Sonic Odyssey: The History of ARP Instruments, Inc.

In the synthesizer world, a relatively small number of
manufacturers have crossed over into the popular consciousness, such as Moog,
Sequential Circuits, Roland, and Korg. And also included in that rarefied list
is ARP Instruments, Inc. (ARP). Founded by
engineer Alan R. Pearlman (whose childhood nickname was ARP), ARP was a
dominant force in the synthesizer market in the 1970s, at one time controlling
around 40% of the market share. ARP synthesizers have been featured on
countless records, have shown up in films (both in scores and on-screen), and
famously provided the voice of R2D2 in Star Wars. Though the company was around
for little more than a decade, ARP was a key
player in the evolution of electronic and popular music, and the iconic
instruments they produced are still in demand today.

So, let’s explore the brief but impactful history of ARP and the company’s continuing influence!

Tonus, Inc.: ARP’s Early Years

Like his contemporaries Bob Moog and Don Buchla, Alan R.
Pearlman’s interest in electronics stretched back to his childhood. At four
years old, Alan was already in the habit of disassembling and reassembling
radios. Concurrently, he was receiving classical musical instruction on piano,
which sparked an early curiosity about musical timbres, which eventually
evolved into a desire to replicate them electronically.

Early in his professional career, Alan co-founded Nexus
Research Laboratory, which specialized in producing solid-state analog modules
for amplifiers and test equipment. However, after hearing Wendy Carlos’s
groundbreaking 1968 electronic album Switched-On Bach, Alan was inspired
to jump back into the world of electronic-instrument development. So, he
started a new company, Tonus, Inc., to do just that.

Within a short period, Tonus added two important members to their development team: David Friend, a brilliant young inventor with a double major in music and engineering, and Dennis Colin, who is perhaps most famous for creating one of the first multimode filters — the ARP Module 1047.

ARP 2500: The Synth That Spoke Alien

The ARP 2500 modular synthesizer housed in a wooden cabinet with a double-decker keyboard. (Kazuhisa OTSUBO from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

In 1970, Tonus released their first instrument, the Series
2000 Modular Studio Synthesizer. Like the Moog System 55, the Tonus Series 2000
was comprised of numerous discrete modules that could be configured in myriad
ways. Where the Series 2000 differed was in the stability of its oscillators
and its unique matrix switching panel, which eliminated the need for patch
cables. Building temperature-stable voltage-controlled components was a
particular talent of Alan’s, so the Series 2000 stood apart from Moog and
Buchla synthesizers, which, at the time, struggled to stay in tune. Within a
year, the Series 2000 was renamed the ARP 2500, an umbrella term for all the
associated modules.

The first purchasers of full ARP 2500 modular systems were educational institutions, including David Friend’s alma mater, Yale, along with Brown University and Sarah Lawrence College. The next wave of ARP 2500 owners were jingle studios, followed by early adopters of synth technology in the pop-music sphere, such as the Who’s Pete Townshend. Yet, the ARP 2500 received its largest exposure from a featured role in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where it was used to communicate with the film’s alien species. Phil Dodds, a service manager for Tonus, made a cameo appearance operating the ARP 2500.

ARP 2600: The Game-Changing Semi-modular Synth

The ARP 2600 semi-modular synthesizer with a Model 3620 duo-phonic keyboard. (Ville Hyvönen from helsinki / tallinn, Finland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

In 1971, Tonus began production on the ARP 2600 synthesizer.
Boasting a semi-modular architecture, the ARP 2600 allowed players to easily
generate and tweak patches without the need for making manual connections
between the synthesizer’s modules. However, it included numerous physical patch
points to reroute the synth’s signal path, giving sound designers and musicians
a remarkable amount of flexibility. Unlike the ARP 2500, the ARP 2600 was aimed
at public schools and small bands that didn’t have the budget for a large-scale
modular system.

The ARP 2600 underwent several revisions to its original
design. First was the exceptionally rare “Blue Marvin,” (named for Tonus CFO
Marvin Cohen). It was followed by the ARP 2600C (a.k.a. the “Gray Meanie”).
Next up was the ARP 2600P, a portable version in a vinyl-covered,
suitcase-style enclosure. The 2600P saw three revisions, culminating in the
2600P v4.0, which included the Model 3620 duophonic keyboard. The final
addition to the 2600 family was the ARP 2601, which introduced the now-iconic
orange-over-black ARP aesthetic. By the time the ARP 2600P v4.0 hit the
streets, Tonus, Inc. was officially rebranded as ARP Instruments, Inc.

Around this time, ARP began a fruitful relationship with David Fredericks, who helped streamline ARP’s sales strategy. David was a true believer in the ARP 2600, and he assembled a group of former organ salesmen to travel to music stores to demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument. David was the mastermind behind the ARP NAMM Jam, a legendary live performance that brought a heightened level of attention to both ARP’s synthesizers and electronic music instruments in general. A marketing genius, David also developed patch overlays, which helped new synthesists wrap their minds around the fundamentals of patch design. What’s more, David inspired the creation of the ARP Solina String Ensemble, and he gave ARP’s next instrument its unforgettable name.

Odyssey: The Punk Rock Synth

A vintage ARP Odyssey MKII on display at Sweetwater’s Campus.

The ARP Model 2800, more commonly known as the Odyssey, was
so named by David Fredericks because it took players on a musical journey.
Developed as a performance synthesizer to compete with the Moog Minimoog, the
Odyssey was affordable and portable but extremely powerful. The Odyssey was,
without a doubt, one of the defining synths of the 1970s. Unlike the smooth,
fat tones that were the hallmark of the Minimoog, the Odyssey’s sound was raw
and forceful with later users referring to it as the world’s first “punk rock
synth.”

At its most basic, the Odyssey was a stripped-down,
hardwired version of the ARP 2600. It was equipped with two oscillators (one
less than the Minimoog), but it offered expansive sound-design capabilities
with a gnarly ring modulator, highpass and lowpass filtering, oscillator sync,
pulse-width modulation, sample & hold, and the ability to play two notes at
a time.

Embraced by a diverse group of musicians from Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock to Nine Inch Nails, Vangelis, and ABBA, the Odyssey has maintained a ubiquitous presence across numerous genres for nearly half a century. During the original 1972 to 1981 production, 10 versions of the Odyssey were released, each with minor changes to the synth’s circuitry, user interface, and cosmetics.

The Rapid Rise and Fall of ARP Instruments, Inc.

ARP’s final synth, the Rhodes Chroma, released by CBS musical instruments after the company’s dissolution. (Ericmattei at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The success of the ARP Odyssey catapulted ARP Instruments,
Inc. into a period of rapid product development. The ARP Pro Soloist, a preset
synth with aftertouch, was launched in 1972 with organ players in mind. The
aforementioned ARP Solina String Ensemble followed in 1974. A year later, the
company released the ARP Omni, a polyphonic synthesizer and string machine that
would become ARP’s biggest-selling instrument. Right on its heels was the ARP
Axxe, a simplified version of the Odyssey. The ARP Sequencer exploded onto the
scene in 1976, providing players with an intuitive and fully featured 16-step
sequencer that was compatible with ARP’s lineup of synths and some third-party
synths.

In the mid-1970s, ARP undertook their most ambitious
project, the ARP Centaur polyphonic synthesizer, which was intended to be
released in two versions: as a keyboard synth and as a guitar synth. However,
ARP decided to focus solely on producing the guitar-synth version. The Centaur
was a risky proposition and pushed the available technology to its limit, and,
unfortunately, it became something of an R&D quagmire. ARP’s engineers
couldn’t work out all the kinks, and, even if they could, the final cost to
produce the instrument would have limited its marketability. So, the Centaur
was scrapped and replaced with a simpler guitar synthesizer, the ARP Avatar.
The Avatar was a commercial failure and precipitated the fall of the company.

ARP released two notable instruments before the company filed for bankruptcy in 1981: the ARP Quadra (1978), an all-in-one bass synth, polysynth, lead synth, and string machine; and the ARP Solus (1980), a simple, compact monophonic synth in a portable case. Finally, before the company’s dissolution, the developers were hard at work on a microprocessor-controlled, multitimbral polyphonic synth called the ARP Chroma. With ARP closing their doors, the Chroma may have never seen the light of day. Thankfully, a deal with CBS Musical Instruments allowed the development of the Chroma to reach its conclusion, and it was released in 1982 as the Rhodes Chroma. Only a few thousand Rhodes Chroma synthesizers were produced, but they have become a treasured piece of synth history and are a testament to the groundbreaking work that emerged from ARP Instruments, Inc. during their all-too-short 12-year run.

2015–Today: The ARP Revival

ARP Odyssey Analog Synthesizer

Thirty-four years after ARP disbanded, the brand was revived by Korg. Starting in 2015, Korg began releasing new iterations of legendary ARP instruments including the Odyssey and the ARP 2600. With David Friend signed on as a consultant, Korg is committed to creating faithful reproductions with a few modern twists, including USB MIDI, compact desktop models, and selectable filter types to let users experience the full range of ARP tones.

The Alan R. Pearlman Foundation

Alan R. Pearlman’s daughter, Dina R. Alcalay Pearlman, is also carrying the ARP Instruments legacy forward through the Alan R. Pearlman Foundation. The foundation provides numerous historical and educational resources and an archive of selected manuals and promotional materials, and it hosts occasional live events. What’s more, the foundation has partnered with The Record Co., a recording studio and rehearsal space in Boston, Massachusetts, on the ARPs for All project, which gives a new generation of musicians the opportunity to perform and record with a growing collection of meticulously maintained, vintage ARP synths!

Conclusion

Certainly, ARP Instruments, Inc. had a massive and continuing impact on the music industry. Sweetwater is proud to carry Korg’s spectacular reissues of the Odyssey and the 2600 as well as other hardware and software synths inspired by Alan R. Pearlman and company’s innovative designs. Interested in owning a piece of the ARP legacy? Contact your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700 to learn more!
The post Sonic Odyssey: The History of ARP Instruments, Inc. appeared first on inSync.