Welcome back to another edition of Quinnertronics' Synthesizer Corner with our old friend, Quinnertronics, bringing the jive to Hive!
I just picked up a clone tribute to the classic ARP 2600 synthesizer, renown for its wide variety of timbres and it was quite popularly used in sci-fi movie sound FX, most famous of all as the "voice" of R2D2 in the Star Wars movies.
I've had my eye on this one since it was released a year or two back, and have been patiently waiting for the price to come down. Used versions of the original ARP 2600 can easily cost in the thousands. Behringer came out with their rendition, in three different colors/configurations. Here I have the "Gray Meanie" which has spring reverb built in, which the Blue Marvin version also has ( the black version has a digital reverb).
Looking her over firsthand, she does seem a bit complex and intimidating...and I have plenty of experience as a synth hobbiest. Is it the sliders? Or how she comes pre-wired with inputs to the patch points listed? I've never really had too much experience with semi modular stuff, although I do have the Behringer Neutron, which I thought packed quite a punch.
I'll start with the sound- which I thought the best way to describe it was that it just has a lot of character to it. The fine tuning controls are a great touch, and I've never seen one on a filter before. There is no shortage of modulation sources and I am going to have to spend some time digging into this one, because I can already tell that she is deeper than your average monosynth.
Secondly, the visual package is something that jumps out, the gray version has adjustable red LED lights on each fader, which look pretty nice in the dark. The blue version had yellow lights on it, and I'm sure I will forever contemplate whether I made the right decision or not...a decision I made based on thinking that the blue, while it does definitely pop with that bright color, perhaps it would be a little too much on the eyes, going for something a little more aesthetically subdued. Only time will tell.
They shrank the package down a bit, so it could fit in a modern 19-inch rack, but keeping the same general layout and style. Here is a photo of one of the original units:
The video is just the first time powering the 2600 up and messing around, seeing what kind of sounds I could get. You can hear a bit of that R2D2 in there at times! More to come....
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