retrozone
2800:
a synth odyssey
ARP ODYSSEY DUOPHONIC ANALOGUE
SYNTHESIZER
For the synth aficionado, the ARP Odyssey
is up there with the Minimoog in terms of its power and sonic quality.
GORDON REID explains why he loves his Ody...
When I was but a wee lad I had a craving
for synthesizers -- magic boxes that could, at the tweak of a knob, make
me sound like my keyboard heroes. If I had a synth (so I thought) I could
be excused for wearing a long blonde wig and a flowing cape. Moreover,
I could incite the adoration of thousands simply by inserting knives into
my organ.I got my synthesizers, but
I managed to avoid the wig and the cape. Unfortunately, I was also singularly
successful in avoiding the acclaim. Ego ensured that I never considered
a severe lack of talent as an excuse but, nonetheless, I knew that I had
never produced the powerful sounds I so desired. Was it me or, unlike a
bad worker, was I experiencing a genuine deficiency of the tools themselves?
Then I happened to meet the imposing Robert
John Godfrey. Robert, founder and leader of the (then) cult band The Enid,
had come to talk to me about word-processors but, inevitably, the conversation
drifted round to synthesizers. I explained that my keyboard rig -- Crumar
Organiser, Logan String Melody II, Hohner Pianet T, RMI Electrapiano 368X,
Roland SH1000, Korg MS20 and Casio CT202 -- still didn't offer the type
of sounds I wanted. "You need a decent synth" said Robert, "something with
guts. I think we've got an old Odyssey knocking around somewhere. Come
round one evening and I'll give it to you." So, thanks to Robert's generosity,
I acquired my first 'decent' synthesizer.
The Odyssey came to my rescue just in time
to convince me that it wasn't only my playing or synth programming that
was deficient. For years, the missing piece in my keyboard jigsaw was class:
the elusive quality that makes certain keyboards 'instruments' in their
own rights. The Minimoog had it, the Mellotron had it, even my RMI had
it. But, by the standards of the day (long before the dance fraternity
adopted the fizzy delights of the MS20) neither of my Japanese synths had
it. The Odyssey had it in spades.
THE FIRST ODYSSEYS
Alan R Pearlman's company, ARP, launched its
first synth in 1970. The ARP 2500 was a huge affair -- imposing, intimidating,
and offering many improvements over the modular Moogs that had preceded
it. The company's second offering, the ARP 2600, was also released in 1970,
but this was far from an immediate success ("How do you get it to stop?"
pleaded Joe Zawinul). In a world where synthesis was new and mysterious,
the 2600 was almost completely impenetrable and, as a semi-modular instrument,
it needed patch leads to get the best from it. Years later, the world would
embrace both instruments as classics, but ARP needed products that would
sell to a wider market of less technical musicians. So, in 1972, the company
announced a cut-down version of the 2600, with one fewer oscillator and
extensive internal pre-patching of the sound-generating modules. It had
a white control panel and an excellent vinyl wrap-around case that projected
right under the keys to protect them from damage. It was the ARP Model
2800 'Odyssey'.
What made ARP's new baby so special? It
wasn't the keyboard, which was neither velocity nor pressure sensitive
and, with just 37 notes, was seven keys shorter than a Minimoog's. Nor
was it the simplicity and immediacy of the controls because, despite drastic
simplification compared to the 2600, they were neither simple nor immediate.
And, let's face it... its construction was basic, the knobs and sliders
broke off, and it offered neither pitch nor modulation wheels. But the
Odyssey scored where it mattered most. The Sound. Nothing could match an
Odyssey in full flight. Yes, the Minimoog was also superb, but in a different
way. The Odyssey had a character all its own, and one that was to set it
apart from just about every other synth.
Much of this was a consequence of ARP's
famously aggressive oscillators. These generated all the basic waveforms
-- sawtooth, square wave, pulse, and pulse width modulation (PWM) -- that,
to this day, remain the building blocks for almost all analogue sounds.
(PWM was quite a luxury, and one not found on many synths. Even the Minimoog
lacked it. But, since PWM forms the basis of many of the richer, more lush
analogue timbres, its inclusion ensured that the Odyssey sounded 'bigger'
than it was, generating sounds normally reserved for more heavily endowed
instruments.) With oscillator sync and a ring modulator, ARP's twin oscillators
put the Minimoog's three to shame. Furthermore, with a tuning drift of
less than 1/30 of a semitone (in sharp contrast to other synthesizers of
the era) the ARP oscillators were extremely stable. A well-maintained Odyssey,
once set up, would remain just about perfectly pitched in all conditions,
from sweaty bars to sub-zero outdoor stages. This was a godsend for the
gigging musician.
In addition, the Odyssey combined more
sound-shaping features than any other non-patchable synth of its era. It
had extensive pitch-modulation capabilities, a very flexible sample &
hold, single and multiple triggering, noise generation, two filters, and
two envelope generators. It also incorporated an innovative keyboard-scanning
system that assigned the oscillators to the highest and lowest keys played,
making it the world's first duophonic synthesizer. But it was the model
2800's superb 24dB/octave filter (the 4012) that was its crowning glory.
This had a frequency response extending to nearly 35kHz, and it is this
that now makes 'white-face' Odysseys the darlings of synth collectors.
The Odyssey immediately became one of the
hottest synths on the market so, despite making very little profit, ARP
got on with the honourable occupation of selling lots of instruments. Then,
in 1973, upstarts such as the Keio ORGan company (geddit?) and Roland dug
deep into ARP's market with $500 synths that players found almost as attractive
as the Odyssey. It took until 1975 for ARP to respond, taking the proven
but relatively expensive Odyssey, and stripping out facilities until it
reached an acceptable compromise between low cost and retained performance.
The result was a simple monosynth that, despite a lowly price, retained
much of the character of its parent. Thus the Axxe was born. Together with
the Odyssey, the 2600, and the ProSoloist, this helped ARP to win 40% of
the mid-'70s American synthesizer market -- a phenomenal feat by any standards.
IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM...
So respected was the Odyssey that, in 1976,
New York company Octave Electronics released a blatant imitation called
the Cat. (They even had the cheek to introduce the 'Kitten', which copied
much from the Axxe.) ARP responded through the American courts but, despite
Octave's clear infringement of ARP's duophony patent, the Cat remained
in production and Octave stayed in business. In truth, despite the obvious
similarities between the Cat and the Odyssey, there were also many significant
differences between the synths. For example, the Cat offered additional
-- and mixable -- oscillator waveforms, and incorporated a quite different
filter. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the issue, the Cat remained in
production for five years, and the Kitten for four, after which the manufacturer
metamorphosed into Octave-Plateau, and finally Voyetra Technologies.
SECOND-GENERATION ODYSSEYS
Early in 1977, ARP announced a revised Odyssey
that offered many improvements over the original model. However, after
developing the new electronics, ARP continued to use existing cases and
control components -- thus creating the 'black-faced' models 2810-2813.
These 'in-betweenies' retained the vinyl case and the pitch-bend knob of
the 2800, but ARP ditched the superb 4012 filter in favour of a new circuit,
the 4072. The reason for this was simple: ARP had copied much of the 4012
from a Moog patent, and after years of inter-company wrangling, Alan Pearlman
decided that ARP should develop its own, non-infringing, filter. Unfortunately,
somebody calculated the component values incorrectly, and the 4072 offered
a maximum cutoff frequency of just 12kHz. This made the new Odysseys audibly
inferior to their predecessors.
By way of compensation, most 2810-2813s
incorporated new and comprehensive CV and Gate interfaces, plus an external
audio input. There was a very specific purpose for these. They allowed
players to replace the sound generated by the internal oscillators with
that generated by, for example, an ARP String Ensemble. The Ensemble could
then make use of the Odyssey's filter and envelopes, to create a primitive,
but usable, polyphonic synthesizer. ARP called this combination their 'Polyphonic
System' and, although the Odyssey could only respond to single triggers
and provided just one filter for all the notes played on the Ensemble,
it produced brass ensembles, pipe and electric organs, plus a few piano-like,
clavi, and other percussive sounds. (The Polyphonic System was superseded
by the Omni -- a single instrument with its own filter and envelope generator
-- that went on to become ARP's most successful product.)
The final incarnation of the Odyssey arrived
a few months later. This eventually encompassed four revisions (models
2820-2823) but all are now known as Mark 2s. Recognised by their black
and orange control panels and steel chassis with leather end-pieces, these
offered further changes compared to their predecessors. The most visible
of these was the chassis itself: less robust than the vinyl case of earlier
models, it left the last inch or so of each white key exposed. Fine in
the studio, it wasn't so suitable for gigging, and an alarming number of
keys were broken as a result. Less obvious, but perhaps more important,
was the adoption of ARP's unique 'PPC' (proportional pitch controller)
which, on the last 'in-betweenies', had replaced the unconventional and
unpopular pitch-bend knob with what proved to be an equally unconventional
and unpopular pressure pad arrangement. The three PPC pads sat under the
fingers of your left hand and gave pitch-bend 'down', vibrato, and pitch-bend
'up', each effect in proportion to the pressure applied to the appropriate
pad. Minor external improvements were also made: the unconventional 'phono'
input was exchanged for a standard quarter-inch jack socket, and the quarter-inch
'high' output was replaced with a balanced XLR.
On the inside, the VCO was redesigned for
better tracking and stability, the power supply regulation and the S&H
circuit were improved, and the keyboard offered better CV generation, for
more accurate control of other synths. Furthermore, later service documents
show that ARP changed the filter yet again, first to the 4023, and finally
to the 4075, which offered a claimed frequency response of 16kHz. Whether
these revisions were different to the earlier versions, or whether the
nomenclature has become garbled after all these years, is unclear. However,
apocrypha has it that the sound of the filters in the last few Odysseys
challenged the Moog-esque circuits of the earliest model. Whatever the
truth may be, the 2823 Odyssey was an excellent instrument, period.
SO WHAT WENT WRONG?
ARP's zenith was in 1977, and the company
then moved into a rapid decline. Despite a turnover of millions of dollars,
profits were minimal, and there were three uncoordinated research and development
projects eating into the company's meagre resources. One of these was the
world's 'ultimate' polyphonic synthesizer, the Centaur. Hopelessly complex,
hopelessly unreliable and, with a projected end-user price of $20,000 (more
than £50,000 at 1997 prices) hopelessly overpriced, the Centaur was
doomed. The company built just two. Stranded without a flagship product,
ARP rushed out a half-baked polysynth that also marked its penultimate
fling with monophonic synthesis. The Quadra was, in essence, a hybrid of
an Omni II, a cut-down -- but pressure- sensitive -- Odyssey, and a basic
monosynth devoted to bass duties. Unfortunately, most players agreed that
contemporaries such as the Prophet 5 completely outclassed it. The Quadra
bombed. Other projects, such as the Avatar guitar synthesizer and the 4-voice
and 16-voice electric pianos, were also unmitigated disasters. By 1980
ARP was in a mess, crippled by mismanagement, while, in contrast, Japanese
competitors such as Roland and Yamaha were putting the finishing touches
to the Jupiter 8 and the world's first FM synth, the GS1. In 1981 ARP collapsed
in a heap of recrimination and unpaid bills. Development and production
of all ARP synthesizers (except for the CBS/Rhodes Chroma) stopped, and
the Odyssey died.
IN USE
Despite the chequered history of their filters,
all Odysseys sounded bright and zappy and, if they were never as punchy
as a Minimoog (which is debatable), they blew away the Rolands, Yamahas
and Korgs that had caused me so much frustration. They excelled at the
squelchy basses, industrial effects and shrieking lead sounds that are
now so fashionable, displaying a cutting edge that was missing from their
competitors. On the imitative side, their solo trumpets and tubas are still
the standards by which analogue synths are judged, and a little judicious
juggling of the filter and envelope would produce flutes, oboes, and Clavioline
imitations that had you playing 'Telstar' before you could stop yourself.
The manual also offered guitars, trumpet and string choruses, electric
bass and percussion patches, while 75 further sounds appeared in the patch-book
that came with every synth. If there was a criticism, it lay in how difficult
it could be to coax warm, mellow voices from an Ody. You could do it, but
the results lacked the characteristic warmth of a Minimoog -- impressive,
maybe, but cold and distant by comparison. The Odyssey's sound, despite
its ascendancy in some areas, was limited in others, and for this reason
perhaps, it was always overshadowed by its more famous competitor. This
is a shame, because the combination of the warmer, fatter Minimoog and
the more 'edgy' Odyssey offered a far wider range of timbres than could
be provided by either alone. The Enid recognised this, as did Jean Michel
Jarre (Oxygene), and the Electric Light Orchestra (Out of the
Blue).
Nowadays the Odyssey is revered as a prime
example of the 'twiddly' school of synthesizers. With all its controls
on the large top panel, it encourages even the most reticent of us to experiment.
But however you use your Odyssey, you'll be assured of one thing: class.
Robert came to my rescue just in time. I got the sound I wanted, and nobody
had to stick knives into anything.
CURRENT ARP VALUES
|
| From the wonderful Odysseys
and Pro-Soloists to the ghastly Quartet and the electronic pianos, ARP
went from one extreme to another. Here's a list of all the ARPs you're
likely to see advertised, plus my marks out of 10 for each. You disagree?
Great -- I love a good argument. |
| MODEL |
2ND-HAND BARGAIN |
2ND-HAND RIP-OFF |
MARKS OUT OF 10 |
| 4 voice piano |
25 |
75 |
0 |
| 16 voice piano |
50 |
100 |
2 |
| 2500 * |
2000 |
5000 |
6 |
| 2600 |
750 |
1600 |
7 |
| Avatar |
100 |
400 |
6 |
| Axxe ** |
50 |
200 |
4 |
| Explorer |
50 |
150 |
5 |
| Odyssey (model 2800 'Mark 1') |
150 |
500 |
10 |
| Odyssey (models 2810-2813) |
150 |
550 |
9 |
| Odyssey (models 2820-2823 'Mark 2') |
150 |
450 |
9 |
| Omni |
50 |
140 |
5 |
| Omni II |
50 |
150 |
5 |
| ProDGX |
75 |
200 |
9 |
| ProSoloist |
50 |
200 |
10 |
| Quadra |
250 |
500 |
8 |
| Quartet |
0 |
50 |
minus several million |
| Solina / String Ensemble |
50 |
125 |
5 |
| Solus |
100 |
300 |
6 |
| * depending upon configuration.
** OK, make that a '5' for a white-face in mint condition. |
DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING
YOU READ
There was at least one area in which, on paper,
the Odyssey fell short of ideal. This was in the attack speed of its ADSR
and AR envelope generators. Consider this: plucking, hitting or slapping
any musical object results in almost instantaneous transients, both in
terms of amplitude and harmonic variations: the sound doesn't increase
in volume slowly, it immediately goes 'boingg'. On a synthesizer, even
the slightest deviation from this ideal results in weaker, less interesting
sounds. The ARP's envelopes each had minimum attack times quoted as 5ms,
so they should never have sounded as snappy as the Rolands and Yamahas
that claimed attacks of 1 or 2ms. Having said that, the Odyssey was at
least a match for the best of the Rolands, and was much punchier than any
Yamaha or Korg of the era. Indeed, the snappiest synth of them all was
probably the Minimoog, with a quoted attack of 10ms. It just goes to show
how misleading specifications can be.
ODYSSEY AND MINIMOOG
COMPARED
|
| Despite costing about the
same throughout the 1970s, in many ways (on a 'features per pound' basis)
the Odyssey beat the Minimoog into a pulp. Check out the specs for yourself: |
| |
MOOG MINIMOOG |
ARP ODYSSEY |
| OSCILLATORS: |
| Audio Oscillators |
3 |
2 |
| No. of waveforms |
6 |
Unlimited |
| Pulse Width Modulation |
No |
Yes |
| LFO Pitch Modulation |
Yes |
Yes |
| Audio frequency Pitch Mod |
Yes |
No |
| Oscillator sync |
No |
Yes |
| Fine Tuning |
No |
Yes |
| Ring Modulation |
No |
Yes |
| Noise |
Yes |
Pink & White |
| Pitch bend |
Yes |
Yes |
| Portamento (Glide) |
Yes |
Yes |
| FILTER: |
| 24dB/oct LP filter |
Yes |
Yes |
| High-pass filter |
No |
Yes |
| Filter self-oscillation |
Yes |
Yes |
| Keyboard tracking |
4 options |
Fully variable |
| ENVELOPES: |
| Dedicated Envelopes |
2 x ADSD |
1 x ADSR, 1 x AR |
| No. of Envelope destinations |
2 |
6 |
| Envelope inversion |
No |
No |
| LFO re-triggering |
No |
Yes |
| LFO AND S&H: |
| Dedicated LFOs |
0 |
1 |
| No. of LFO destinations |
2 |
8 |
| No. of LFO waveforms |
6 |
2 |
| Sample & hold |
No |
Yes |
| No. of S&H destinations |
n/a |
5 |
| OTHER FEATURES: |
| Polyphony |
1 |
2 |
| Keyboard |
44 note |
37 note |
| Modulation wheel |
Yes |
No |
| Pitchbend wheel |
Yes |
No |
| Transpose +/- 2 octave |
No |
Yes |
SERVICING AN ODYSSEY
The simplicity of the Odyssey's construction
is now a 'plus' point, albeit a rarely appreciated one. You can disassemble
one with no more than a screwdriver, there is no VLSI or other digital
circuitry to fall foul of, and its operation can be understood with even
a limited knowledge of electronics. This means that servicing, if the parts
remain available, remains straightforward. Beware, however, instruments
with broken sliders or defective filters. The spares for these have begun
to assume all the characteristics of hens' teeth, so you could be facing
an expensive repair bill if you need to replace either. You may even end
up, as I did, buying a second Odyssey to use as a source of spares for
the first.
Inevitably, this simplicity has also led
to some units being modified in rather unconventional ways. The Enid's
Odyssey saw the business end of a soldering iron on more than one occasion,
eventually sporting a guitar input and a modification that allowed a 24dB/oct
wah-wah foot pedal, with resonance, to control the filters! There's no
accounting for taste.
Europe's No1 Hi-Tech Music Recording
Magazine |
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| © 1998 Sound On Sound
Limited. The contents of this article are subject to worldwide copyright
protection and reproduction in whole or part, whether mechanical or electronic,
is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publishers.
Great care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this
article but neither Sound On Sound Limited nor the Editor can be held responsible
for its contents. The views expressed are those of the contributors and
not necessarily those of the Publishers or Editor. |
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