MATRIXSYNTH: ARP AVATAR Synthesizer odyssey RESTORED only CV gate control


Monday, December 01, 2025

ARP AVATAR Synthesizer odyssey RESTORED only CV gate control

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via this eBay listing

Additional Tone Tweakers Listings

"Meticulously refurbished over approximately 22+ hours to be as good as it could possibly be, with a new set of modern faders that are way better than the originals and their copies, this unit is a real pleasure to play and is fully functional, with one exception - we disabled the guitar interface. This unit can still be controlled via CV and gate.

Why did we disable to guitar interface? This unit, like most, did not come to us with the guitar pickup and cable, so we weren't able to test it with a guitar. That said, the guitar interfaces are usually broken and beyond repair at this point. The manufacturer sealed the interface circuitry in epoxy, so if (and when) a component inside that black epoxied box goes bad, as they almost always do, they're impossible to open and repair by practical means. Also, even when the guitar interface is working, you'll need the pickup and cable, which have often disappeared over the decades. So, if you're looking for a unit that will work with your guitar, this one won't, and it's likely many others won't either, based on what we've seen - please search our listings to see if we have another in stock that does. This one contains the same synth engine as the ARP Odyssey Mk3 (with a couple very minor differences in the modulations) and can be controlled via a midi-to-cv converter or compatible vintage keyboard or sequencer. Be careful if you're considering buying one of these elsewhere - most sellers don't test them properly and don't know enough or care enough to identify and report problems, especially with the guitar section. Any avatar or odyssey that still has its original faders will almost definitely need them replaced, so consider that too. And then there are the ones that use the low quality copies of what were already low quality original faders. We already did this work, and it's expensive. Cost was around $300 for the new faders, plus additional parts, plus 22 hours of skilled labor, plus additional labor to route the sample and hold mixer output to modulate VCO2 and the filter for oscillator and filter FM as you'd have on an Odyssey (which is being performed as I type this so I don't know the total time yet)."

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