Behringer is asking its customers on Facebook whether they should make a $499 replica/clone of the ARP Avatar guitar Synthesizer or not.
Because we’re on the subject. Alongside the announcement of the Kobol Expander, Behringer has been asking customers on Facebook and other social media if they are interested in another vintage Synthesizer clone/replica
More precisely, they have plans to reproduce the ARP Avatar Synthesizer from 1977. They ask if there’s interest and they could put it on the market for $499 USD.
Behringer Avatar
After the Kobol Expander another very special Synthesizer project announcement. Especially because the original ARP Avatar was a guitar-controlled analog Synthesizer. For ARP itself, the instrument was a flop in 1977, but who knows whether there will be more interest today.
The Avatar was essentially an ARP Odyssey with a built-in 6-way fuzzbox distortion effect because it offered a modified circuit with different gains. So it featured two analog oscillators, a resonant lowpass filter, non-resonant highpass, AR envelopes, a sine and square wave LFO, sample-and-hold function, and more.
45 years after the official release, Behringer is planning to bring back this unique Synthesizer. But only if there is enough demand. And according to Behringer, they would include a new mic input for great vocal tracking as well as a new high-speed and super accurate audio to CV convert. The latter would replace the hex guitar input.
Behringer Facebook Post
We recently asked you, if you’re interested in a revival of the lovely ARP Avatar, which was designed as a guitar synthesizer. We have since created a draft that replaces the hex guitar input with a high-speed and super accurate audio to CV converter, which not only allows you to perfectly track your guitar signal, but also any other instrument.
We also included a mic input for great vocal tracking. What would be your level of interest for such a synth? What other changes would you like to see? We believe we could achieve a price of US$ 499 retail.
Please remember that this is only a proposal for now and we have not decided to pursue this project. We’re looking forward for your wonderful feedback.
It is currently a project on the drawing table. It would be interesting to see the Avatar back on the market. But I’m not sure about the success. Maybe it’s too special.
More information here: Behringer
honestly, I was most looking forward to the Hex Fuzz feature for my hex guitar pickup. only a single synth voice isn’t interesting. my H9 has ‘guitar synth’, and I’ve never taken a shine to it, or devices of that ilk. I can play keys I don’t need a guitar synth that sounds like a key synth; to me that was always just gimmick – like a whammy bar.
Tuve el ARP AVATAR a finales de los 70 y con la mesa también tenía una pastilla que se acoplaba a la guitarra con un cable especial, esto no lo tiene, además tenía una luz por cada cuerda, es decir 6 en la parte izquierda y justo en el frontal izquierdo se conectaba el cable anterior mente mencionado, la verdad es que si fuera igual o que se pudiera conectar una guitarra por 500 o 600€ lo compraría ya que es lo que ando buscando.