Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

I would agree that 90% of the ARP sound comes from the filter, but I
would also argue that the oscillators played a part in the sound as
well.  If you just listened to the oscillators without the filter,
they sounded somewhat thin as opposed to the fat Moog sound. 

I agree with most of the comments that have been made so far (and was going to make the point about the oscillators too). I also think that the 2600 is probably the best assortment of modules, and I would suggest people putting a system together should use that as a basic framework to start with especially considering the more unusual modules like the S/H, lag processor, mixer/inverters, preamp/env follower (all though there are some notable problems in the design: like VCO 2 is the only source of tri/sine waves but is also the only one with VC PWM input).

But this is also very timely as I expect to get another MOTM 490 in the next few days which I hope install in my ARP 2600 (to get that "classic" ladder sound). When I bought my gray face ARP 20 years ago (it was built in 75), I found that the VCF had been replaced with a CEM 3320.

Unfortunately, it looks much more difficult than I first thought. I've compared the schematics of the ARP 4012 and the MOTM 490 -- I'm hoping not to change the VCF motherboard too much. I'd looked into one of Phil C.'s replacement VCFs a few years ago but thought it a bit expensive (like $250 for the submodule).

Any input would be appreciated.
JB