Electromotive – The Story of ARP Instruments (video, 2020)

An excellent documentary about the history of the company ARP – telling their story from the late 60s to the present. 110 minutes (!) full of information, with interview partners such as Alan R. Pearlman, David Friend, Phil Dodds, Jeremy Hill, David Fredericks, Dina Pearlman and many more. Musical contributions by Don Muro, Lisa Bella Donna, Alex Ball, David Baron, Drew Schlesinger, Marko Ettlich …

May we just point out two excerpts from the many remarkable interviews:

“… I called David Friend and begged him:
‘I really can’t see life without this’ …”

Don Muro,
who desperately wanted an ARP 2600, but couldn’t afford it right away

“It’s pleasant knowing that I really did some contributions.
Never I made any money, but still …”

Alan R. Pearlman,
in one of his last interviews in 2014


Electromotive – The Story of ARP Instruments


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Further Links:

Alan R. Pearlman Foundation

Alan Robert Pearlman (1925 – 2019) (Blog entry)
Alan R. Pearlman (The New York Times)
Alan R. Pearlman (Wikipedia)

ARP 2600 – holy grail of analog? (Test report)
ARP Axxe – small is beautiful (Test report)

Filed under 2020, General, Stories

“Es genügt, einen Ton schön zu spielen” sagte der Komponist Arvo Pärt im Jahre 2005. Diese Aussage ist ebenso einfach wie ich auch exzellent: Es braucht kein Meer an Tönen, denn entscheidend ist der Klang. Dass so mancher Vintage-Synthesizer der 70er und 80er Jahre teils unerreicht hochwertige Klänge liefert, steht außer Frage. Doch tatsächlich leben wir “heute” in einer nahezu perfekten Zeit. Einerseits hat man – mehr oder weniger – noch Zugriff auf die Vintage Analogen, andererseits wird auch bei Neugeräten die wichtige Komponente des hochwertigen Klanges wieder zunehmend berücksichtigt. Doepfer, Cwejman, Synthesizers.com, MacBeth, Moog, GRP, Studio Electronics, COTK, John Bowen und andere Hersteller bauen hervorragende Synthesizer, die den “Klassikern” in nichts nachstehen. All diesen (alten wie neuen) “großartigen” Instrumenten ist Great Synthesizers gewidmet. _________________________________________________________ In 2005 composer Arvo Pärt said: “Playing one tone really well is enough”. In other words, it is sufficient to play one tone 'beautifully'. I agree with that. All musical efforts are focused on the sound itself. Although I studied classical music (piano and drums), it’s the electronic sound that inspires me. Synthesizers are the epitome of new sounds and exciting tonal spheres. Today, many companies produce high-quality - excellent! - synthesizers: Doepfer, Cwejman, MacBeth, Moog, GRP, Synthesizers.com, COTK, Studio Electronics, John Bowen and others. It's their products I'm really interested in ... apart from Vintage Synthesizers, which I have been collecting for 20 years. Subsequent to our former websites Bluesynths and Blogasys, Peter Mahr and I have now created GreatSynthesizers. We hope you like it.

1 Comment

  1. Bob McGlinchey

    Jeremy Hill (ARP Solo PRO) showed me the plans for one of the first Keytars back in 1976/77. Fellow inventor the late David Hunter made the fiberglass shell. He had already sold one but I forget who. I thought the hands were under the keys with proper posture rather than bent over playing hands above the keyrar.

    Wonder if Jeremy remembers me.

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