ARP ODYSSEY - How Your Odyssey Works

HOW
YOUR
ODYSSEY
WORKS
Generally
speaking, all the
sEeclronic
circuits in your
Odyssey
perform
one of thiee ba-sic
funCEions:
L
Sfgnal sources: lh«
"raw" lonea ot
noise
which will
ultimatfrly
be shaped into
musical sounds;.
2.
Signal
Modifiers:
the "raw" K>unds
ate passed
through
signal modifiers
where the timbre (or
tons quality) 15
changed to
produce the
desirsd sound,
and
Z.
ConLrollers; devjoes
which
detemtme
the
op^rfttng
characteristics of
the
signaJ sources
and the
signal
modifiers. For instance,
the keyboard
is
a controllef
which
produces a voltage to
leH
the
oscillator
what
pitch lo create.
Sinrulajrly, the ADSR
envelope
genarator creates
an attack
and
decay
signal
that
controls
the Voltage
Controlled
Filter fVCF)
so that
the
final musical sound has
an
attack
and decay.
the sound
of
these vibrationsL
The body
of the violin is
actually a
tnechanical
filter and
corresponds to the
Voltage Controlled
Filter
(VCF) on the
Odyssey.
It is the
characteristic resonances
of
the body that
give
the violin
its
distinctive
tone quality.
The fingerboard,
like
the
keyboard
on your Odyssey,
determines the pitch
of
the
sound.
The movemanl of the bow,
like the ADSR
Envelope
Generator,
determines the
attack
and decay
characteristics of
the sound,
Interconnecting
the various
functions
shown
in Figure
A
is known as
creating
a
"patch."
The block diagram
illustrated in Figure A is,
of
course, a
violin patch.
Similarly,
it
is
possible to diagram
any patch
that you
may
play on the
Odyssey.
Actually, this
visual
representatton
of a patch permits
you
to better
understand what
functions
of the
synthesizer
are being
employed
and how
each
function
coniributes to
the
finished sound.
Alt
mechanical
instruments work
in
a similar
vny.
A
violin, for instance, has
a vibraiin^g
string which
would
he
a agnaS souTce. The
vibrating
string
corresponds to the
Oscillator in
your Odyssey.
The vibrations
from the string
are
transmitted
to the body of
the viohn
which
modifies