[sdiy] [AH] Custom ARP Avatar

[Michael E Caloroso]

> I have a stock (working) Avatar here. Can you tell me more about the mods
you are doing?

Preliminary plans here
http://www.analoguediehard.com/studio/keyboards/arp_avatar/index.html

That page is not yet live on my website.

I bought mine stock in non-working condition.  The empty margins at top and
bottom of front panel are begging for modifications.

Planning for the mods was started in 2020 and I acquired the parts.  Then
life interrupted with getting laid off, moving to more affordable housing
while on unemployment, job hunt, major relocation to new job, buying a
house, setting up house & studio, and finishing my late parents' estate.
All while living alone - lot of hard work.

Currently I have other priorities for the workbench (an 1100 mile move is
not kind on music gear!).

That gave me time to think more on the planned Avatar mods.  Adding octave
switches to the VCOs, bypass switch for the HPF, etc.  I may omit the
frequency shifter as it may be more useful in a standalone format.

Cloning the ARP sequencer is pretty ambitious.  Already figured out how to
expand it from 16 to 32 steps.  The challenge was how to replace the
slideswitches for the busses with toggle switches.  Easiest solution was
open-collector TTL logic configured as an OR gate, but those OC parts were
hard to find.

MC

On Sat, Mar 22, 2025 at 1:43 PM Ben Stuyts <ben at stuyts.nl> wrote:

> Hi MC,
>
> I have a stock (working) Avatar here. Can you tell me more about the mods
> you are doing?
>
> Ben
>
> On 22 Mar 2025, at 16:22, Michael E Caloroso <mec.forumreader at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Run, don't walk, run very far away.
>
> No idea who Jim Chandler is, but those mods are poorly done and no mention
> in the auction if schematics for the mods are included.  On top of that, I
> see bad corrosion on the jacks which is a good indicator that this has seen
> some road abuse.  Add all that to a product with a history of labor
> intensive restorations - replacing tantalum caps, slidepots, ripping out
> the useless guitar interface, fixing the PSU with the same fault as ARP
> Omni, other potential problems.
>
> Did I mention that I bought an Avatar that I am currently restoring and
> converting into an Odyssey module with MIDI retrofit?
>
> Other red flags "bought from estate" "don't know how to test it" are known
> euphemisms for "it is very broken, we don't want to put the $$$ into fixing
> it, so we're passing the buck onto you".
>
> Run very far away,
> MC
>
> On Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 11:38 PM Todd Sines via Synth-diy <
> synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:
>
>> Space is a premium in our place and wondering if I should let go of my
>> ARP avatar — and then I saw this.
>>
>> Anyone know Jim Chandler? This was done in 1982.
>>
>>
>> ARP Avatar Custom Modified Guitar Synthesizer 1982
>>
>> https://reverb.com/item/25863293-arp-avatar-custom-modified-guitar-synthesizer-1982?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=25863293
>>
>> Todd
>> <http://scale.la/>
>> Todd Sines, director, sines at scale.la
>> *+ SCALE*
>> +1.646.258.5214 mobile
>> +1.646.543.3329 studio
>> http://scale.la | http://toddsines.com
>>
>> Todd
>>
>> Todd Sines, director, sines at scale.la
>> *+ SCALE*
>> +1.646.258.5214 mobile
>> +1.646.543.3329 studio
>> http://scale.la | http://toddsines.com
>> http://facebook.com/toddsines
>> http://instagram.com/sines
>> http://soundcloud.com/sines
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>
>
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