ARP Pro Soloist
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| Pro Soloist by ARP Instruments, Inc. | |||
| Synthesis type: | Analog Subtractive | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Polyphony: | Monophonic | ||
| Timbrality: | Monotimbral | ||
| Oscillators: | 1 | ||
| Filter: | yes | ||
| Attenuator: | yes | ||
| LFO: | yes | ||
| Keyboard: | 37-key Aftertouch | ||
| External control: | none | ||
| Onboard effects: | none | ||
| Produced: | 1972 - 1977 | ||
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. During the recording of Steely Dan's Countdown to Ecstasy, Donald Fagen was so irritated with having to tune it 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.
