ARP Odyssey

Entering the market at 1972, ARP Odyssey was the first ever duophonic synthesizer. Back in the 70s it was in heavy competition with the MiniMoog. While it wasn't quite as popular as the famous Moog model, it can be heard in tons of major releases from that era. ARP Instruments achieved this by giving away free Odysseys for everybody with a major recording contract, as long as they allowed their name to be put on a user list.

The Odyssey is small and lightweight, thus nicely portable. Unlike ARP 2600, there are no patch cords. They are replaced by a large number of colour-coded sliders for quick and easy control.

The VCOs are syncable and feature sawtooth, square and pulse waveforms, with a ring modulator plus pink noise/white noise. For a filter there are both high- and low-pass VCFs. The latter self-oscillates. There are two EGs, ADSR and a simple AR. Other features include an LFO and sample/hold.


Three types of Odyssey models were produced:

2800

• black and white face panel (some later models have black and gold face panels)
• pitch bend knob
• no factory installed interface jacks
• wrap around vinyl botton cover

2810-2813

• black and gold face panel
• new style power switch
• factory installed interface jacks
• pitch bend knob (some later models have PPC)
• wrap around vinyl bottom cover

2820-2823(?)

• black and orange face panel
• steel chassis
• leather endblocks
• PPC (*)

(*) The PPC is basicially three rubber pads under the keys, making the keyboard pressure-sensitive.

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