There has been a lot of interest building in the Korg ARP Odyssey, since it was originally announced last year.
One of the key questions we had about the Korg ARP Odyssey reissue, though, was ‘Which version of the ARP Odyssey will Korg recreate?’ There were three distinct ARP Odyssey designs, with three different filters.
When we asked Synthtopia readers which Odyssey Korg should make, you chose the Black and Orange color scheme and said that you wanted Korg to include all three Odyssey filter designs.
We’ll have to wait until the 2015 NAMM Show to have the official word from Korg on the new Odyssey’s features. In the meantime, though, you can get a preview of how the three different Odyssey filters sound.
This video, via Lackan110f, demonstrates DIY builds of the various Odyssey filters with an ARP Avatar:
Joachim Verghese designed a nifty 40235 filter combining the ARP 4023 and 4035 filters, and this video shows some of the characteristics between these two, and the original 4075-filter.
Check out the demo and let us know what you think!
I prefer my Firebird plugin for these kind of sounds….more oscillators choice, more filters choice…..infinite memory…..
With the first sounds before he started messing around with the filter, I thought this was going to break in to “Road to Nowhere.” And I have to keep reminding myself of the limitations of computer speakers (since my Logitech quad speaker system died) so I can’t tell you definitively if this is the “right” sound for a Korg Odyssey, but it sounds good enough for a mix.
Progress anno 2015. Noise, contacts crackling, distortion, but of course all analoge! I gave my Rythem Wolf back because of the terrible noise, and this does not sound any better. I will stick with my clean sounding DIGITAL VAs and plugins and hardware connected via SPDIF! The only analog thing in my setup are amps and mixing desk, because I have no money for a digital one.
Don’t be spoilt by a mediocre product, save up for a proper analog (vintage or new) and you won’t be disappointed. The harmonic behavior is completely different to digital and it can be very musical.
Good for you! I just hope you’re being consistent about it by not listening to any recordings made before 1995. All that godawful noise would drive you insane! If only Kraftwerk would’ve used proper 24 bit dsp based gear!
Best refrain from going to any live gigs or parties as well, mate. A bit of ground hum in the PA system would probably send you crashing through the nearest window.
As for the Akai Rhythm Turd: even without the noisy outputs it would still win the award for most retarded analog instrument of 2014.
I didn’t hear any distortion, but I did hear some clicks & stuff… you know because of switches.
Sounds fine.
I think there’s a place and role for analog and digital in making music. They each have their strengths.
The differences between analog and good digital VA’s is pretty subtle to my ear. Seems like the big difference and appeal is that it has great tactile realtime control and behaves differently.
The obsession with noise is what led us to the flat plastic music we have today. While people talk about the classic electronic sounds of the 70s and 80s.
Other than the switch noise, which I’m sure will be taken care of before actual release, this sounds pretty good. Not great, but it’s getting somewhere..
That’s not the new odyssey. It’s a modded vintage avatar, as explained above.
To answer the title of this post, demoing a vintage Avatar doesn’t predict what a new Korg-made Odyssey will sound like. The 3 filters are interesting, but inside a different instrument they will likely sound a bit different. Also, I think volume normalization is essential for any audio comparison. Not a very solid demo.
I feel like we’re being teased here…
I think when they made the MS20 kit you could switch the filter types, but that was an internal switch, which I think is a bad idea for the Odyssey rerelease, although it made some sense with the MS20 kit, because people making it would probably have a preference to one or the other filter type.
There was a key combo you held down on powerup to switch filters on the MS-20.
Not super convenient, but easy.
the 4023 totally kicks ass.
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As an odyssey owner for almost 20 years, my answer to this demo is : bitch please. Try harder, maybe get out of the filter, which every analog synth has.
There’s a lot of hiss noise in that recording.
Oh dear god.
That’s not the new korg odyssey you’re hearing demoed. It’s a vintage Avatar with all 3 filters modded into it.
Why are people complaing about this demo in relation to the new one?
Can’t you all see it’s not an odyssey or read the text at the start where it says ‘Avatar’?
i like the demo but it doesnt sound like avatar at all and I’ve seen it over 50 times in 4D and everything
To explain:
1. This is only to demo the Joachim Verghese DIY-filter in contrast to the original 4075-filter. If Korg has looked at Joachims blueprints then the new Ody will sound somewhat like this. If they re-invented the filters it will be a whole new deal. I don’t know.
2. This is only to give a crude hint of the difference between the three filters. Nothing more.
3. Of course there is a volume drop between 12 dB and 24 dB especially with high resonance. Maybe Korg will put in a volume regulator. Myself I will use the volume slider… 🙂
Thanks for watching everybody, cheers!
What a bait and switch! Based on the title of the article, I thought that we were going to get a sneak peak of the actual Korg Odyssey sound.
I hope that Korg implements these filters in a way where the volumes are closely matched. The 12db version is much louder in this modded Avatar demo – if that’s something inherent to the 4023, I’d like to see that changed. (As long as it does not change the character or other responses.)
Does anyone know how filter type will be selected? I hope it’s not an internal jumper, or there’s gonna be a lot of botched case mods.
From the photos we have, the new Ody has a switch in the filter section to select filter type.
On analog gear, there is a gain change when you switch filter types, especially between 12dB and 24dB slopes. In older stuff, that was just part of the design and is often left in place with emulations.
You can add some gain staging to the filter output, but this often will affect the resonance in weird ways. It is usually just better to adjust the volume slider yourself.