Arturia ARP 2600 V3 - Electronic Delivery

Product Description

THE MAGIC MIX

With its sound palette varying from heavy drum n' bass stabs to angular arpeggiated electro bass lines, whatever your chosen genre, the Arturia ARP 2600 V3 is a truly versatile sound creation tool which still takes its place at the heart of today's music. A unique combination of semi-modular architecture and fixed preset routing, gave the original ARP2600 the distinction of being one of the most versatile synths of the 1970s.

Going beyond and back

While the original instrument was a wonder to use, Arturia have always found ways to innovate and improve. Four revolutionary modulation generators add sonic flexibility and the step sequencer will allow you to animate your sounds. The multimode filter and output audio effects add new possibilities not found in the original....and, it is fully polyphonic.

A little bit of history...

Alan R. Pearlman, whose initials would later form the name of his synthesizer company, became convinced of the potential for electronic devices to be used as musical instruments as early as 1948, when he was a student at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. This was a means for him to associate his two passions: electronic music and the piano.

In 1969, he created ARP Instruments (originally called Tonus Inc.) with David Friend and Lewis G. Pollock. The Massachusetts-based company designed electronic products, but most importantly they designed and built a large modular synthesizer, the ARP 2500. The machine used a matrix to connect the different sections of the synthesizer instead of the traditional patch cables found in the competitor's modulars. The ARP 2500 found success in American universities.

The growth of ARP instruments was fast and in 1972 the ARP 2600, probably the most legendary of the entire range, was unveiled. This semi-modular synthesizer, conceived with an educational goal, was to become hugely successful after a shaky start. The ARP 2600 was notably used by Stevie Wonder, Joe Zawinul (Weather Report), Tony Banks (Genesis), Jean-Michel Jarre, and Herbie Hancock, to name a few artists. ARP was the market leader in synthesizers during the 70’s with around 40% of the market share.

In ten years, three versions of the ARP 2600 were commercialized: The first version was called “Blue Meanie” because of its steely blue finish. The “Blue Meanie” was quickly replaced by a second version, with a grey background finish and white silk screening (1972). This was to be more popular. In 1978 ARP decided to change the graphic chart for all of its machines: a black background color with orange silk screening was introduced. The third and final version of the ARP2600 was the most popular of all.

New creative possibilities

With ARP 2600 V Arturia brings this powerful analog synthesizer back to life. All of the original functions and signature sound are there, not to mention MIDI control, polyphony, and the ability to create, save and recall presets. But that’s not all: the speaker panels hide innovative features that take the initial design of the ARP 2600 to a new level. Four revolutionary tracking generators add sonic flexibility that is highly advanced. Modern effects devices are also available, along with the original ARP sequencer. The combination of old and new features forms an exciting new virtual synthesizer.

If you’re new to synthesis, no problem: Arturia have included hundreds of excellent presets to get you started. The Arp 2600 is a workhorse that can deliver everything from clean leads and sequences to crazy sound effects. When you need something with that extra special character the Arp 2600 is the one to go for.