no denying that they all sound great. i thiink what a few of us are saying is that the odyssey is a definite step up in terms of complexity from the prodigy. i agree with you though, the prices i’ve been seeing are an order of magnitude higher than the quoted $580 for an odyssey and $1,250 for a prophet V, assuming good/vg condition, which i think would be a prerequisite for anyone getting into an older analog synth such as the odyssey (though i’ve heard a number of people say the arp osc’s are more stable than the moogs- don’t have real-world experience of this, however), unless you either know a very good tech who also happens to be your brother-in-law, or you get 'em for a steal like our thread-starter did. 
No doubt the Odyssey had a lot going for it-for flexibility and good sound, the best rival would be the Pro-One, though the sounds are quite different. The Arps, Moogs, Yamahas and SEMs of the 70s have the edge when it comes to ultimate warmth.
The Arps had a clear advantage in oscillator stability, it was even part of their advertizing literature. The later Minis’ oscillators were just as stable though, and even some of the earlier oscillator models were quite reasonable; it varied from one to the next.
Thinking about relative values, in terms of it’s original value and it’s sound and features, to me, the Odyssey is well worth $600 and up. That’s a fraction of what it cost when it was new.
The Prodigy, on the other hand, while it’s definitely a great sounding synth, is now selling for several times it’s original price. So, it’s (at least)a little over-valued. But it does have wooden sides, and looks a bit like a Mini… so it’s a trade off.
so i talked to my tech who’s looking at the boards now and it doesn’t look so hot.
i guess the arp makes sound, but has a really low output level, and a lot of the sliders are unusable(stiff, not responsive)… he recommends replacing the majority of the sliders. but he thinks the low output level might be more serious… what ever that means.
the prophet 5 rev2 puts out good sound, but a number of knobs don’t work, the keyboard cuts in and out, and it’s horribly out of tune… and needs to be calibrated.
i called wine country, but it turns out they only work on rev3’s. i didn’t realize this but rev2’s don’t seem to be very popular nowadays. apparently they’re so unstable and complicated nobody wants to touch them.
my tech says he’s down to try and restore them, but it would be very expensive, take a long time, and he can’t promise they’ll actually work when he’s all done.
what do you guys think? are they worth sinking the money into? or should i try to recoup what i’ve spent by selling them for parts?
If I may chime in here. 
Off the cuff, your tech’s remarks scare me a bit.
If he has a problem with something like low output from an Ody, DO NOT let him attempt work on the P5.
P5’s can be a nightmare, but a low volume situation with the Ody doesn’t sound like a huge ordeal. If your tech doesn’t appear confident, find another.
All Odys have an extremely simple VCA circuit too.
If the low volume problem isn’t in the filter… and the tech can’t fix such a simple VCA… run!
Unless a slider actually has a worn out element, it can usually come back to life fine.
Problem is that many “techs” think the way to clean a slider is to spray something in them and that’s that. Wrong. The dirt is still in there, just moved around and with some dissolved lube that allows it to slide easier. When the lube dries up, things are still bad in them. It’s like adding fresh oil to dirty oil in your car.
The level seems fine, but the oil is still dirty.
This is a warning too: a tech can make a synth seem fine on the bench, but get it home and wait a bit and problems with sliders can resurface.
You want to avoid that trap.
Ask for a warranty. Any tech worth their salt should be able to back up their work for 1-3 months, which is a reasonable amount of time to see how things really are.
I sell Ody compatible sliders, but if this guy can’t solve a low volume issue, he might cause more problems attempting replacement.
Also be aware that early (usually white) Odys can take more time and effort to get right. They have more adjustments inside to calibrate and several problem areas which were changed in later models.
I have a small page here that might help illustrate this:
http://www.synthfool.com/whtvsblkody.html
In my opinion, the P5 is probably worth more for parts than the trouble and expense in repairing it. I stopped working on them years ago and so have a few other techs I know. Great synth when they work, but often horrible to repair.
Excellent deal regardless. Good for you!
okay, that’s super helpful.
the tech i go to is good… i didn’t mean to make him sound incompetent.
i’ve trusted this guy with my prodigy and opus, and he always does a great job…
he didn’t say he had a problem with the low output, he was just mentioning all the things wrong with it, and when i asked if the low output could be fixed with a good cleaning, he said he thinks it might be more serious than that, but that there’s no way to know without opening it up and getting inside.
for the arp sliders he said the arp’s biggest downfall are it’s sliders and that when they get stiff and sticky you can’t really fix them, cause when you clean them you’re cleaning out what lubricant is left and then they can stick even more.
so… just to clarify, is odyssey restoration pretty common? cause it doesn’t sound like prophet5 rev2 are… and if it’s possible to save one of these keyboards for less than it would cost to buy one that works i’d like to try.
btw it’s a black odyssey.
can you sell me a complete set of odyssey sliders?
thanks!
Sorry if I read into your post incorrectly.
for the arp sliders he said the arp’s biggest downfall are it’s sliders and that when they get stiff and sticky you can’t really fix them, cause when you clean them you’re cleaning out what lubricant is left and then they can stick even more.
I’m not sure I understand this above.
They CAN be relubed after a cleaning.
My solution (no pun intended) is not what everyone will try though. I actually give these things a full immersion bath. Water won’t hurt them if done correctly and it will remove all the gunk in the sliders as well as any previous garbage on the board and connectors that can cause problems.
I use softened hot water, Simplegreen detergent, followed by a blow out with high pressure air. Works great, but may give the unwary a heart attack.
Here’s a pic of Flea’s (Red Hot Chili Peppers) Ody getting a bath.
http://www.synthfool.com/openresources/fleabath.jpg
This Ody came out great and I’ve never received a complaint on it.
I only have linear slider types in one value (100K linear) and they have black shafts.
The Ody uses three different types though and the others are hard to find.
Some were on Ebay recently, but I don’t know if any are still available.
But again, unless they are truly worn out, they can be cleaned, relubed and will likely work great. A spray just won’t do this sort of cleaning though.
Keith,
Not to re-iterate all of what Kevin Lightner just said, but, if I were you I would try to find a tech who has worked on these specific synths before. He might be a great tech, but if he’s not familiar with these instruments, you probably won’t get very efficent service.
I’ve had 2 Odysseys and an Omni with these sliders, and each one of them had sticky and occasionally completely stuck sliders. They were all able to be cleaned out and working almost %100. Also, this could very likely be the most of the problem with your Odyssey.
I have no tech background and I did this service myself. I should say that most respectable synth-techs I’ve talked to say that owners really shouldn’t attempt these repairs-- but if you’re willing to set aside these well-advised caveats-- you could probably fix much of what’s wrong with the Odyssey yourself for free.
Also, there are alot of componets that are typical troublemakers in Odysseys, and there’s a ton of info on this subject on the net. This might lead you to think that Odysseys are problem synths or money synths, but in my experience most of the problems that Odysseys experience are minor, and pretty simple to fix.
So, even if you need a proper tech to service it, it shouldn’t cost that much.
Last, even though you may find it difficult to find someone to service your Prophet, I know that alot of people treasure the REV 2, so you can at least sell it for a good price (even in it’s current condition) if you decide it’s not worth keeping.
alright…
i really appreciate you guys taking the time to help me out on this stuff.
what my guy said about not being able to fix the sliders didn’t make a lot of sense to me either. i’ll mention it to him again.
i’m happy to hand these synths over to someone more qualified, even if it means shipping it. if anyone can recommend someone i’d appreciate it. it’s just that i’ve been looking high and low in seattle for one, and so far this guy is the best i’ve found.
Agreed, you should ship if necessary to get them fixed by someone knowledgeable, take some time to find someone.
In both cases get an estimate on what it will take to fix them; if the Prophet’s in decent physical shape and the repair’s not more than several hundred it’s worth fixing because Rev 2’s are now desirable on Ebay. You can even take pics prior to shipping them off, and then have them sent to Ebay bidders straight from the shop.
so i got them back from the shop.
the prophet actually sounds pretty sweet. the glide doesn’t seem to work… and i have to do some manual tuning every time i change a preset… but once i get a tone going it sounds F A T! i can definitely use it for recordings and maybe even gigging if holds up to the challenge. i’m holding on to this for sure.
the arp on the otherhand is another story… all the keys work and the sliders seem to respond for the most part… but the output level is really really low.
i think i’m gonna sell this on CL if i can. is $200 too much to ask for it’s present condition?
It’s odd that you got it back from the shop but the output’s too low on the ARP. Sounds to me like they didn’t do a very good job going over it.
Low volume could be as simple as a bad connection or pot, or it might be a fried output transistor. All of it should have been detectable and repairable. If it’s distorting, too, it could be a transformer.
I’m interested in the Arp if you want to sell it for $200.
I love Odysseys, don’t have one, and would be interested in a project.
Is it in pretty good cosmetic condition, have all the slider “pips”, no scratches or anything?
Actually though, if I were you, I would hold on to the Odyssey and try and find a decent tech who is familar with working on Arps. Because, it really is a fantastic synth. Literally one of the best ever made.
But, if you don’t think you can find anyone in your area, and you decide to let it go, I’m would be interested. [/list]
the tech made it sound like the low output was more than just a bad connection but wouldn’t know for sure what it was without going through the whole thing piece by piece, which he made sound expensive. so i told him not to.
it’s a little frustrating since i thought i had finally found a good tech, and now i’m back to square one.
i understand that it’s great synth… but to be honest, between my moogs and now this prophet 5, i can only take so many “finicky” keyboards, and right now the odyssy requires the most TLC.
it pains me to think in the hands of the right tech this synth could sing, but the problem is finding those hands could be costly, and require lot’s of patience.
it’s not in the best cosmetic shape anyway… it’s missing half a dozon of the slider caps… one of the slider tips is broken off completely. and it looks pretty dirty.
i have pics if you want me to send them.
regardless, i put it up on CL and a guy is coming over at noon today to get it.
If there is a prophet 5 rev2 for sale and it’s broken.
Please contact me!
Money is waiting!
bartkok@tiscali.nl
thanx
Bart
Man, I hear this.
I became obsessed with the Arp Avatar as a low-cost Odyssey at one point, and bought one. The seller was one of those “I bought this at an estate sale, and a guitarist friend says it’s working great,” sort of things.
Of course, it wasn’t working great. It had a totally bizarre problem where it would become intermittent, and hitting it would cause it to come back. Since they have a very convenient hinged top, I would often check all the connections inside. I even hand-cleaned all of the connectors… but the problem persisted.
I, like you, decided I’d rather just sell it than deal with another finicky keyboard… because you can only tolerate so many. (yes, I know the techs are saying: “Well, you could have had it fixed!” which is true, but)
I found the Avatar to be a very nice synth… which leads me to believe that the Odyssey is a very nice synth… but honestly, I found it to be pretty much without aural distinction. There was some functionality that might, when used, distinguish it, but to my ears it was just a pretty middle-of-the-road two osc.
I think maybe you didn’t spend enough time with the Avatar, because I think we might have similar taste in synths (refering to what you have said about the Mini), and I couldn’t disagree more about the Odyssey/Avatar.
I’ve had an Avatar, and an Odyssey II, and although they definitely had a different sound (because different filters, etc.), they both shared a uniqueness of sound that I can only describe as Mini like. They don’t sound anything like a Mini, but they had this quality of tone and a richness that I’ve only heard from a Mini-- or what I would describe as a “Modular” type sound. On an Odyssey, theres not the same rich bass sound as you find on a Mini, but instead it has more of a mid-range sharpness that gives it the sound of a real instrument. When you play into the higher range of the oscillators, that sharpness remains and gives the Odyssey this amazing tinny bright pin-prick type quality that I don’t think any other synth can re-produce. So, it will make the most realistic, but still electronic sounding, clavinet or harpsichord type sounds. Just totally different, and in my opinion better, than any of the “little” Moogs, Roland Shs, Korg MonoPoly, Korg Ms.
Plus the Odyssey, and to a lesser extent Avatar, has the most logically layed out control panel design of nearly any synth. It takes a while to orient yourself to the Odyssey’s controls if you’re used to playing other synths: The way the VCA, mixer, and routings function are quite different than most every other; But once you do, I found it to be a much better layout design. Ingeniously, the Odyssey pretty much allows you to route any source to any destination, and all at the same time.
I find this layout to be much more expressive than the typical Moog style layout where you only have 1 LFO to modulate everything, or just a Mod Buss.
All that said, I sold both of these Arps for reliability issues. I need synths to be able to travell well, and I found that they werent the best instruments to have to move around alot. They’re a bit delicate.
they both shared a uniqueness of sound that I can only describe as Mini like. They don’t sound anything like a Mini, but they had this quality of tone and a richness that I’ve only heard from a Mini-- or what I would describe as a “Modular” type sound. On an Odyssey, theres not the same rich bass sound as you find on a Mini, but instead it has more of a mid-range sharpness that gives it the sound of a real instrument.
Superb sound was the nature of most of the 70s and early 80s monophonics. Just great, all with different personalities. The Odyssey reminded me a little of the SEM-not as fat as a Moog but cleaner and tighter, loaded with character.
Arps, Moogs, Pro-Ones, early Rolands, Oberheim OB-1/SEMs, Yamaha CS-15/30 all had excellent sounds, really great and also very distinctive, unlike today’s equipment. While the Moogs were fatter, their general nature is such that they ALL excel at bass and leads.
Korg polyphonics like the Poly 800 and DW/EX8000 also sound great. I sold my Mono/Poly for the same reason as I sold the Multimoog-neither has the warmth or character of the abovementioned, which proves that the number of oscillators isn’t that important by itself.
yeah, like eric, i tour with my synths, so stability is crucial, my prodigy holds up for the time being, but it would be nice to have a dual osc mono synth i don’t have to worry about drifting out of tune in the middle of a song. if anyone can suggest one i’m all ears!
Didn’t Moog just release something like that..oooo..what was it called? The Little somethingorother…