Rhodes Chroma Expander

images via this auction.

If you are considering this one, don't miss the note on MIDI below.

"Rare keyboardless version of the Chroma. (Less than 250 expanders produced) The Chroma was the last instrument produced by Arp before the company went bust in the mid 80's. Rhodes then took over Arp and rebadged the Chroma. The Chroma is a very flexible instrument, the architecture is almost modular like, very patchable plus with the benefits of having user memories. Fantastic sounding instrument, on tons of records from the 80s/ 90s. Famous users include Joe Zawinul and Herbie Hancock (Future Shock) amongst others.. Check out Herbie Hancock playing his Chroma in this Youtube video below:





Herbie Hancock jams with his Fairlight CMI
YouTube via froady.

"Herbie shows off while Quincy Jones looks on. 1983" Herbie plays the Chroma starting at 2:40 into the video. Gives you an idea of how great the synth sounds! Personally i think the Chroma is a much better sounding instrument than many of the other classic analogue polysynths, like the Prophet 5, Jupiter or Oberheim OB series. Here are some more details on the synths specifications: -2 VCO oscillators per voice, 8 note polyphonic synthesizer OR 1 VCO per voice and 16 note polyphonic. *Velocity and aftertouch sensitive* -Oscillators have sawtooth and square waveforms. -Ability to modulate the width of the sawtooth wave giving sine and triangle waveforms. -Filter modes include: 4 pole Low pass/4 pole High pass/ 2 pole Low pass/ 2 pole High pass/ 2 pole Band pass/ 2 pole Notch all with resonance. -Filter FM, ring modulation and Oscillator sync! -Four envelopes and glide generator PER voice. 16 LFO waveforms. -Arpeggiator with random mode. Also check out the excellent Rhodes Chroma website for more further information. Super instrument. Sonically its really versatile, great for percussive, cutting lead lines great for experimental and effects sounds (has a ring modulator, frequency modulation, tons of assignable LFOs and envelopes!) also very good for traditional synth sounds, smooth brass, string/ pad sounds etc. Really rich sounding.. It has a dual voice architecture like the CS80, where each oscillator has its own individual signal path and settings, so you can build some really impressive sounding patches. There is also a wide selection of decent patches to download from the Rhodes Chroma website. This unit has just been fully serviced (October 2007) and been given a full bill of health by Roy Paynter, an Arp trained Chroma repair expert in the UK. As well as being serviced the internal PSU has been also replaced with a modern switching unit improving long term reliability and also makes the instrument a lot lighter! The Expander is great if you are limited for space, its about a third of the size and weight of the Chroma keyboard! Also included in the auction is a JL Cooper Chromaface midi interface and manual and the Chroma user manual. I havent been able to get this midi interface working, im not sure i have it hooked up correctly, im sure the midi interface works ok, but thought it was worth mentioning. I was considering purchasing a CC+ midi kit for this unit, a great midi interface new on the market, which really brings the Chroma into 2007, gives it a great midi spec. Unfortunately i didnt get round to it and need need to sell this Chroma now to fund something else. But i highly recommend the buyer to check out the CC+ midi kit"