Arp Omni 2 owners

[Jeff White]

I have an opportunity to pick up an Arp Omni 2 in great shape (new power supply, fully functional, know the owner) for $300. I'd love to have a 70's string synth for obvious reasons, and I am favoring real instruments to software right now.

Can anyone on here share their experiences with this synth? Likes, dislikes, what should I pay attention to when I check it out tomorrow? I'm borrowing it for a day or two to test drive it.

Thanks!

Jeff

[kslight]

I have never owned an Arp Omni, but I used to owns lot of good analog synths.


I would lookout for sticky/non working keys, tuning stability, scratchy pots, leaky capacitors...


I would go into it knowing that you are buying quite an old piece of gear..all those components are well past their shelf life, so you may not get much use out of it before it fails.

[The Real MC]

I like the sound of ARPs but am not fond of them for two reasons:

1) Slidepots. The lubrication tends to dry out and the pots get sticky. New replacements are near impossible to find. They can be disassembled and re-lubed but it is a major PITA.

2) Tantalum capacitors. Back in the 70s they were state-of-the-art. Their achilles heel is they cannot withstand reverse polarity upon which they will instantly destroy themselves or short out. Unfortunately ARP designed inferior power supplies that help to blow these caps.

Despite these shortcomings, the ARP designers were mavericks. Many of their synth designs were brilliant for the day.

[Marc Alan Goodman]

Yup. if all the controls are working (including keys) it sounds like it could be a good buy. But as with any piece of vintage gear prepare to give it some serious love.

[Jeff White]

Thanks guys.

I am passing on it. I am done with the impulse buys when I have other things that I need for the studio. I have a few things that I am planning on selling in the next months or so, and I think that I am just going to put the cash into some 500 series stuff instead (rack, single channel of something).

I have a ton of software instruments already that can maybe get close to the 70's string synth sound with a little work. And if not, there is always GForce Sting Machine (even though I would much rather use hardware at this point in the game).

thanks again for the information!