With the analog resurgence in effect does anyone else feel that Korg's ARP department is missing the ball? It seems a lot of companies are somewhat backtracking when it comes to developing synths. It seems a lot of companies are going back and sort of releasing "new synths" which are essentially just updated versions of their older models. For example the Rev 2 is an updated Prophet 08, the Moog Subsequent 37 CV is just a Moog Sub 37 with more CV connectivity, The Korg ARP Odyssey FS is just a fullsized re-issue of the Odyssey.
These improvements are frankly things that should have been on the original synths to begin with. It seems like such a small progression in terms of development and frankly some of these seem like a waste of R&D.
Moog seems to have been spinning it's wheels and I highly doubt we'll ever see a Polyphonic Moog any time soon (about as likely as Roland releasing another analog Jupiter)
But ARP....this is something that I've been flabbergasted at for not being more active. Look how much history and instruments ARP has developed in the past...why not a new string machine? 2600? or an updated Quadra? or a newer version of the Chroma (perhaps a multitimbral version) ? We are having a resurgence now and it seems like company after company is missing the ball. I'd like to see someone else in the analog polysynth market than DSI (and not Beheringer
) and yet all we are getting is a bigger sized synth? ARP are not independent they have Korg's help and with as many toys as Korg turns out why can't they put a bit more effort into their ARP department. Can't tell me the market isn't there.
It's frankly frustrating to watch. I want these companies to succeed and I don't want to see them missing an opportunity to strike while the iron is hot. Like anything, as fantastic as DSI synths are I would like more variety in my polyphonic set up....can't have the Prophet name on everything