THE 1970S: PROG TO PUNK

From modular to Moog… and getting cheaper | The 70s Once the 60s had laid down the framework, the 70s picked up the baton and turned the synthesiser into a musical entity and idiom. It started off being used by the rich kids and then the very cool kids…

The 70s is the decade when this new musical synth technology began to really find its feet. Granted, it was still an incredibly expensive preoccupation, but synthesiser development continued with the American companies leading the charge, while new horizons appeared from the east.

Alan Robert Pearlman was a designer, electrical engineer and inventor, who spent five years working at NASA. In 1969 he founded his own company, formed from the initials in his name. ARP instruments Inc, (originally branded as Tonus Inc.) were to become a major player in the synthetic arena, beginning on the dot of 1970 with the release of the ARP 2500. Like many of its predecessors, the 2500 was another modular behemoth. Many people regarded it as being a rather overwhelming instrument to use, being confronted by a multitude of modules, ranging from oscillators, filters, LFOs and VCAs, to a dedicated sequencer and keyboard. You certainly got a lot of sound creation potential for your money, which was just as well because the synthesiser cost £5400 for what was deemed to be a standard configuration.

The role of ARP in the development of synthesis is of great importance, as it provided a very different colour palette to that being created by Moog. Some aficionados actually went further, commenting that the ARP oscillators were far more stable at holding pitch. Harsh words, but forgotten pretty quickly in the same year, when Moog released the synthesiser that would go on to become the most revered and coveted machine of them all; The Minimoog.

Take the Mini for a spin