19/05/2025
The ARP Odyssey Rev 1, introduced in 1972 is duophonic analog synthesizer designed to compete with the Minimoog.
Manufactured from 1972 to 1975, the Rev 1 features a white-faced panel and a 2-pole 4023 filter, giving it a bright, aggressive sound. It features two VCOs (sawtooth, square, pulse, PWM), a resonant low-pass filter, a high-pass filter, ADSR/AR envelopes, a sine/square LFO, sample-and-hold, oscillator sync, and a ring modulator. Unique features were its aggressive oscillators and innovative keyboard-scanning system.
It’s estimated 3,000 Odyssey units were produced across all models, with Rev 1 being the rarest. The Rev 1’s 4012 filter, similar to Moog’s design, led to legal issues, which lead to ARP replacing it with the 4035 filter in later models.
Famous tracks using the Arp Odyssey include ‘Don’t you want me’ - Human League, ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’ - ABBA, ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ - Gary Numan, ‘Mysterons’ - Portishead, ‘Oxygene Pt.4’ - Jean-Michel Jarre, ‘Sweet Sticky Thing’ - Ohio Players, ‘Body Heat’ - Quincy Jones, ‘Rocket Man’ - Elton John, ‘The Hand That Feeds’ - NIN, ‘Nespole’ - Floating Points ‘Thousand Knives’ - Yellow Magic Orchestra etc
