The 70s

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.