Hm, of course these are great synths. The most versatile semi-modulars you could lay fingers on - back then and maybe even know. The owners manual, I remember, was designed as a kind of school book in synthesis, which was great.

The big drawback of these instruments were the fact that you could not memorize the interesting settings you made. I remember the endles complexity of making and photocopying sound sheets (this was the days before sampling)and then the dilemma you faced when you found an interesting sound (this instrument is "full" of interesting sounds) - either you had to let it go - or to spend endless time to try and write it sound correctly on the sound sheets. Can you even imagine, folks, what trouble we went through back then ????

This became a problem with this instrument - especially when owning two, as I did. It was, as Brian Eno puts it, like getting a new wonderfully fascinating instruments in your hands every two minutes - it ended up becoming distracting to say the least, eventually ruining the creative process - coz all the fascinating sounds you lost for ever, if you did not write them down...

This made it a very complex and somewhat unintuitive instrument to work with, if you wanted to use it as more than a complex solo synthesizer.

What was it really - a solo synth or a complex sound effects machine - I think, except in the studio, it was a synthesizer that did not really know - maybe became caught by it´s own lack of limitation - very unlike ARP, by the way, a company that usually produced synths which stood out because of their DESIGNED limitations so to speak.

Here I remember a quotation from Brian Enos Oblique Strategies: "honour your mistake as a hidden intention".

Maybe this is the key to work creatively with the 2600 ????

L. Smith

This is a later type of Synth, the legends for the modules are White letters printed on an Orange rectangle this one is in excellent condition, a few broken sliders, and missing knobs, but all easily fixed. I gave the unit a thorough overhaul, and cleaned everything.

I found as usual, that the 15Vdc Power Supply Unit (PSU) had come adrift in transit, it's only secured to the plywood base with four small wood screws, and with a big old mains transformer sitting on the PSU metal chassis, that's quite some weight to stop moving about in shipping. In my opinion the transformer should be removed from the metal PSU chassis and be secured with two large nuts and bolts with shakeproof washers, holes should be drilled right through to the outside of the cabinet, the transformer still needs to be earthed to the metal plate, I ran an additional wire, which was secured under one of mounting bolts on the transformer, and then attached the other end of the wire under a similar mounting screw on the PSU metal chassis. Sonically these Synth's sound awesome, and they look good too.

Unlike the software version, this one will still work when Microsoft introduce the Windows Zeta version in 2011.

Best regards Derek Revell, Old Sage Studios, UK.

Ridiculous to say it's overrated, though.

It's tough getting one in primo working order, though. Better you should live near a qualified tech. A 2600 in working condition is a TREASURE.