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The ARP Pro Soloist was one of the first commercially successful preset electronic music synthesizers. Introduced by ARP Instruments, Inc. in 1972, it replaced the similar ARP Soloist in the company's lineup of portable performance instruments. ==History== ARP Instruments, having developed the large and powerful ARP 2500 for studio work, released the Soloist as a light, portable, easy-to-use performance instrument that could be placed on top of an electric piano or Hammond organ. In contrast to the flexible modular design of the 2500, the Soloist had no patch panels or cables. A set of toggle switches allowed the performer to quickly choose one of 18 preset monophonic patches that were not modifiable (note that "Voice" was ARP parlance for Preset, or Patch) . This lack of programmability was compensated by giving the performer control over the voice expression, adding "growl", "wow", "brilliance", portamento, pitch bend, and/or vibrato to the timbre. A pressure-sensitive keyboard allowed players to use aftertouch to control all of these effects. While moderately successful in its niche, the Soloist was not regarded as a serious synthesizer by most professional musicians. The limited set of voices, combined with tuning stability problems, kept it from wider use. Nevertheless, it found a place on recordings by such artists as Quincy Jones and Steely Dan. During the recording of Steely Dan's Countdown to Ecstasy, Donald Fagen was so irritated with having to tune the Soloist so often, he threw it down the recording studio stairwell and jumped up and down on it. Shortly after, a producer joined in with some alcohol and they burned the ARP into a pile of melted plastic.〔Steely Dan, Men and Machines〕 In 1972, ARP introduced the Pro Soloist, a revised and enhanced version of the Soloist. Expanding the number of preset patches to 30, and incorporating digital electronics for preset memory and keyboard control, it was much more reliable than the Soloist. A novel "digitized" tone generator eliminated tuning problems suffered by the Soloist. The voice selection tabs were now above the keyboard, instead of below as on the original Soloist. Although initially marketed to home organists, it found its way into the hands of such famous musicians as Tony Banks of Genesis, Josef Zawinul, Billy Preston, Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, Gary Numan (his number one album Telekon is heavily built on the Pro Soloist), Anthony Phillips (whose 1977 album ''The Geese And The Ghost'' took its name from Phillips' nicknames for two sounds produced by the Pro Soloist〔http://www.anthonyphillips.co.uk/faq.htm#eight〕), John Entwistle, and Steve Walsh of Kansas (particularly on the 1975 release ''Song for America''). Banks used the Pro Soloist prominently on the Genesis albums ''Selling England by the Pound'' through to ''Seconds Out'', although later revealed he never particularly liked the sound, saying "we only used them because it was all we had". It was also used by Funk keyboardist like Junie Morrison on the Ohio Players song ''Funky Worm'' and by Bernie Worrell in the Parliament Mothership Connection album. Around the same time, the company released its ARP Odyssey synthesizer, a powerful duophonic instrument, as the flagship of its performance line. The Pro Soloist offered an easier-to-use alternative which appealed to professionals as well as home users. By the time the Pro Soloist caught on, many competitors such as Moog Music, Korg, Roland Corporation, and Farfisa had introduced similar keyboards, though, ironically, most of the competitors' clones had the voice selection tabs below the keyboard, like the original Soloist. The ARP Pro Soloist would eventually be reintroduced as the updated Pro-DGX featuring momentary digitally-latched push button voice selector switches with LED status indicators, rather than toggle switches. It would remain in production until the company's demise in 1981. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「ARP Pro Soloist」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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