ARP Omni-2

Not many people talk about the reliable old ARP Omni's but they were the workhorses of many bands during the mid-late 1970s and early 1980's until the MIDI stuff started happening, and even up until the DX-7 came out.

My Omni-II could duplicate a lot of "polyphonic synthesizer" sounds ~ in a live setting you could sound like any of the top keyboard players of the time. You could duplicate Rush sounds, ELP sounds, Yes sounds, Genesis, Who Are You, Kansas, Cars, Toto, Boston, Devo, Kraftwerk, . . anything on the Top 40 radio as well.

The sounds were "close enough for rock'n'roll" and got me laid on a pretty steady basis back then. < sigh > good times, good times.

The ARP Omni II had strings sounds and a very rudimentary poly-synth sound with your basic saw-ish wave. If you ran it through any kind of effects pedal, you could really extend the mileage out of your synth sounds. I probably was using a bucket-brigade echo machine and a Moog Graphic EQ to vary the sound a little more. Echo gave me resonance.

These things were not built all that well, so a big Anvil type case and lots of TLC was required. I toured with mine for about Ten Years before replacing it with Kurzweil stuff.

Today they have a kind of dated sound, but then again nothing else quite duplicates what they did.

I am getting all misty-eyed just thinking about the ARP Omni-II .. a great little workhorse.

ARP sort of sucked in customer support . . not to mention all those "proprietary" black poxy boxes . . . @#$*&

Fantastic value for the time, and I doubt there was a working keyboardist anywhere that didn't have one or use one. You used to see them in everyone's keyboard stack. You sort of always hated it, but always would use it. It did the job.

In Europe I think they used the Elka or the Yamaha SS-30 Strings. But for North America, it was the ARP Solina, the ARP Omni and the ARP Omni II.

I bought my unit brand new from a dealer in West Hartford Conn. I only had one problem on one gig. Went to the ARP factory in Mass. and they fixed it while I waited. Great People they were.

When I started using the unit..the strings blew everyone away...you could also get some decent brass sounds...especially a trombone type sound. Add a effect to the keyboard and it was a different instrument. It was a joy to play. I still have it in my Calzone case and it looks new.

Only reoccurring problem were the contact on the bottom of the keys...which I could eventually solder with guitar wire to work. Great instrument.

I think it had 8 note polyphony

cant argue with just having to press a couple of buttons or sliding a few knobs..

this machine has a two-sided kind of deal.. one half of it can be used as a "synthesizer".. not really modifiable or really useful.. the other half of the option is to be used as a string machine.. brilliant analog strings on this end..

warm, deep analog strings.. no aftertouch, etc etc..

the omni2 only weighs about 50 pounds (hah), so its a beast to carry.. never gigged with it, though..

arp is no longer around

all in all, the omni2 is just this: the ARP string ensemble board and phaser put into a new box with an ASDR area, some different bass names, more attack/release options and a filter.. they call it a synth and send it out.. this was ARPs best selling unit and is still used today for some great sounds by everyone from 808 state to stevie wonder.. after 20-30 years, these long, black boxes are still kicking, so ARP mustve done something right..

Buttons and sliders, baby! How much easier can it get? The only bad points on ease of use are that you have to understand how the Omni-2 is architected so that you don't mistakenly think that the synth is broken. Violin and Viola presets are polyphonic across the entire leyboard, cello and bass are monophonic. The Bass Synth doesn't go through the filter, the Polysynth doesn't go through the Chorus unit.

Polyphony is full-keyboard on Violin, Viola, and Polysynth. The Bass/Cello strings and the Bass synth are monophonic. The String Chorus circuit is cool, providing a somewhat realistic, yet synthy tone. This thing has alot of character. The ability to mix the 3 different sections (Strings/Synth/Bass) is cool. Again, the layout and architecture is a bit quirky, but easy once you get used to it.

Strings. Yeah baby, this thing does those classic analog strings soooo well. The bass is warm and fat. The polysynth section is good, thanks to that cool Arp filter and the ADSR envelope. The Polysynth is good for either soloing or for playing stabs. Doing 2-handed parts on the polysynth is lame, since there is only a single envelope that retriggers either on each key press or only after all keys have been released. This is not an issue with the String section. Mixing the strings and polysynth results in some great textures. No velocity or aftertouch, but a good-feeling keyboard action.

OK for studio use. I for one would not do heavy gigging on it. There have been reliability problems, but if you have the power supply modifications done to it and replace the now 20-year-old tantalum caps, it should prove to be rock-solid.

No more Arp. Several music repair companies around the country repair this synth. It is fairly simple inside (single-layer PCBs, mostly analog circuits) and is easy to troubleshoot and work on.

This thing has a personality all its own, which I dig about some of the older keyboards. I have a Kurzweil K2000, a DX-7, Prophet 600, and all of these synths have their own quirky sounds and personalities. I sold all of my "all-in-one" synths because they all sounded the same. The Omni-2 is great at what it does.

complete analog, no presets here, just moving knobs. it has four sounds, bass synth, and several different kinds of strings. PLEASE HELP ME, i just got one for free and all i get is a big drone. if anyone reads this and can help me fix it, please e-mail me at JACKIExDAN@hotmail.com

bass is mono, synth is mono i think, strings have maybe 4 polyphony? the keyboards in pretty bad shape on mine, typical synth feel. it's big. i'm gonna take a look inside it, i've heard it's very spacy. no midi or anything, but the new versions like mine have cv inputs for filter, ec

it's got a great rock string sound, not realistic, but very 70's, can be creepy, can be plain out awesome. bass (which actually works) is very round and fat.

well seeing as mine doesn't work at all.....

yes, whoever reads this can help me!

wish it worked, please help me! it's a cheap four part analog synth for ur typical stuff and great strings

3 main secions: bass, synth and string. Everything is controlled via sliders (being 100% analog and all), as well as pedals for volume and filter and footswitch for sustain. Never seen a manual but its really easy to use.

Pretty good for a low-key synth. 3 bass voices, 2 synth voices, 4 string voices. Chrous phaser and hollow waveform are built in to alter sound, both are very usefull. Individual outputs for the three sections allow a lot of recording flexibility. Has CV/Gate and trigger out, but only trigger in... needs mod work to get it to work with a sequencer.
Synth Stuff: ADSR envelope, Frequency, Resonance, LFO level, ADSR level, Pedal/Acc level. Also pedal input for filter sweeps and sustain. String stuff: A/R envelope, and Synth/String mix. There is also single trigger setting as well as bass and main volume. Outputs include 1/4" jack (lo/hi selectable) & XLR out, as well as individual 1/4" out's for bass/string/synth.

The bass section is good for backup and such, for leads there is the problem of only haveing an octave and a half to play. Synth sounds are great, and are pretty versatile. The strings work well in rock styles, they cut through the rest quite well. Also sounds great using effects, distortion gives it a great hardcore analog sound, which is what I use it for the most.

I depend on this synth for recording and shows. If it gets jolted the key triggers tend to slip out of place and cause a stuck note, but it can be fixed in about 10 minutes.

ARP has been out of business since the 80's

Great machine, good place to start with. I would buy another one if mine was lost. The box it's in is perfect for setting my alphaSyntauri keyboard on top... There's also a ton of space inside and circuit boards laid out with lots of space, so it's very inviting for those wishing to modify and add to it. The simplicity lends itself to ease of use, which helps me a lot. The cheapest synth I ever bought, as well as my favorite. I see them sold for about $250-500 these days, Im told they are somewhat rare these days, but with enough persistance or luck they are easily had.

Nothing beats the ease of using analog

somewhat versatile for a polyphonic older synth. Strings are it's forte. piano and organ emulation takes lots of tweaking to attain. synth sounds are good....and strange

strings are warm, I find digital to be a bit more realistic sounding. THis synth was used by most late 70's and early 80's groups...Listen to just about any commodores chorus, and you'll here this synth.

not certain yet, bought it used about 5 weeks ago

ARP is LONG gone

I wanted an analog synth that did 70's-80's classic R&B well to suppliment other equip. I seem to recall being more impressed when I heard this synth in the 70's....but who knows.... takes time to learn how to adjust it's sliding controls for optimal qualities, and closest resemblance of real string,horn and key instruments,,,simple, but with experience can pack a lot..