I bought several broken ARP Odysseys, and as is common with the Black & Gold ARPs, a number of them had heavy wear to the gold lettering on the panel. After meticulously restoring the electronics of this one, I decided to risk it all to see if I could successfully re-silkscreen the panel graphics myself. The result wasn’t impressive. Though it made usable again a synth that was otherwise unusable since you didn’t know what slider did what.
Author: synthchaser
Oxford Synthesizer Company OSCar Repair – Synthchaser #121
Have look inside and listen to a rare Oxford Synthesizer Company OSCar synth as we make a handful of repairs to it. We’ll convert it from 220V to 110V operation, change the power cord, correct the power wiring, clean the pots, replace the leaking battery with a safer solution, eliminate hum in the output, replace missing buttons, replace a sketchy connector, and fix some intermittent issue where the synth jumps back to preset #1.
ARP Odyssey 4023 Filter Original vs Clone Challenge – Synthchaser #120
I have 2 recently refurbished ARP Odysseys side by side. They’re identical model 2800’s except one has the original 4023 voltage controlled filter and the other has my clone of the 4023. Which one do you think is the original??
Synthchaser #119 – ARP Axxe Voltage Controlled Filter Repair
While restoring this ARP Axxe I found that the voltage controlled filter wasn’t working right–it wasn’t filtering anything! In this video we put the filter into my ARP Filter test fixture and track down the problem using the schematics.
Synthchaser #118 – Rhodes Chroma Repair & Restoration Part 3 – MIDI, Programmer & Demo Sounds
In the last part of this series, we repaired the power supply & recapped this lovely Rhodes Chroma. Today I show you some of the upgrades I made to the Rhodes Chroma, and we have a listen to some of the many sounds the Chroma is capable of.
My usual disclaimer: none of the sample sounds played are intended to be musical, I am not demonstrating my musical ability (or total lack thereof), just showing some of the sounds the Chroma can make.
Synthchaser #117 – Rhodes Chroma Repair & Restoration Part 2 – Power Supply & Recapping
In the last video we figured out why this Rhodes Chroma wouldn’t work. In this video, we make the repair to the power supply as well as recap the synth and clean up some corrosion on the CPU board.
Viewer submissions for new time-lapse soldering music is welcome!
Synthchaser #116 – ARP Synthesizer Mains Power Wiring Explanation & 240V Conversion
Before this Omni gets shipped off to the UK, I explain the mains wiring and show how to convert an ARP from 120V to 240V operation.
You will learn why the lamp on the power switch is meaningless as a diagnostic indicator, as well as where there is a dangerous wire that is color coded neutral but is actually hot mains level.
Synthchaser #115 – ARP Voltage Controlled Filter Tester
I briefly show you my set up to test ARP Voltage Controlled Filter submodules. We also have a listen to a couple of different ARP filter designs, the 4075 found in all ARPs from 1975 on, and the 4035 Moog style ladder filter found in some rarer Odysseys.
Synthchaser #114 – Memorymoog Quiet Fan Replacement
I show you how to replace the original noisy AC fan with a quiet DC fan without adding stress to the power supply of a vintage Memorymoog.
Synthchaser #113 – ARP Fender Rhodes Chroma Repair
This Rhodes Chroma lay dormant for over a decade, and wouldn’t wake up from its long nap. In this video we troubleshoot and repair the power supply and get the synth alive and making sound. We also have a brief tour around the inside of this legendary polysynth.
Want to see more of the restoration and upgrade of this Chroma? Let me know what you’d like to see in the comments!
