Original_To:  BITNET%"synth-l@auvm"
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth
Date:         Thu, 8 Oct 1992 13:58:00 EST
From:         MCINTYRE@MSUPA.BITNET
Subject:      Arp Odyssey

>From:         "(Alexander E. Pensky)" <aep@ICD.AB.COM>

>In article <gP17RB1w165w@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca>,
>    markp@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Mark A. Pitcher) writes:
>>      I have the opportunity to purchase an ARP ODYSSEY (pre 1980), but
>> can't find any information about it.
>>
>>      How much would this be worth?

>Tell me and we'll both know.  I've thought about selling mine, but I've
>never seen a used one advertised for sale or "Wanted:".  There seems to
>be a market for the Omni and 2600, but not the Odyssey or Axxe.

I paid $125 for the most recent Odyssey I bought, perhaps 5 years ago.
This was the third edition with the pitch pads.  I purchased it at
Chuck Levin's Washington Music Store.

>>      What features does it have? # of oscillators, etc.

>       *  Two VCOs
The VCOs have square and sawtooth waveshapes available, but not
simultaneously as the Axxe does.  The width of the square wave
can be modulated.  VCO1 can be switched to LFO mode where it does
not track the keyboard.  See below for how to use this feature.

>       *  White/Pink noise generator
>       *  Ring modulation of osc. 1 and osc. 2
>       *  The above are then routed thru:
>               LFO, VCF, high pass filter, VCA
                ^^^
Small typo there.  The audio sources are not routed through the LFO.
The LFO is a modulator, not a signal processor.

>       *  ADSR and AR envelope generators

>Obligatory "neat and nearly useless" features:

>       1.  Sample-and-hold, which can be patched in at various points
>           in the signal routing.  Useful for random, nonrepeating
>           sequencer-type effects (hint: think of what a "sequencer"
>           was in 1976, not what it means now).

The signal that is being sampled is the output of a two input mixer,
the inputs being VCO1 and the noise generator.  The output of the
sample and hold mixer is available as a modulator for VCO2 and the
filter.  With VCO1 in LFO mode, the sample and hold mixer can give
you a sawtooth LFO.  The regular LFO only has sine and square
waveshapes.

>>      CV?
>>      How controllable is it?

>       *  CV in/out, Gate In, Trigger In jacks
>       *  External Audio In jack - so you can use the Odyssey
>          as an effects processor for a guitar, organ, etc.
>       *  __NO__ MIDI.

There are also Gate out and Trigger out jacks.  These interface
jacks are only on the second and third editions of the Odyssey.
The ones with white faces do not have them.  There is also
a jack for connecting a control pedal.  Unfortunately, when
the pedal is connected, the sample and hold mixer is not
available as a modulation source.

>What it looks like: 39 keys.

There is a switch for shifting the keyboard range up or down two octaves.

The envelopes can be triggered by the LFO, useful for hands off playing.

Do I like the Arp Odyssey?  Well, I own four of them and three Arp
Avatars, the guitar synthesizer that is essentially an Odyssey without
a keyboard.

If you want to hear what they sound like, order my bands' tapes. 8-)
Send an email message to olivotto@itncisca for ordering details.
Totentanz's tape is entitled _On Beyond Music_ and Mutually Assured
Destruction's is entitled _Ambient Genocide_.  Totentanz was early
in the arms race and has at most two Odysseys.  Mutually Assured
Destruction uses the whole arsenal.

John McIntyre
Physics - Astronomy Dept
Michigan State University
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth