The Original Arp Odyssey was first released in 1972 as one of the pioneering compact synths and has now gained legendary status as a Classic synth used by a range of artists including Gary Numan, Elton John, Herbie Hancock and even the iconic theme tune to Doctor Who! 40 years later, Korg have teamed up with Arp's Co-founder and original designer of the Odyssey, David Friend for a revival; creating a new version of the Arp Odyssey that is not only completely faithful to the tone of the original, but benefits from modern day design and electronics to make it the best it can be.
Faithfully Reproduced
The Original Arp Odyssey was a duo-phonic synth with 2VCOs that gave a distinctively sharp and penetrating sound and rich range of tonal variation. It had a fantastic choice of functions and modulation possibilities including pulse width modulation, sample & hold, oscillator sync, filter and envelope generator. With the help and guidance of David Friend, Korg have meticulously recreated this experience from the circuit level upwards. This included many specially selected parts and much tweaking to get right on the bullseye. As a result, you really get the feeling of the original, without searching the web and paying over the odds for an original
The Power of 3
The original run of the Odyssey went through 3 distinctive generations where various updates were made to keep the synth at the cutting edge. In looks, the Korg Arp Odyssey takes the distinctive orange and black colours of the 3rd generation, but hidden within the circuitry it gets a bit more interesting. The new Odyssey contains 3 generations of circuitry, reproduced so that you can get the unique qualities of each synth.
The main difference between the different generations lies in the design of the filter circuit, and as the owner of the new arp odyssey, you will be able to choose which filter you want to use with a single toggle switch.TYPE I (Rev1) is a 12 dB/Oct circuit that produces a sharp, punchy sound. TYPE II (Rev2) is a 24 dB/Oct filter with great-sounding lows. TYPE III (Rev3) maintains excellent stability even when resonance is raised. These distinctive filters have been reproduced just as they originally were.
You also get the choice of portamento behaviours too which changed when using the transpose function. Proving that no stone has been left unturned in the quest for authentic tone and feel, all these details are there at your fingertips to explore and utilise.
Classic Synth, Modern Engineering
Don't worry, there's no digital mumbojumbo going on here, the New Arp Odyssey is as Analogue as the original. What Korg have done, is make some minor improvements to the original design, making use of modern knowedge and engineering to make it the best Odyssey yet. To create a powerful analogue sound a DRIVE switch has been added as a new function. When switched on, the drive pushes the VCA to distort which creates a rough and raw sound that will punch through any modern track.
Although the ciruitry inside is exactly the same and the basic design has been preserved, there have been a number of upgrades to the body to evolve the synth to modern standards. The New Arp Odyssey has been downsized to 86% of the original to make it lighter and more portable so that you can take it away from the studio to gigs or out to external sessions. All the physical parts of the synth have been specially selected so that the sliders feel even smoother and more responsive than the original. The new 37note slim keyboard section with 7 octave transpose function is also lighter and offers excellent playability for those more complicated synth parts.
On the back you now get all the modern connections you would expect, including Midi/USB midi and noise-resistant balanced outputs. Also included with the synth, you now get plenty of patch cables to create crazy feedback sounds and legato triggering. To top it off you also get a dedicated Semi-hard case included to ensure your synth is looked after when not in use. It has the classic ARP logo and a sophisticated look with excellent impact resistance and internal cushioning
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK it's normally around £4 for order values under £150, and free above that. Shipping to mainland EU is typically between £7 and £20, depending on the shipping method and the size and weight of the order.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of Parcelforce, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS for the UK, and for international orders it's either Royal Mail, UPS, DHL or FedEx depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 15:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes FedEx or UPS may come a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Shipping times
Since April 2020 the couriers we use have suspended guarantees for shipping times, so even though we're paying them for priority services - 24-48 hours for most of the world - in practice it's often an extra day on top and sometimes it can be longer.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this unfortunately. If you are outside the UK and it's a life-or-death situation where you absolutely MUST have that passive mult for the next day then... it may be better to find a local supplier.
Saturday shipping
If you're in the UK and you order before 15:30 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday delivery (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). The success rate with DPD is about 95% so it's worth a punt most of the time. Please note that if you select Saturday shipping on an order placed earlier in the week, we'll wait until Friday to ship it.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
Product Overview
The Original Arp Odyssey was first released in 1972 as one of the pioneering compact synths and has now gained legendary status as a Classic synth used by a range of artists including Gary Numan, Elton John, Herbie Hancock and even the iconic theme tune to Doctor Who! 40 years later, Korg have teamed up with Arp's Co-founder and original designer of the Odyssey, David Friend for a revival; creating a new version of the Arp Odyssey that is not only completely faithful to the tone of the original, but benefits from modern day design and electronics to make it the best it can be.
Faithfully Reproduced
The Original Arp Odyssey was a duo-phonic synth with 2VCOs that gave a distinctively sharp and penetrating sound and rich range of tonal variation. It had a fantastic choice of functions and modulation possibilities including pulse width modulation, sample & hold, oscillator sync, filter and envelope generator. With the help and guidance of David Friend, Korg have meticulously recreated this experience from the circuit level upwards. This included many specially selected parts and much tweaking to get right on the bullseye. As a result, you really get the feeling of the original, without searching the web and paying over the odds for an original
The Power of 3
The original run of the Odyssey went through 3 distinctive generations where various updates were made to keep the synth at the cutting edge. In looks, the Korg Arp Odyssey takes the distinctive orange and black colours of the 3rd generation, but hidden within the circuitry it gets a bit more interesting. The new Odyssey contains 3 generations of circuitry, reproduced so that you can get the unique qualities of each synth.
The main difference between the different generations lies in the design of the filter circuit, and as the owner of the new arp odyssey, you will be able to choose which filter you want to use with a single toggle switch.TYPE I (Rev1) is a 12 dB/Oct circuit that produces a sharp, punchy sound. TYPE II (Rev2) is a 24 dB/Oct filter with great-sounding lows. TYPE III (Rev3) maintains excellent stability even when resonance is raised. These distinctive filters have been reproduced just as they originally were.
You also get the choice of portamento behaviours too which changed when using the transpose function. Proving that no stone has been left unturned in the quest for authentic tone and feel, all these details are there at your fingertips to explore and utilise.
Classic Synth, Modern Engineering
Don't worry, there's no digital mumbojumbo going on here, the New Arp Odyssey is as Analogue as the original. What Korg have done, is make some minor improvements to the original design, making use of modern knowedge and engineering to make it the best Odyssey yet. To create a powerful analogue sound a DRIVE switch has been added as a new function. When switched on, the drive pushes the VCA to distort which creates a rough and raw sound that will punch through any modern track.
Although the ciruitry inside is exactly the same and the basic design has been preserved, there have been a number of upgrades to the body to evolve the synth to modern standards. The New Arp Odyssey has been downsized to 86% of the original to make it lighter and more portable so that you can take it away from the studio to gigs or out to external sessions. All the physical parts of the synth have been specially selected so that the sliders feel even smoother and more responsive than the original. The new 37note slim keyboard section with 7 octave transpose function is also lighter and offers excellent playability for those more complicated synth parts.
On the back you now get all the modern connections you would expect, including Midi/USB midi and noise-resistant balanced outputs. Also included with the synth, you now get plenty of patch cables to create crazy feedback sounds and legato triggering. To top it off you also get a dedicated Semi-hard case included to ensure your synth is looked after when not in use. It has the classic ARP logo and a sophisticated look with excellent impact resistance and internal cushioning
Technical Specs
Shipping Details
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK it's normally around £4 for order values under £150, and free above that. Shipping to mainland EU is typically between £7 and £20, depending on the shipping method and the size and weight of the order.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of Parcelforce, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS for the UK, and for international orders it's either Royal Mail, UPS, DHL or FedEx depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 15:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes FedEx or UPS may come a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Shipping times
Since April 2020 the couriers we use have suspended guarantees for shipping times, so even though we're paying them for priority services - 24-48 hours for most of the world - in practice it's often an extra day on top and sometimes it can be longer.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this unfortunately. If you are outside the UK and it's a life-or-death situation where you absolutely MUST have that passive mult for the next day then... it may be better to find a local supplier.
Saturday shipping
If you're in the UK and you order before 15:30 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday delivery (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). The success rate with DPD is about 95% so it's worth a punt most of the time. Please note that if you select Saturday shipping on an order placed earlier in the week, we'll wait until Friday to ship it.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
