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<p>Hello Ben,</p>
<p>For a client of mine I restored an Arp Avatar which had an
original pickup. The pickup had issues(the common wire was no
longer connected to ground) and currently someone is 3d printing a
housing and winding 6 new coils for the pickup. If this all works
out I can let you know. For the sliders I recommend replacing them
with an adapter print and a modern slider. The pcb's are online
available The original CTS sliders often have issues with the
carbon tracks. I always end up with a couple of them that I can
not restore. I have some spare parts but it is far from ideal and
it is a lot of work. There are drop in replacement sliders
available but I do not like the feel of these. With some extra
silicone grease they feel better but still not very good. They are
also very hard to solder.</p>
<p>Maarten<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Op 23-3-2025 om 16:49 schreef Ben
Stuyts via Synth-diy:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:E4AF18C4-D5EC-4861-88AD-60F6A19C9E04@stuyts.nl">
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Hi Rob,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I’d love to try it with the hex pickup, as you say for the
hex fuzz. Unfortunately the pickup is missing from my Avatar. It
still has the D and E boards inside, but one of them has the
power cable disconnected. So there’s probably something broken
there. I have a search on ebay and other sites for the pickup,
just in case. Does anybody know of any other hex pickups that
would work?
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The regular synth part works fine, although it needs lots
of TLC for the sliders. I am not looking forward to that… And
you’re right, with the cheap and available Barp modules
everything changes.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Ben<br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage">
<div><br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>On 23 Mar 2025, at 07:17, Rob Secret
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rob@secret-secret.com"><rob@secret-secret.com></a> wrote:</div>
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<div
style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">The
Avatar was my second synth. I only had it and the
Xpander. No keyboards! I did auto players and
controlled the avatar with an electric mandolin (I
didn’t have a guitar). With this set up I think I
was the first to do a midi mandolin. :P
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The Avatars are very interesting synths to be
sure, even though they are basically just an
Odyssey. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>To me the coolest thing about the Avatar was
its Hex Fuzz. Nothing sounds like that, well maybe
the Rolands did, but that sound is really cool.
You can play more than just 5ths with a very warm
tone.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Synth wise I no longer have the Avatar thanks
to a very aggressive evil landlord, but like you
Ben I’m going down the bARP rabbit hole. I have
some of the 2500 modules, with a bunch more on
order (waiting for them to make it through the
backorder experience). I also got two of the bARP
2600’s (Brown and Blue). But in addition to this I
picked up the Korg 2600m and Korg Odyssey desktop
module. The thought process being that the desktop
could replace the Avatar. It sort of does, but of
course without the Hex fuzz.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Back when I had the Avatar I seriously
considered doing mods like these. Today though I
don’t know if I would. Now that there are bARP
modules, and Odyssey clones I don’t think I would
do it. But every time I see a modded one, even
with poor mods, I get excited by the
possibilities! It does look like a lot of fun!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-Rob-</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage">
<div><br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>On Mar 22, 2025, at 2:39 PM, Ben Stuyts
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ben@stuyts.nl"><ben@stuyts.nl></a> wrote:</div>
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style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br>
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<blockquote type="cite">
<div>On 22 Mar 2025, at 20:39, Michael
E Caloroso
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:mec.forumreader@gmail.com"><mec.forumreader@gmail.com></a>
wrote:</div>
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<div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>> I have a stock (working)
Avatar here. Can you tell me
more about the mods you are
doing?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
Preliminary plans here <a
href="http://www.analoguediehard.com/studio/keyboards/arp_avatar/index.html"
moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://www.analoguediehard.com/studio/keyboards/arp_avatar/index.html</a></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
Ooh, that’s a nice writeup. Thanks for
that!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Some years ago I wanted to do lots of
mods too but never got around to it. I
recently acquired a bunch of Barp 2500
modules. These are quite nice
reproductions (although Eurorack is not
my fav. format, too small). Together
with the Barp 2600 already here, it’s a
bit of a mini 2500. This renewed my
interest in modding the Avatar, but
probably less extensive. It definitely
needs additional patch points, so that
is probably going to be my main focus.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Ben</div>
</div>
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