Arp synth information
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Page 1
WHAT IS HUMAN ENGINEERING? Human engineering is the least talked-about aspect of synthesizer design. It is also the most important. Human engineering determines what your synthesizer will look like, where the knobs will be placed, what color to make the switches, what typeface to use for panel graphics. how far the keys must be depressed, and dozens of other considerations. At ARP, we make a big deal about human engineering. Because designing a perfect synthesizer requires much more than perfect oscillators and filters-it requires a sensitivity for how an instru - ment should be shaped and structured so that it feels good in your hands. Human Engineering involves getting lots of performing musicians involved in the actual conceptual design process. The success of the process is crucial. A bunch of engineers sitting around a drafting table can come up with a synthesizer loaded with gadgets that are impossi - ble to play! The biggest mistake you can make when purchasing a synthesizer is to be lured by the lists showing how many oscillators, filters, etc., a synthesizer contains. You need a synthesizer that feels right to you. And unless youre planning on disappearing into a laboratory, you need a synthesizer that is human engineered. As Michael Brooks said in Creem magazine, For a brief analysis, Moog, like Kleenex and Coca-Cola. is the name most commonly used to explain synthesizers, but ARP is the most popularly used synthesiz - er in rock. The ARP was aimed at the working musician, working musicians like Elton John, Beach Boys, N. Y. Rock Ensemble, Herbie Hancock, the Rascals. Grateful Dead. Frank Zappa, Jefferson Airplane, Chicago. Seatrain, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis. Al Kooper ,The James Gang. Santana, Three Dog Night, Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, Peter Townshend, and on and on. * _______________________________ *Creem, May 1973, Vol. 4, No. 12, p. 73. The biggest mistake you can make when purchasing a synthe - sizer is to be lured by the lists showing how many oscilla - tors, filters, etc., a synthesizer contains.
Page 2
The less glamourous aspects of synthesiz - ers, like where cer - tain knobs are placed on the panel can be much more important to a musi - cian than how many oscillators or ring modulators he has. LETS TALK FUNCTIONS Oscillators, Filters. Envelope Generators, Ring Modulators. and other wonderful devices all make up the Functions in a synthesiz - er. Ever since synthesizers were invented, manufacturers, including us, have run around with charts proving how many Functions their synthe - sizers had. We now know that less glamourous aspects of synthesizers, like where certain knobs are placed on the panel, can be much more important to a musician than how many oscillators or ring modulators he has. So instead of just counting functions, lets talk about what these func - tions do for you. Because if you want to synthesize your way to star - dom, youre going to have to do it with sounds. not figures. In the following pages. were going to compare the ARP Odyssey with three other synthesizers in a comparable price range. What we prove in this comparison is what most of the worlds most famous synthesizer players already know that the ARP Odyssey is the synthesizer designed by musicians for musicians. FIRST A LITTLE THEOR Y All the functions on a synthesizer can be divided into three categories: 1). Sound Sources. Includes oscillators and noise generators. 2). Sound Modifiers. Includes Filters, ring modulators, etc. 3). Controllers. Includes keyboards, foot pedals. envelope generators. The raw sounds from the oscillators or tone generators are processed through the Sound Modifiers like the filter or ring modulator . Controllers are hooked up to both the Sound Generator functions and Sound Modifier functions so that the performer can change or control the sounds being produced. Thats all there is to it! 2