Who here has figured out how to play the intro to Rush’s 2112. It sounds to me like there were 2 Minimoog filters involved. Its likely that a Minimoog was used to filter the track it had already recorded by sending it through the Mini’s aux input and then recording the result on another track. Other possibilities include the use of 2 Minimoogs or the use of a Minimoog with a resonant filter pedal. There are obviously other possibilities too. What is your take on this?
It was acknowledged that an ARP 2600 was used to make that intro. Obviously multi-tracked white noise through resonant filter.
Here’s what Terry Brown, their producer at the time, actually said about it in the video documentary “Classic Albums - 2112/Moving Pictures” :
“There it is, the unmistakable opening of 2112, and this was Hugh Syme playing various synth parts for us, and it was all put together in a collage and we finalized this intro for the piece.”
He never mentions what synth was used.
And as for the info on Wikipedia about the song, that states that an Arp Odyssey was supposedly used for the intro, it references “The influence of Electronic Music in Rock Music, 1967-76” article by Jerry Fielden, but there’s no mention anywhere of an Arp Odyssey (or Arp 2600 for that matter) having been used on that intro. Only that an Echoplex tape delay was also used with a synth.
So, in conclusion, your guess is as good as mine. I say it was the Minimoog with an Echoplex. 
Thanks MC & thealien666for your responses. My next more difficult task is to figure out how to reproduce something similar to this live. Because of limited space onstage I hope to only use my 1973 Minimoog with up to 3 delays (2 analog & 1 digital) and possibly a bit of assistance from a Pro One.
Or you could do what we did back when I was a teenager in a small amateur band, and play a recording of the actual opening of 2112, followed by your playing ? Of course we used a tape copy back then, but today any mp3 player or even a smart phone could do that easily. And it would be a hell of a lot easier than trying to recreate such synth fiddling live, which would inevitably most probably not sound much like the original anyway…
This goes back a ways but… back in 1978 I used a Micromoog to do that intro with a band.
http://www.synthfind.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/moogmicromoog.jpg
As I remember, it sounded pretty good.
I think I had noise feeding a Low Pass with Resonance and the Ribbon was controlling the Filter’s Cutoff.
Then I used two fingers to “walk” on the Ribbon. By stabbing at the top of the ribbon and dragging
downward and then repeating that motion with a second finger you’d get that:
Doooo Doooo Awwwww, Dooooo Dooooo Awwwww…
with "Doooo being a falling filter sound and “Awwwww” being a slight climb upward from the bottom of the ribbon.
The I slowly raised the Cutoff knob after each pass. {I’m pretty sure I also had an oscillator quietly mixed in there
as well whose pitch also followed the ribbon - but it’s been over 35 years since I’ve thought about it…}
The final filter sweep (at the guitar hit) is high Resonance with lots of delay and a wild twist of the Cutoff knob.
Could it be done with the Phatty? Maybe, but the ribbon let you start back at the top without having to wheel back up there.
I hear at least two independent noise sweeps in that intro, in addition to a drone note.
Sure you could use backing tracks. If it were me I would play it live, slightly deviate from the intro, and make it entertaining somehow. But I’m just a madman that way.
It’s possible but, you do realize Dan that, memories are often distorted in our minds in regards to what really happened… 
A phone call to Hugh Syme has confirmed that it was done with an Arp Odyssey and a Mellotron.
You mean an Arp Odyssey and an Echoplex, don’t you ? I don’t hear a Mellotron anywhere in that intro…?
I don’t hear a Mellotron either…
He was saying which two keyboards were used on the album.
If anyone needs it, I have the isolated synthesizer track (doesn’t have the guitar hits) as a .WAV file.
It was indeed an ARP Odyssey on that intro.
Here’s quote from Hugh Syme:
"“I was in their studio in Toronto - my first ever visit to their legendarily private inner sanctum - and one thing led to another. Geddy and I were huddled on the floor with my Arp Odyssey synth, operating envelope filters and playing notes to produce the soundscape that opened the overture of 2112. I then went down the hall for a few hours, and developed my Mellotron string and horn parts for Geddy’s song, Tears. It’s still a-very fond memory.”
- Hugh Syme, Classic Rock Special Edition, June 11, 2012
OK some of us were thinking the “2112” song with the synth intro, not the whole album. I do not doubt that “Tears” has Mellotron. Now we got things straight!
There was an article on reverb.com today talking about the intro being an Arp Odessey with a Echoplex.