In this video, synth tech Keith Robert Murray, takes a look inside the classic ARP Omni synthesizer.
The ARP Omni is a vintage polyphonic synthesizer from 1975. It’s a string synth style keyboard, with divide-down circuitry delivering full 49-note polyphony. The Omni has three sections: Strings, synthesizer & bass.
While it has limited synthesis capabilities, the combination of full polyphony and the Omni’s Chorus Phaser give it a lush sound that made it ARP’s most popular keyboard.
If you’ve used the ARP Omni, leave a comment and share your thoughts on it!
String machines all suddenly all over the place – is the streichfett to blame?
this sounds great..as heard on joy division and early new order track ARP Omni II
I have one, but I need to replace the capacitors on it (common problem for the model). The gate for one of the “A’s” is stuck open, and it drones endlessly while I play, until the ADSR releases. Great tone, though.
Had one of these and toured with it for a few years in the late 90s early 2000s. Loved the sound. Loved it loved it loved it. It was temperamental though and the buttons wouldn’t always work. Sometimes the strings would cut out entirely. The bass always killed though. So fat and perfect. I practically gave it away when the strings stopped working about 6 years ago. I should’ve kept it and had it fixed.
From a nerd point of view I would love to know the individual speeds of the LFOs that drives the BBD in the ensemble unit.