ARP Odyssey

The ARP Odyssey was and still is a very popular analog synth because it is a powerful lightweight version of the awesome ARP 2600. It was also ARP's response to the Minimoog and the most popular synth ARP ever sold! The Odyssey is a 2-oscillator analog synth (the Minimoog has 3 oscillators and is considered fatter). The Odyssey was the first analog synth with duophonic capabilities which means it could play two notes at once. The Odyssey comes well equipped with all the tweakable features you'd expect: resonant low pass filter, a non-resonant hi pass filter, ADSR envelopes, sine or square wave LFO and even a sample-and-hold function. It is a very professional and expressive machine that can create nice analog basses, interesting leads and great effects and sweeping sounds or noises!

There were many versions of the Odyssey over the years, each a little different.

Odyssey Mk I (aka model 2800)

• Produced between 1972–74.
  These original white-faced Odysseys used a 2-pole VCF filter design similar to old Oberheim SEM modules.
• Later Mark I's were made with the black and gold color scheme, and some may also have the CV/Gate/Trigger interface jacks installed (ARP mod kit # 6800101).

Odyssey Mk II (aka model 2810–2811–2812–2813–2815)

• Produced between 1974–76.
• The Odysseys I and II look and feel virtually the same. The main difference between them being the addition of CV / Gate control and a new black & gold color-scheme. Some of these had a beefier 4-pole VCF filter. This filter was basically a copy of the Moog filter, and it didn't last. Moog sued ARP, forcing them to redesign their own four-pole, lowpass filters. They came up with the 4075 filter which was used in subsequent Odyssey models. The similar 4072 was featured in the 2600, Omni, Axxe, Solus and others.
• Some Mark II do not come with CV/gate interface, though they do have the PPC feat.. Mark II Odysseys have XLR outputs.

Odyssey Mk III (aka model 2820–2823)

• Produced from 1976–81.
• It feat. the new 4075 filter design. The rest of its specifications are virtually identical to the Odyssey II except that the overall look and quality are further updated to match the look of the latest ARP synths with the orange & black color-scheme. It also used a unique ARP pitch-bender design called the PPC (Proportional Pitch Control), where three pressure-sensitive buttons are used to control bend up, down and vibrato; older Odysseys used a simple knob for pitch bending. Odyssey III is the most common model of the Odyssey series.

Interesting facts

In some of the earlier models, some of their circuitry (the Odyssey's 4023 filter) was encased in resin, a trick ARP used often in their earlier years to maintain temperature stability (or as some say, to guard trade secrets). For whatever reason they did it, having their circuits enclosed in resin makes it difficult, if not imposible, to repair some units.

Effects

• Switchable between sawtooth, square, and pulse waveforms with oscillator sync, a ring modulator, and pink or white noise.
• Pulse-width can be modulated manually or with the LFO or the ADSR envelope generator. There is a (static) high-pass filter, as well as a voltage controlled low-pass self-oscillating filter.
• The filter can be controlled by either of the two envelope generators, an ADSR (attack, decay, sustain, release) and a simple AR (attack, release) and modulated by the LFO, sample-and-hold, the keyboard, or a separate CV (pedal) input on the back panel.

Who played it?

ABBA, Bomb The Bass, Dave Brubeck, Bob Casale with Devo, Chemical Brothers, Chick Corea, Tom Coster with Santana, ELO, Electronic Dream Planet, The Enid, John Entwistle + Pete Townsend- of The Who, John Evans + Dave Palmer with Jethro Tull, Herbie Hancock, David Hentschel on early Elton John recordings, Jefferson Starship, Kansas, Ron Levy of the B. B. King Band, Gary Numan, Nine Inch Nails, R.E.M., Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk, Styx, Tangerine Dream, Billy Currie of Ultravox, and Evan Doorbell.

Sources

• Synth Museum http://www.synthmuseum.com/arp/arpodyssey01.html
• Vintage Synth Explorer http://www.vintagesynth.org/index2.html