Repairing LEO's ARP 2600's with Don Lewis - Synthchaser #130

Published on Feb 18, 2020 Synth Chaser

"It was a huge honor and incredibly fun to work on the ARP 2600s from Don Lewis' LEO (Live Electronic Orchestra) with him this weekend. LEO was a groundbreaking historic synthesizer that served as an inspiration for MIDI, having vintage synths from many different manufacturers (ARP, Oberheim, Roland, etc) all connected and working together. In this video, Don talks a bit about LEO, we show the problem with one of the oscillators in the ARP 2600, and then we troubleshoot and repair it.

00:00 Don Lewis Interview
12:03 ARP 2600 Troubleshooting & Repair
19:11 Final test & parting thoughts

There's a new documentary, The Ballad of Don Lewis, which is available for pre-order on Amazon or On Demand from your cable provider that tells Don's amazing story, which goes much deeper than just LEO. LEO will be on display again the the NAMM Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California starting in 2021.

The Ballad Of Don Lewis DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Ballad-Don-Lew...
The Ballad Of Don Lewis Website
Don Lewis repairing LEO videos: [embedded below]

My site: http://www.synthchaser.com

Parts, service and vintage synthesizers are available on my website. I buy broken synthesizers!"

Check out additional posts featuring Don Lewis here.

Repairing LEO's ARP 2600's


"Administrator Comment: Don's not just another handsome musician, this guy is really smart! Follow Don Lewis's journey as he repairs his ARP 2600's that are more than 40 years old."

Also:

Repairing LEO's Roland JP-4

NAMM 2020: Don Lewis on the Korg ARP 2600

Published on Jan 25, 2020 CatSynth TV

"We catch a performance and demo by the legendary Don Lewis on the new ARP 2600 re-release from Korg. He is using is voice + an envelope follower to shape and control the sounds from the instrument.

Don Lewis was an early pioneer of synthesizer music and consulted on the original ARP 2600. He is now a member of the board of the Alan R Pearlman (ARP) foundation.

For more information on the foundation, please visit https://alanrpearlmanfoundation.org/
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"Don Lewis performed at The NAMM Show in 1969 as a Hammond artist. He was using an Acetone Rhythm that he had modified which was the catalyst for his lifelong friendship with Ikutaro Kakehashi. Don consulted and helped introduce ARP to NAMM in 1972. At Roland, he consulted and programmed JP-4, TR-808, VP series Vocoders, D-50 and many others. As a consultant and artist for Yamaha, Don was an original programmer for the DX-7 and . In 1977, Don built LEO (Live Electronic Orchestra) integrating ARP, Oberheim, Hammond, Yamaha and Roland products. He is considered by Kakehashi to be his inspiration for MIDI."
https://www.namm.org/nammu/contributo..."

2013 NAMM Show Pics by Mark Dalzell

flickr set by Mark Dalzell
(click for more)

Pictured:

"Don Lewis and his amazing LEO Light Electronic Orchestra" - ARP 2600 in there as well.

Reon modular.

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Early DIY Synthesizer

flickr By doryfour

This one is from the Museum of Making Music according to the flickr set this came from. If anyone has more info on it feel free to comment.

Update: some additional info in via Suit & Tie Guy who checked on a Hamtech list. Here's what he got back from a couple of people: "That is Don Lewis' LEO (Live Electronic Orchestra). AFAIK, it still is at the NAMM Museum. Lewis gigged with it regularly in the day. Great organ player. Never heard him play it, but he probably played the snot out of it. Don't know if he recorded with it. Very little of it is X-66. Those are Concord drawbars and other parts, plus lots of stuff from ARP and Roland and more. This is a fairly well known instrument, so I'm disappointed to see that no one could do research."

And:

"It is still there, he had a little gig a couple of years ago to celebrate its 30th and Hammond's 70th (if I remember the occasion correctly). And he most certainly recorded! You can buy it on iTunes or from Don's web site.

http://lewisizerpresents.com/leo.html

Don and my grandma were two peas in a pod, they put on seminars here in Denver for teachers over the years. I was honored to have gotten a nice note from Don after she passed. He's a wonderful guy. And a heckuva engineer!"

The LEO at the Museum of Making Music

via Jeff of
http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/

"The LEO is substantial to say the least. It was developed by a guy named Don Lewis from the San Francisco area, and basically consists of a Hammond B-3, 4 Oberheim SEM's, 2 ARP 2600 modular units, 2 patch bays, Roland RE-201 and DC-50 for effects and a Revo speaker box w/ controller. Everything is encased in 1" thick acrylic and should never be moved by less than 6 people. It is, simultaneously, a work of exceptional ingenuity and unmitigated, cumbersome construction. It is, without question, the most obvious reason for the creation of MIDI." :)


Note the Museum of Making Music will be hosting a Moog exhibit (Moogseum) with The Bob Moog Foundation beginning September 2009. You can find previous posts on the Moogseum here.


Update: "The LEO is on permanent display here as well as a small selection of analog and digital synthesizers (Roland D-50, DX-7, Korg M-1). There are certain exhibits that are brought in on a temporary basis. The Moog Exhibit will be that kind of exhibit. But we also have 6 galleries of musical instruments dating all the way back to the late 1800s. All instruments are viewable to the public, but most are not playable. I will be consulting on a redesign of our Gallery 5 (The synth/80s room) after our current slide guitar exhibit is finished in April. I found out that our curator is housing several synths in an off-site warehouse including a WASP, a GNAT, and a SPIDER sequencer, a Synthi e, and a Korg Polysix just off the top of her head! So we're going to make the synth display shimmer in April."

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