Arp Odyssey - Now I Get It!

[facon]

I've leaned heavily towards Moog synths as my preference for a while. Recently, I decided to go ahead and pick up an Arp Odyssey. The demos don't sound too amazing to me, but I like a lot of bands that use them. At first I struggled with it. The controls don't react the way I expect them to. I found it to be lacking something. My Model D has this low resonance that makes it sound so huge. The Odyssey is the opposite. Kinda all around dry sounding and thin in comparison. The oscillators remind me of an Atari or something. Moogs can fill an entire mix with just two or three parts and sound so smooth. But the Arp, just seems a little bland. I thought the solution was to add delay, reverb and some eq. This did help make it feel more inspirational for a bit, but still not like my Moogs.

A lot of my synth based music has been pretty basic. Most of my experience has been with bands, so I tend to use that as an influence to fill the spectrum. Bass, rhythm mid range, lead mid range, maybe a pad that goes into the highs. Mostly pretty simple stuff that breathes. Well, I just finished a song that gets pretty intense and dense/complex towards the end. Lots of layered guitars, drums and bass. The Arp Odyssey just fit within the complex mix without any eq. Seriously, just blends right in perfectly. Not only that, but it sounds so damn good. I used it for the bass and the lead, and I couldn't be happier. Reminds me of NIN (I'm pretty sure they use it quite a bit).

So, I just wanted to say that I'm glad I was able to find where this synth fits for my style. I almost wrote it off as not for me. Perhaps my experience will help some others with the same opinion to try some other ways to make the synth work for them. I think this situation can teach me quite a bit about other things. Sometimes it's not the instrument that is the problem, it's the expectation I have of that instrument.

[thealien666]

I always thought that a synth was like any other musical instrument, which is a tool to express yourself musically. Sometimes we might buy a tool not knowing exactly what we're going to use it for. But when we eventually need it for something, we're glad to have it in our toolbox.

I recently bought a DeepMind 12, not expecting much since I don't usually fancy the "Roland Juno" sound. But, after exploring it for about a month now, it's much more than that. It's not going to do everything, but what it can do is different from any of my other synths (Minimoog D, OB6, Matrix-6, DW8000, SQ80).

The exact same thing happened with the OB6, also recently bought. Although it was a little more impressive right away than the DM12, probably thanks to much better presets onboard than on the Behringer.

Nothing will ever replace my Minimoog D, nor any other synth at my disposal for now. Each have something the others don't. I've had other synths in the past that I got rid of, they didn't meet my expectations, or that I grew tired of. The Voyager for one, and the Korg MP4. I would also get rid of the Oberheim Matrix-6 if I wasn't using it as a MIDI controller for my OB6 Module. I'm not a fan of the "Curtis chips sound".

But we can be grateful that we live in an era where there are so many great, and even not so great , analog synths to choose from !

Enjoy your newly appreciated Arp Odyssey ! Cheers !

[Brian G]

The Odyssey is a fun synth that fits in well with others in your collection, as said, it's another tool. I tend to keep mine on filter Mode 1 most of the time.

Enjoy

[HookedOnSonics]

Just got the Full size and its big in every way, faders, Pitch Controls, and sound. Korg replaced the wall wart with a power bar, maybe explains the fuller sound. Studying up on how to connect to the Mothers, XL, and MD via CV/Gate. Realize MIDI would be easy, but would like to try the CV/Gate/Trigger.

Being overly cautious with the 0/5 standard today and the higher volts of the KARP. We are really happy with the Assembly job they did in NY under David F's guidance. Wish the keybed was like the XL and MD, but still happy

Here are some photos of our Mini me and the new FS

[facon]

I went with the full sized version as well. I thought they'd be available for a lot longer than they were. I purchased it last second because I didn't want to miss out. I think it was Sweetwater's last one. I'm really glad I did.

[EricK]

Here's a Model D Vs Arp Oddy in a funk faceoff courtesy of MootBooxlé.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e63xodLhGR4

The Arp just does it.