Nakatsugawa Korg Museum Pictorial 699
中津川コルグミュージアム画報 699
"The Unfortunate Keyboard"
ARP 16-Voice Electronic Piano, 1979
Fender Chroma Polaris II, 1985
Developed in 1979 with the hope of recovering the significant losses incurred with the Avator guitar synthesizer, the ARP electronic piano was sold in an unfinished state with defects, lacking the funds to complete it.
As a result, they were burdened with a large number of units requiring repair, further worsening their financial situation.
As a last resort, they proceeded with the development of the then-state-of-the-art polyphonic synthesizer, the "Chroma," but it was too late, and in 1981, ARP's history came to an end.
Approximately 3,000 units of the Chroma were produced and released by Fender.
A simplified version, the Chroma Polaris, was then developed.
This coincided with the immense popularity of the Yamaha DX7.
An analog synthesizer more expensive than the DX7 simply wouldn't sell!
The Polaris II, released in 1985, was a cutting-edge touch-sensitive polyphonic synthesizer equipped with a 16-bit CPU. Although it was produced in Japan to reduce costs, it was still 20% more expensive than the DX7, and sales failed to increase, leading to the Polaris II's eventual disappearance. The Polaris II in the museum is, incredibly, a unit sold in 1994!
It must have been sleeping in Fender Japan's warehouse all this time. From today's perspective, I think it's a wonderful analog polyphonic synthesizer, but it wasn't blessed with the right era. These two keyboards in the museum produce sound, but have numerous malfunctions. I would love to revive their wonderful sound.
The history of ARP is detailed in "Vintage Synthesizers."
「悲運のキーボード」
ARP 16ボイスエレクトロニックピアノ 1979年
フェンダー クローマポラリスⅡ 1985年
ギターシンセサイザーのAvatorで発生した大きな損失の挽回を期待して開発されたエレクトロニックピアノでしたが、ARPは既に資金力が無く、未完成で不具合があるまま販売してしまいました。その結果、大量の修理品を抱え、更に経営が悪化しました。最後の望みは当時最先端のポリフォニックシンセサイザー「Chroma」でしたが時既に遅く、1981年、ARPの歴史は終わりました。
その後、フェンダーからリリースされたChromaの簡略版として誕生したChroma Polarisですが、ヤマハDX7が大人気の時代、ヒットする事も無く消えてゆきました。
時代に恵まれなかった2台です。
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