RIP Philip Dodds

I just heard the sad news that Philip Dodds has passed away this weekend. Philip Dodds was the head engineer of ARP. That's him behind the ARP 2500 (third from the left) in Close Encounters of The Third Kind. You can find previous posts featuring Philip Dodds, including some ARP history, here.

1976 ARP 2600 with Original Leather Cases & ARP's Old Number

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
Published on Dec 14, 2012 by MechHandlingSystems

via this auction

"Along with the owner's manual and Patch Book, it has a copy of a 2-page hand-written note detailing setup, trim, VCO and VCF calibration and keyboard calibration. The best part of this is the sloppy market notation at the bottom of page 2,

"IF YOU GET IN TROUBLE, CALL:
CLARK FERGUSON OR PHILIP DODDS
965-9700"

Clark Ferguson was ARP's service department manager, and Philip Dodds was VP of engineering. These notes are likely written in Philip Dodds' hand. He was an interesting guy that ended up having a featured role in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" after Spielberg saw him setting up a 2500 to do the big "dum dum dum DUM DAAAAA" thing.

MECHANICS

It is the 2601 V1.0, with the improved jacks that won't flake out and the better sliders. It is the most mechanically advanced ARP 2600 model that still contains the legendary 4012 ladder-type filter that was built too close to Moog's patents for their comfort (an actual lawsuit was never filed)

It comes with the duo phonic 3620 keyboard. Serial numbers match and are in the low 300s.

There is a broken slider at the bottom center of the main panel, although it works and can be adjusted by hand. I am looking for the replacement slider and knob I purchased and hope to include it in the auction. See pictures for detail.

A few of the sliders have scratch. See the video for an example of that.

ELECTRONICS

As just mentioned, it has the 4012 filter. Now, some of these are epoxied and gross. Some of them are copper clad but with sloppy brazing. But some … well, some glow like a beating heart pumping astounding signals through its soldered veins and arteries. This one is like that.

It also has the UN-encapsulated 4027-1 VCOs, which are necessary if you plan to do certain mods.

It also has a mod for a Mediamix Joystick, which I just learned thanks to Phil at CMS and have never looked for one. I have a picture of one for the winner. Owning a Synthi AK I can tell you joysticks are pretty nice to have on your synthesizer!

The capacitors on the power supply are 35 years old and should be replaced soon, according to a bunch of people that seem to feel very strongly about it. CMS sells a power supply you can install yourself, if you're into that kind of thing, for $169."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Nyle Steiner on IMDB and Philip Dodds of ARP

Peter Grenader of Plan B sent this one into AH. Title link takes you to Nyle Steiner's (of Steiner Parker fame) IMDB page. The following is the list of credits. Click here for previous posts on Steiner Parker.

Miscellaneous Crew:
* 1990s
1. Merry Christmas, George Bailey (1997) (TV) (musician: E.V.I.)
* 1980s
2. Mississippi Masala (1991) (musician: ewi)
* 1970s
3. No Way Out (1987) (musician) (as Nyle A. Steiner)
4. The Mosquito Coast (1986) (musician: synthesizers)
5. Enemy Mine (1985) (musician: electronic ensemble)
6. Apocalypse Now (1979) (musician: synthesizer)
... aka Apocalypse Now Redux (International: English title: longer version)

Self:
1. One Voice (1986) (TV) .... Synthesizer

For fun I checked on Philip Dodds of ARP. He has a page as well.

Filmography
Actor:
1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) .... Jean Claude
... aka CE3K (USA: informal short title)
... aka Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Special Edition (USA: reissue title)

Additional Details
Genres:
Adventure / Drama / Sci-Fi
STARmeter: ?
^ 4% since last week why?

Alan Pearlman - Philip Dodds & Close Encounters (Bright Sparks Outtake)

video by GForce Software

"In an outtake from the Bright Sparks Documentary, ARP founder Alan R Pearlman talks about Philip Dodds and the story behind the use of the ARP 2500 on Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

Originally released in December 2015 to critical acclaim and created to compliment the I Monster album of the same name, Bright Sparks documents the human stories of eight musical instrument pioneers, - Robert Moog (Moog), Alan R Pearlman (ARP), Don Buchla, Harry Chamberlin, The Bradley Brothers (Mellotronics), Adrian Wagner (Electronic Dream Plant), Peter Zinovieff (EMS) and Ken Freeman.

'An engrossing and fascinating documentary that pays tribute to the modest but amazing innovators who changed the face of electronic music' Vince Clarke

https://www.gforcesoftware.com/blog/b... www.imonstermusic.com
Alan Pearlman Foundation: https://alanrpearlmanfoundation.org"

You can find additional Bright Sparks Documentary posts here.

Update: see this post for the actual order invoice for the 2500.

VINTAGE 1976 ARP 2600 with MOOG 4012 LADDER FILTER & Philip Dodds Number

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction - learn how to sell on eBay here

Pics of the inside and ARP / Philip Dodds' old phone number below.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Electric Moog Orchestra - Close Encounters of the Third Kind

flickr by jon_blak.

Hmm... I know Philip Dodds and the ARP 2500 were featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Philip Dodds the head engineer of ARP is the guy playing the 2500 in the scene where they communicate to the mothership. The story is he was flown out to show how to work the synth and was asked to be in the film. I never thought about what other synths might have been featured.

ARP and Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Nice video of Philip Dodds (head of engineering for ARP) and the ARP 2500 in the film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Click here then here for a couple of interviews with Dodds on the Rhodes Chroma site that mentions how he ended up in the actual film and a "close encounter" with George Lucas who came to check out the set after completing the post production of Star Wars. Amazing bit of synth history. If you haven't actually seen Close Encounters of the Third kind, rent it. It's a great sci-fi film of the era.

How Many Chroma?

via Chris Ryan on the Rhodes Chroma list: "An update on this old topic. I have put together an index of all the instruments in the registry, more than 225 in total.

Across model numbers, there are now seven overlaps between Chromas in the registry, and fourteen between Chromas and Expanders (and this out of a known population of only about twenty-five Expanders). This would seem to prove that the models all had their own number series. Given that the 2101 series reaches to 305; 2102 to 10; 2103 as high as 936; 2104 to 12; along with about 10 model 1631 and 135 1633 Expanders, it would seem that, assuming that there were no gaps, approximately 1400 instruments were produced in all. (There are also a few instruments with out of range or absent serial numbers, but the number doesn't seem to be significant.) This is not close to the 3000 that Philip Dodds claimed in the Mark Vail Keyboard interview.

pictured: Steve Nolan's Chroma

Jethro Tull - Peter-John Vettese - 1983

flickr by Neil Vance
(click for more)

Note the MC-202 behind the shoe.

Note the color scheme of the Chroma Polaris is orange and yellow rather than the typical blue. Rhodes Chroma Keyboard and Expander in the background.

Update via Chris Ryan of the Rhodes Chroma site: "This was a production prototype. See Re: Red Chroma in the August 2001 list archive for what Tony Williams (one of the main designers of the Chroma; see Philip Dodds/Tony Williams Interview) wrote to me on this."

Update via Kurts in the comments:
"Check out Tull's Broadsword and the Beast (analog heavne--Jupiter 8, vocoders, Chroma, etc) from 1982. Ian Anderson's solo record with Peter-John, "Fly By Night 1983 which was wriitten alot on that MC202--Ian had his own samples made for the Linn drum. And "Under Wraps" from 1984. Though maligned at the time by the classic rockers, these are really interesting records- and fearless."


Ian Anderson & Jethro Tull: Made in England (11/15/1983)
YouTube via JOANandTULL
Re-Uploaded on Jun 24, 2011 WilliZBlog

"Rock Classic Night at Circus Atlas, Munich on 15th November 1983 with Peter John Vettese - thanks to www.laufi.de"

A Bit of ARP History

Link to full story

"Christopher had been introduced to me by Michael Suchoff. Michael was a brilliant engineer who helped program the first computerized electronic music synthesizers at ARP Instruments in the early seventies. ARP founder Alan R. Pearlman called me one day to suggest I work with Michael. Our collaboration included my electronic games for Parker Brothers and the ill-fated iXO Telecomputer. Chris designed the graphics for our prototype Microterminal.

He helped me design special models of our prototype, including a European model that we took to ITT headquarters in Brussels, where it successfully logged in to our computers back in Cambridge.

Christopher introduced me to membrane switches from Chomerics. They had been put into ARP synthesizers like the Chroma and Omni. Chris did graphic designs for the Omni and Axxe. At ARP he worked with Philip Dodds and Paul DeRocco, the project manager and engineer for the main ARP synthesizers. When ARP collapsed in 1981, Phil talked CBS into taking over the Chroma and hiring him as the project manager."

The Making of Billy Cogan's Ichabod Photo Gallery

I haven't posted on Ichabod in a while.
For those not familiar with this massive modular system, it was commissioned by Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins from George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular.  It's a one of a kind system. You can find the full gallery on Facebook here.  Be sure to check out the Ichabod label here on MATRIXSYNTH for more posts including video and audio. I never get enough of that Devils Tower pic. Devils Tower of course was made famous in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind which featured Philip Dodds & and an ARP 2500.  And of course I do like George's T-Shirt in the second to last pic below on the delivery of Ichabod.  The bottom shot is the classic Ichabod Halloween pic (click through for a super size wallpaper shot).

An interesting side note I believe is that the upcoming Mattson SQ816 Sequencer will be the final module to complete the system.  Click here and scroll for some demos and pics of the SQ816 including the Division 6 eurorack format.

Update via George Mattson: "That is correct. Billy ordered two sequencers.  Billy actually started this and said he wanted a sequencer. I prototyped a simple, single-line 8-channel sequencer on a breadboard over a weekend to show him that I can indeed make one.

Stephen used it in one of his video’s [posted here]

I didn’t want to just make a run-of-the-mill step sequencer and wanted to design and build one that I wanted to have fun with. Hopefully, other people will too. Thus, the SQ816 has been three years in development."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Close Encounters of the Redneck Kind

Close Encounters of the Redneck Kind from Zero on Vimeo.

via Rick. The famous ARP 2500 scene with Philip Dodds of ARP.

Update: And non synth related:

Darth Vader Feels Blue

YouTube via billyfaithfull

Billy Corgan's Ichabod Featured in Keyboard Magazine

If you have this month's issue of Keyboard Magazine featuring Deadmau5, take a look at the last page. You will find a full page feature on Ichabod. You can see the associated online feature here.

http://mattsonminimodular.com/

See the Ichabod and MMM labels below for more. You can find the full sized shot of Ichabod paying tribute to Devil's Tower here and a video here. Think, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Philip Dodds, and the ARP 2500. This image was taken on route to delivery of Ichabod.

Steven Spielberg, Philip Dodds and the ARP 2500

via Cafe 80

"Young Mister Spielberg fiddles with an Arp 2500 synthesizer"

On the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Be sure to see this post on synths in film, and this post on synth movies.

Valley of the ARPs

via Richard Devine on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

CMS modular in the middle. CMS stands for Cirocco Modular Synthesizers at discretesynthesizers.com.

CMS has 3 main divisions: CMS Discrete Synthesizers, CMS Technical Services & Upgrades, & The Novachord Restoration Project.

Phil Cirocco is likely the worlds leading ARP tech.  I'd say leading expert as well, although I don't know if that would be him or David Friend working on the new KORG ARP Odyssey clone, and of course Alan R Pearlman is still around.  Philip Dodds however has passed on.

Ultimate Rhodes Chroma Site

Title link takes you to an impressive site dedicated to the Rhodes Chroma. Filled with shots, documents, history, reviews, patches, technical information, an interview with Philip Dodds, you name it. There is a section for general interest and one for owners. I hadn't seen this site before.



"The Chroma has a fascinating history. The last keyboard designed by ARP, the pioneering instrument designer of the 1970s, it almost never saw production. After ARP's bankruptcy and some twists and turns, it was put into production by CBS/Fender."

Synths in TV and Film

Note: some of the videos below have been pulled from YouTube, but I'm keeping mention of them up as a reference that they are out there.

Let the page load before scrolling - it's a long one.
Be sure to see the Synth Movies list and see the Synth Movies and Synth TV and Film labels for more.

1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Synths: ARP 2500 played by Phillip Dodds, head of ARP Engineering, Yamaha CS-?.


2. Fame Synths: ARP 2600, MOOG Minimoog

CLICK FOR MORE »

RIP Alan R. Pearlman

It has come to my attention that ARP founder Alan R. Pearlman has passed way. He was 90 years old at the time of the NAMM TEC Awards in 2015. The ARP 2600 SYNTHESIZER received the award that year. You can find a video from the event featuring Pat Gleeson and Jim Heintz of WayOutWare, who worked with Alan on their ARP emulations, below. Alan was no longer traveling at the time and was not at the event.

You can find a great video interview with Alan R. Pearlman from 2006 at the NAMM website here. The following is an interesting excerpt from the site: "Alan R. Pearlman was nicknamed 'ARP' as a kid growing up in New York City, so it seemed the perfect name for a company when he was later designing electronic musical instruments. The first instrument created by Alan was the modular synthesizer known as the ARP 2500. The monophonic product was released years after the first Moog and Buchla instruments, but gained attention for several new features including the ever-popular function of not drifting out of tune, which was a common problem in the earlier products. Next came the now classic ARP 2600, and soon the company became a great leader in the growth and development of the electronic musical market."

And via Wikipedia:

"Pearlman was born in New York City in 1925. His father was a movie theatre projector designer and his grandfather made parts for phonograph machines. He grew up building radio sets, inspired by Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines, and served in the military briefly following World War II.

Following his military service, Pearlman attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts and in 1948, for his senior thesis designed a vacuum tube envelope follower that could extract the envelope of a sound from an instrument. He later audited a Harvard University course taught by one of the inventors of the transistor, Walter Brattain.[1]

Pearlman spent five years designing amplifiers for NASA's Gemini and Apollo programs. He worked at George A. Philbrick Researchers with Roger Noble, and the two later founded analog module and op amp manufacturer Nexus Research Laboratory in Canton, Massachusetts in the early 1960s. Nexus Research Laboratory's business grew to $4 million in annual sales before being acquired by Teledyne in 1966.[2][3]

In 1969, Pearlman founded ARP Instruments, Inc. (originally Tonus, Inc.) with $100,000 of his own money and matching funds from a small group of investors. The name ARP was derived from Pearlman's initials. ARP entered the fledgling synthesizer industry with the introduction of the ARP 2002, which with twice as many switch rows on top, became the 2500 analog modular synthesizer. The 2002 was introduced at the AES show in Fall 1970, and subsequently competed head to head with other leading synthesizer companies of the time. Pearlman eschewed patch cord methodology for interconnecting synthesizer modules, designing instead a system of sliding matrix switches. He also applied his op-amp experience by utilizing dual transistors on a single integrated circuit to overcome temperature gradients and provide very stable oscillators - more stable than other popular synthesizers on the market at the time, namely offerings from Moog Music and Buchla.[4][5]"


ARP 2600 Synthesizer Award Show w/ Dr Pat Gleeson & Jim Heintz NAMM TEC Awards 2015

Published on Feb 3, 2015 Byron Hotchkiss

"ARP 2600 SYNTHESIZER receives NAMM TECH Award at 2015 show. Speakers Dr. Pat Gleeson and Jim Heintz of WayOutWare recall stories of the ARP 2600 instrument. Quotes from Pete Townsend, Alan R. Pearlman (ARP name taken from inventors nickname as a youth) Video by B K Hotchkiss"



Note it is extremely difficult to pick videos for a RIP post especially considering how many great videos there are out there and how many have been already featured on the site as you can see via the ARP label. I'll be searching for some not previously featured to put up in individual posts throughout the day. If you have any you'd like to share please do so in the comments. I wanted to share the following as it features Alan R. Pearlman's first iconic synth, the ARP 2500.

A Portrait of Eliane Radigue (2009) from Maxime Guitton on Vimeo.

"A portrait of Eliane Radigue, produced by the Austrian IMA (Institute for Media Archeology), which observes Eliane in her workspace, operating the ARP and talking about the process of composing and recording."



Featuring ARP engineer Philip R Dodds who passed away in 2007.

Update: found this ARP 2500 playlist on YouTube: