[NAMM] Not 1 but 3 ARP Odyssey reissues

Indeed, Korg introduces today at NAMM 2015 three editions of the Odyssey synth: a “standard” that retains the design from the Rev3 with black and orange panel, another edition with the white panel used on the Rev1 and a limited edition Rev2 with black and golden panel.

The difference between the three models will only be cosmetic, specifications are identical.

If you missed the initial announcement last year, Korg partnered with co-funder of the historical ARP Instruments company, David Friend, in order to reproduce the original circuits, filters from the three generations, the portamento behaviors from the 1 and Rev2/3 versions, in a more compact synthesizer (86% of the original dimensions). 

But the team did not forget to add some modern touches to the historical instrument and included a new Drive button that distorts the VCA to generate a raw sound, as well as USB, MIDI and headphone out connectors.

Specifications of this new edition of the Odyssey:

• 37-note slimkey keybed (no velocity nor aftertouch)
• 2 voices for the duophonic mode
• +/- 2 octave transpose (7 octave range in total)
• White and pink noise generator
• Portamento: 1.5s/octave to 0.01 ms/octave
• 2 VCOs (VCO 1 with priority to the lowest note, VCO 2 to the highest note) with saw, square and dynamic pulse waveforms, pulse width (50 – 5%), PWM (ADSR, +45% ; LFO, +15%), CV response 1V/octave
• VCF: three types of low-pass filters (reproduces the filter of each Rev): 12dB/oct and 24dB/oct on a frequency range of 16 Hz – 16 kHz
• CVA with 80 dB dynamics
• Digital ring modulator, input signal: VCO 1, VCO 2 (square)
• Sample & Hold with keyboard or LFO trigger sources, VCO 1 saw and square and VCO 2 square and pink noise targets
• ADSR envelope generator with 5ms – 5s attack time, 10ms – 8s decay time, 0–100% or Peak sustain and 15ms – 10s release time
• AR envelope generator with 5ms – 5s attack time and 10ms – 8s release time
• 1/4” pedal input
• 1/4” portamento/footswitch input
• 1/4” low impedance audio output
• XLR high impedance audio output
• 1/4” stereo headphone output
• 1/4” audio input
• MIDI input
• USB Type B port
• 1/8” CV in/out, 1V/octave
• 1/8” Gate in/out (+3V mini for the input, +10V pressed key or 0V all released notes for the output)
• Dimensions: 502 × 380 × 120mm
• Weight: 5 kg

The ARP Odyssey will ship with their power supply, a 1/4” cable, 1/8” patch cables and the usual manual in a rigid case. Korg VP-10 volume pedal and PS-1/PS-3 switch pedal are available as an option. The three versions will be available in March for the price of 999 € each.