a polyphonic keyboard based solely on switching and wiring combinations but it never went into production.

http://www.till.com/articles/arp/patent ... US03715444