ARP Pro Soloist

Infobox_synthesizer
image_caption = ARP Instruments, Inc. Logo
synth_name = Pro Soloist
synth_manufacturer = ARP Instruments, Inc.
synthesis_type = Analog Subtractive
polyphony = Monophonic
timbrality = Monotimbral
oscillator = 1
filter = yes
attenuator = yes
left_control =
lfo = yes
keyboard = 37-key Aftertouch| memory =
ext_control = none
fx = none
dates = 1972 - 1977
price =

The ARP Pro Soloist was one of the first successful preset synthesizers.

Although initially marketed to home organists, it found its way into the hands of such famous musicians as Tony Banks, Billy Preston, Gary Numan (his number one album Telekon is heavily built on the Pro Soloist), and John Entwistle. It was quite versatile for its time and had a pressure sensitive feature known as
Aftertouch.

The Pro Soloist was actually a revised version of the ARP Soloist introduced in 1970. The tabs were now above the keyboard versus below like on the original Soloist.

By the time the Pro Soloist caught on, many competitors such as Moog Music, Roland, and Farfisa introduced similar keyboards. Though ironically, most of the competitors' clones had the voice tabs below the keyboard.

The ARP Pro Soloist would eventually be reintroduced as the Pro-DGX with digital controls and push buttons. It would remain in production until the company's demise in 1981. The PRO SOLOIST incorporated a noval "digitized" tone generator. This eliminated tuning problems with the earlier SOLOIST. During the recording of Steely Dan's Countdown to Ecstasy,
Donald Fagen was so irritated with having to tune the SOLOIST so often, he threw it down the recording studio stairwell and jumped up and down on it. Shortly after, another musician joined in with some alcohol and they burned the ARP into a pile of melted plastic.Steely Dan, Men and Machines]

The original SOLOIST was entitely analog. The PRO SOLOIST was significant in using digital read only memories to program each of its internal functional modules. The voice selection switches delivered unique digital codes to set the ROMs for the digital outputs to program the parameters required from each module to produce the desired sounds.

References

*cite web
name=dennys
url=http://www.steelydan.com/dennys.html
title= Steely Dan, Men and Machines
first=Denny
last=Dias
year=2000

External links

* [http://www.bluesynths.com/ Review, pictures and mp3 demos at Bluesynths]