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WHAT IS HUMAN ENGINEERING?
Human engineering is the least talked-about aspect of synthesizer
design. It is also the most important. Human engineering determines
what your synthesizer will look like, where the knobs will be placed,
what color to make the switches, what typeface to use for panel
graphics. how far the keys must be depressed, and dozens of other
considerations.
At ARP, we make a big deal about human engineering.
Because designing a perfect synthesizer requires much more than
perfect oscillators and filters-it requires a sensitivity for how an instru -
ment should be shaped and structured so that it feels good in your
hands.
Human Engineering involves getting lots of performing musicians
involved in the actual conceptual design process. The success of the
process is crucial. A bunch of engineers sitting around a drafting table
can come up with a synthesizer loaded with gadgets that are impossi -
ble to play!
The biggest mistake you can make when purchasing a synthesizer is
to be lured by the lists showing how many oscillators, filters, etc., a
synthesizer contains. You need a synthesizer that feels right to you.
And unless youre planning on disappearing into a laboratory, you
need a synthesizer that is human engineered.
As Michael Brooks said in Creem magazine, For a brief analysis,
Moog, like Kleenex and Coca-Cola. is the name most commonly used
to explain synthesizers, but ARP is the most popularly used synthesiz -
er in rock. The ARP was aimed at the working musician, working
musicians like Elton John, Beach Boys, N. Y. Rock Ensemble, Herbie
Hancock, the Rascals. Grateful Dead. Frank Zappa, Jefferson
Airplane, Chicago. Seatrain, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis.
Al Kooper ,The James Gang. Santana, Three Dog Night, Sly and the
Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, Peter Townshend, and on and on. *
_______________________________
*Creem, May 1973, Vol. 4, No. 12, p. 73.
The biggest mistake
you can make when
purchasing a synthe -
sizer is to be lured
by the lists showing
how many oscilla -
tors, filters, etc., a
synthesizer contains.
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The less glamourous
aspects of synthesiz -
ers, like where cer -
tain knobs are
placed on the panel
can be much more
important to a musi -
cian than how many
oscillators or ring
modulators he has.
LETS TALK FUNCTIONS
Oscillators, Filters. Envelope Generators, Ring Modulators.
and other wonderful devices all make up the Functions in a synthesiz -
er. Ever since synthesizers were invented, manufacturers, including us,
have run around with charts proving how many Functions their synthe -
sizers had. We now know that less glamourous aspects of synthesizers,
like where certain knobs are placed on the panel, can be much more
important to a musician than how many oscillators or ring modulators
he has.
So instead of just counting functions, lets talk about what these func -
tions do for you. Because if you want to synthesize your way to star -
dom, youre going to have to do it with sounds. not figures.
In the following pages. were going to compare the ARP Odyssey with
three other synthesizers in a comparable price range. What we prove in
this comparison is what most of the worlds most famous synthesizer
players already know that the ARP Odyssey is the synthesizer designed
by musicians for musicians.
FIRST A LITTLE THEOR Y
All the functions on a synthesizer can be divided into three categories:
1). Sound Sources. Includes oscillators and noise generators.
2). Sound Modifiers. Includes Filters, ring modulators, etc.
3). Controllers. Includes keyboards, foot pedals. envelope
generators.
The raw sounds from the oscillators or tone generators are
processed through the Sound Modifiers like the filter or ring modulator .
Controllers are hooked up to both the Sound Generator functions and
Sound Modifier functions so that the performer can change or control
the sounds being produced. Thats all there is to it!
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