ARP2600 - Fundamentals of Music Technology - Cyborgstudio.com

006 - SECTION ONE: GENERAL CONTROLSARE SYNTHESIZERS NORMAL?When sounds are created on the ARP 2600, certain modules must be connected in a certain way, and theappropriate knobs and sliders must be set just right to produce the desired sound. This collection ofsettings of patch cables, sliders, and knobs is called a patch. The term ‘patch’ comes from the patchcables used make these sounds. Modern synthesizers don’t use patch cables, but individual sounds arestill referred to as ‘patches’.All of this patching can be a lot of work, and many times, it is desirable to use the modules in astandard configuration (see Section 8 for more information). It would be very time consuming andmonotonous constantly creating the same patches again and again, so the designers of the ARP 2600came up with a good solution: normals.What is a normal? A normal is simply a connection which is made to one of the ARP’s input jacks fromone of the ARP’s outputs even before a patch cord is plugged into it. Another way to say this: Someoutputs are internally wired to some inputs. All but eight of the ARP 2600’s inputs have somethingnormalled to them. One can tell if an input has something normalled to it because there is some writingin a small white box that points to the input. The writing indicates what is normalled to that input.Another way to think of a normal is as a connection that is premade with an invisible patch cord. It isnot possible for a user to change what is normalled to each input.BUT WHAT IS NORMAL?The normal represents the patch which is most commonly used. The ARP’sdesigners made the everyday connections into normals. They didn’t normalmodules together that one would rarely connect. Thus, it is importantto take note of which modules are normalled together, as this will give astudent some clues as to how the synthesizer will ‘normally’ be patched.However, there are times when it is undesirable to make that particularpatch or connection which is made by a normal. This is the time when theinput jack will be used, and the normal will be broken. Breaking a normalmeans disconnecting that premade electrical connection in the synthesizer.To break a normal, all one must do is plug a patch cord into an inputjack. When a patch cord is connected to an input jack, two things actuallyhappen: First, the normal is broken and what was formerly connected tothat input is now disconnected. Second, whatever is traveling down thatpatch cord is now connected to the input.Figure 1-7: Nobody’sfool. Two dummy plugsA great example of a normal is the headphone jack. The headphone jack is actually an output, since itputs out a signal for headphones, but it still represents a normal. Sound is normalled from the synthesizer’sinternal amplifier to the synthesizer’s speakers. When a pair of headphones is plugged into the headphonejack, that normal is broken, and no sound can emerge from the speakers. The ARP 2600 hasthirty-nine inputs that have something normalled to them.