RIP Alan R. Pearlman

A good innings.
He can stand shoulder to shoulder alongside the likes of Don Buchla & Bob Moog.

Alan was born in NYC in 1925. He worked for NASA and served in the US military before founding ARP instruments ( (originally Tonus, Inc.) in 1969. He designed amplifiers for NASA's Gemini and Apollo programs

ARP shaped the early development of analog Synths.
These 2500 & 2600 synths were and still are among the greatest synthesizers ever made.
I love both these instruments. Though many describe the 2500's matrix as unreliable, I wish more manufacturers would adopt this technology. It really makes the 2500 special.

The 2600 was produced from 1971 until 1982. Instead of the matrix, it used traditional patchords.
The synth has preset internal connections so users can get sounds out of it & play it straight away without any knowledge of modular synthesis or patching.

These internal connections are broken when a patch cable is inserted, making this synth 100% modular. This was I think one of the earliest if not the first time such a idea was implemented.  It's so common these days and most people don't give it a second thought. Alan was a true pioneer.

A great sequencer !!!

The ARP Little Brother was meant to be a companion to the 2600.

These are battery powered modules (9V DC). They were intended to educate kids.
The modules helped to teach me be the basics of synthesis.

The ARP Avatar guitar synthesizer.

Thank you Alan.
(June 7, 1925 – January 6, 2019)