Inside the ARP Factory: The Design Flaw That Destroyed America's Synth Empire

video upload by Industries from the Past

Update: looks this one was AI generated. Leaving it up for history's sake. Thanks goes to lfrancis in the comments for catching it.

"In the 1970s, ARP Instruments ruled the electronic music world. Founded by NASA engineer Alan R. Pearlman, ARP captured 40% of the global synthesizer market. Their legendary instruments gave a voice to R2-D2, communicated with aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and fueled hits by Stevie Wonder and David Bowie. Yet, by 1981, this American tech empire was bankrupt. What went wrong?

This video explores the incredible rise and devastating fall of ARP. We uncover how the company was destroyed from the inside out by a single disastrous bet: the Avatar. Pushed through by management over Pearlman's fierce objections, this flawed guitar synthesizer suffered from crippling latency and diverted crucial funds away from keyboard innovation. Discover the tragic story of how poor leadership and a 40-millisecond design flaw silenced a historic factory, leaving behind a musical legacy that outlived the company itself."

Reverb names Ben Stahl as new Chief Executive Officer

Press release follows:

Reverb names Ben Stahl as new Chief Executive Officer
Longtime leader in creative industries brings background in music and marketplaces

Tuesday, October 14, 2025 —Reverb, the largest online marketplace dedicated to music gear, today announced that Ben Stahl has been named as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

“Over the past 12 years, I’ve admired the vibrant platform Reverb has built for musicians across the globe, and I’m honored to be part of the community,” said Stahl. “Whether we’re launching new product features to empower buyers and sellers or unlocking new modes of sonic expression for players through Reverb content, our mission remains the same: to make the world more musical.”

Stahl’s appointment follows his leadership roles at community-driven creator platforms SoundCloud and Vimeo, where he focused on user feedback to inform product improvements and drive business growth. At SoundCloud, Stahl launched artist-focused mastering and distribution tools and piloted user-centric royalties to help independent musicians earn more for their work. At Vimeo, Stahl introduced creator-focused features including Vimeo Live Streaming, seamless video editor integrations, and the fastest uploading experience on the Internet.

At Reverb, Stahl plans to put the platform’s thriving community of buyers, sellers, creators, and brands at the forefront of every decision, leaning into the marketplace's newfound independence to create exceptional products that serve musicians of all levels and unlock growth across the global MI industry.

In the last six months, Reverb’s efforts to better connect music makers with gear through features such as Wallet and sell in-store have helped sellers discover increased demand from musicians eager to try out different guitars, synths, pedals, and more. Looking ahead, a greater focus on building symbiotic partnerships with sellers will be key to Reverb’s mission, as will introducing buyers with gear they’ll love, helping Reverb play a greater role in uplifting the entire musical instrument industry.


About Reverb
Reverb is the largest online marketplace dedicated to music gear. Since launching in 2013, Reverb has helped millions of music makers find the perfect piece of gear from its trusted community of music shops, top brands, and other music makers around the world. Built by musicians and gear lovers, Reverb combines one of the largest selections of musical instruments with tools to help music makers find music gear that inspires them and a passionate musical community to connect with. Sales on Reverb help support Reverb Gives, which provides youth music programs with musical instruments.

“MIDI Creators and Innovators” Panel Coming to NAMM

"MIDI Creators and Innovators Alan Parsons, Tom Oberheim, Dave Smith, Jordan Rudess, George Duke and Craig Anderton to Discuss Past, Present and Future of MIDI at 2013 NAMM Show H.O.T Zone Session

Who:

Alan Parsons is British-born audio engineer, musician, and record producer. Parsons has been involved with some of the biggest recordings of all time, including The Beatles Abbey Road and Let It Be, in addition to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. He has been involved in all aspects of the music business and is well known for his own work, The Alan Parson's Project. When not engineering and producing, Mr. Parson's is a highly sought after guest lecturer, product and technology consultant and is the co-creator of the highly- acclaimed educational DVD series called The Art & Science of Sound Recording.

Tom Oberheim is a synthesizer pioneer having created several legendary synths, effects processors, and drum machines as the founder of Oberheim Electronics, Marion Systems, and SeaSound. Oberheim was a key contributor to the original MIDI specification and was an early evangelist of the technology.

Dave Smith was the co-author of the original MIDI specification with Roland's CEO and founder Ikutaro Kakehashi. Mr. Smith was the founder of Sequential Circuits while developing the MIDI specification, and has since developed dozens of synthesizers, drum machines, and effects processors. His current company, Dave Smith Instruments, continues to develop cutting edge MIDI-based instruments that enjoy a worldwide following.

Jordan Rudess, is an American keyboardist, clinician, composer and software entrepreneur best known as the keyboardist in the band Dream Theater and the progressive rock supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment. Rudess is a graduate of the Julliard School of Music and is an extremely well respected consultant to many music instrument companies, and has his own music software company called Wizdom Music, which designs innovative tablet- based musical instruments.

George Duke is a legendary musician, keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. Duke has composed, produced, and played on dozens of gold and platinum records, received numerous GRAMMY awards, and has toured extensively as a band member, music director, and as a solo artist.

Craig Anderton, is a musician, author and music magazine editor/writer who is well known to anyone who has ever picked up a music technology magazine. As the editor of Electronic Musician and author of hundreds of articles on music technology, Anderton is an esteemed journalist and expert in all aspects of MIDI and MIDI technology.

Tom White, (MC) is the President of the MIDI Manufacturers Association, and a highly- regarded contributor and consultant to several industry trade and technology groups including but not limited to CES, USB, IEEE, AES, IASIG, and as long-standing president of the MMA. White has had a long career in the music industry, including a lengthy period in marketing and business development for Roland Corporation.

What: Panel discussion “MIDI Creators and Innovators” For 30 years, MIDI has been always been at the forefront of music technology even as musical trends changed. Come hear from a star-studded panel of MIDI creators and innovators -- stories and opinions about the past, present, and future of MIDI.

When: Sat. Jan. 26, 2013 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Where: The NAMM Show, Anaheim Convention Center Room 204B (Inside NAMM H.O.T. Zone)

Presented by the MMA

The MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) is a non-profit organization formed in 1985 to encourage companies implementing MIDI to make their products interoperable through compliance with MMA Recommended Practices. MMA publishes the official MIDI Specification, provides education about MIDI, licenses MIDI trademarks, and promotes the use of MIDI technology for new applications and in various industries. For more information, please visit www.midi.org"

Summer NAMM 2012: AIR Music Technology

YouTube Published on Jul 12, 2012 by soundonsoundvideo

"A.I.R. MUSIC TECHNOLOGY INTRODUCES IGNITE SOFTWARE, AN INSPIRED NEW APPROACH TO COMPUTER-BASED MUSIC IDEATION AND CREATION

Ignite is a musician's creative partner, promoting experimentation and making it easier than ever to capture musical ideas.

Cumberland, R.I. (July 11, 2012) – A.I.R. Music Technology, the groundbreaking developers of acclaimed, industry-standard virtual instruments and audio processing tools, introduces Ignite, a new software solution with a revolutionary approach to music creation. A.I.R. will unveil Ignite at Booth 800 at the 2012 Summer NAMM show in Nashville, Tennessee, July 12-14.

Ignite is a discrete, standalone music ideation and creation software built from the ground up to spark creative ideas and enable musicians to build songs in an organic fashion. It's not another DAW with complicated controls or engineering-centric workflow. In fact, it's not a DAW at all.

With Ignite, musicians are set free from the rigid and stale interfaces of the past. Ignite conforms to the user's creative process and represents a fresh way of thinking about music creation—a way that complements and energizes a musician's natural workflow. It's a whole new way of creating, capturing, and sharing musical ideas and compositions, the perfect creative partner for a musician. Ignite helps musicians unlock creative energy and construct songs in an instinctive and satisfying way. Songs can then be exported to a sequencer or DAW if desired.

At the heart of Ignite is its non-linear Arranger, which replaces the traditional timeline and tracks-and lanes format. Just open the software, connect an M-Audio keyboard and start capturing musical ideas. Individual ideas can be snapped together in pairs or groups to intuitively construct entire songs. Ignite's Smart MIDI technology assists in the creation of chords, phrases, patterns, and complex arrangements, and five premium virtual instrument expansions are included. All of Ignite's built-in instruments and included expansions are based on A.I.R.'s professional virtual instruments, which were originally developed for Pro Tools.

“We are very proud to announce Ignite. This is the result of more than a year of research and development, blood, sweat and tears. It is exciting for the whole team to see it come to life,” said Samara Winterfeld, Principal Product Manager, A.I.R. Music Technology. “We're musicians who were never really satisfied with the music-making experience on any DAW, so we built Ignite for ourselves and for musicians everywhere who want to capture and develop their musical ideas in ways that are intuitive and inspiring. This first release introduces key features that are central to the product. We have many more new features in development and look forward to sharing them soon.”

Ignite provides an immediate outlet for natural music creation and ideation—its unique tab interface eliminates distraction, presenting users with all the tools they need for each step of the process and nothing more. Select an instrument, record, edit MIDI in the Piano Roll View, organize and arrange clips and more, all in a clean, inviting interface with straightforward controls and zero clutter.

With Ignite, musical collaboration and sharing are easier than ever. Its Sharing Tab includes direct links to SoundCloud, Facebook, email and more. Ideas can be shared instantly, empowering musicians to craft, collaborate and create songs together, whether they're separated by a few miles or on different continents.

Ignite 1.0 is focused specifically on the keyboardist's workflow. Beginning in Q3 of 2012, all M-Audio keyboard controllers will ship with Ignite included, and other brands in the inMusic family will include Ignite with select products. This initial product release will be followed by a number of scheduled releases designed to address the complete music creation process. These processes span content access, music creation, collaboration, finishing, publishing and live performance for both keyboard-based musicians and those recording audio from analog sources.

Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.
SoundCloud is a registered trademark of SoundCloud LTD.


# # #

About A.I.R. Music Technology

Based in Germany, A.I.R. Music Technology started as Wizoo Sound Design, one of the earliest pioneers in virtual instrument technology. The A.I.R. team is responsible for the core of much of the effects offerings in Avid's Pro Tools software, and also developed a suite of award-winning virtual instruments specifically for Pro Tools. A.I.R. Music Technology is a member of the premier family of brands known as inMusic. For more information, visit inmusicbrands.com.

About inMusic

inMusic is the parent company for a family of premier brands that includes A.I.R. Music Technology, Akai Professional, Alesis, Alto Professional, ION Audio, M-Audio, MixMeister, Numark, and Sonivox. Committed to pushing the boundaries of innovation in the DJ, music production, live sound, musical instrument, pro audio, and consumer electronics industries, each of inMusic’s brands creates cutting-edge products that incorporate and build upon the latest in engineering, design, and technology. For more information, visit inmusicbrands.com."

LZX Featured in Neon Indian's "Mind, Drips" Video

Neon Indian "Mind, Drips" Official Video

YouTube Uploaded by neonindianband on Dec 6, 2010

I thought this was pretty cool. The following is the actual video description from the the band on YouTube. It's great to see successful bands directly support the makers like this. Neon Indian also worked with Bleep Labs on the PAL198X (links below).

"Lars Larsen is an electronics designer and multimedia artist in Austin, Texas. Larsen's work focuses on synergistic relationships between technology and subject, and the resurrection of forgotten pre-Computer Age technologies. Over the past few years, he and partner Edward Leckie of Sydney, Australia have been developing an analogue video synthesizer called the LZX Visionary in the tradition of esoteric video art tools used in the 1970's. The LZX Visionary manipulates and creates images in the same way a normal synthesizer does for sounds. Mind Drips is the first music video to utilize this unique synthesizer, and all of its visual effects are recorded in real-time using techniques such as abstract pattern synthesis, video feedback, and analog compositing. For more information on the LZX Visionary video synthesizer, visit http://www.lzxindustries.net or e-mail lars@lzxindustries.net

An LZX Industries / Blackmagic Rollercoaster Production
Directed by Lars Larsen
Videography by Blackmagic Rollercoaster
Physical Effects & Construction by Jonah Lange
Starring Kaylan Drake Burnette
Special thanks to Scott Gelber, Malcolm Welbourne, Ben Aqua, Christine Aprile, Juan Cisneros, Katie Graham, Chad Allen, Tommy Blackburn, Michael Stein, Nick Smith, Scott Whiteman, Wiley Wiggins and many others"

Also see:
Neon Indian - Step Into the World With Your PAL198X
PAL198X playing with Modular Synth
Bleep Labs Neon Indian - PAL198X
Bleep Labs Neon Indian PAL198X Featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

The above spotted on Computer Music Guide

Surface One - NAMM Vaporware from the Past

spotted this one on Analog Industries. It's the Surface One from Midiman, "a virtual control surface that is completely user-configurable. The basic elements (or objects) that the user manipulates consist of virtual channels, buttons, and knobs. Any object on Surface One is programmable and can transmit any message communicable via MIDI (including volume changes, note on/off, alterations to any parameters, program changes, etc).

Surface One utilizes a fiber optic-based touch-sensitive material as its primary interface. This smart fabric, originally developed by the Canadian Space Agency and now licensed by Tactex, transmits the information it receives through touch so it may be converted into MIDI and sent out of Surface One to control MIDI-compatible devices." It was shown at NAMM 2001. You can read the full release on Harmony Central.

Update via BirdFLU in the comments: "Musician's Friend had these for sale on their web site for about a year for $700. Stock status was always listed as "Coming Soon." They also had changed the color scheme to a more pleasing silver box with blue touch sensors."

Popol Vuh Beat Club 1971

Click image to launch. Via nx.

"It's time to freak out with some glacial soundscapes from Popol Vuh (florian) on the beat club television show, 1971"

Update via james in the comments:

"Very nice. Sadly, Florian Fricke passed away in late December, 2001.

Here's one of the few interviews you're likely to find:

http://www.eurock.com/features/florian.aspx"

Update via James Anderson in the comments:
"just to let others know...

a bunch of popol vuh's cds,
mainly soundtracks I believe, have been re-released on the cd format in the past couple of weeks.

I work at a record store and have wanted to know what it sounded like. thanks Matrix! "

You're welcome! BTW, to my surprise Yahoo! Unlimitted actually has them including their early stuff. I'm listening to it now. I love Yahoo! Unlimitted. I pay 5 bucks a month and get access to all this stuff. And no, I have no affiliation with them. I just like the service and don't want it to go away. : ) They have 19 Popol Vuh CDs. These alone would pay for the subscription. Think about that... I also get to check out Christopher Randall's music of Analog Industries (Sister Machine Gun and Micronaut)! Alright, off of my soapbox.