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Overview

G2500 is the virtual version of the classic ARP 2500 first created and released in 1970 by Alan R. Pearlman.

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Vintage

Full 6016x3616 pixels view of the G2500 synth showing the Vintage skin:
G2500-Vintage-full.jpg (3.7 MB)

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Black

Full 6016x3616 pixels view of the G2500 synth showing the Black skin:
G2500-Black-full.jpg (3.1 MB)

The G2500 is made from in-house developed proprietary and optimized virtual analog modules, to reproduce the unique and fat analog sound of the original, bringing it to your desktop. All the original control features from the ARP 2500 are there, and because you can save your carefully programmed patches, the G2500 is even better than the real thing!

G2500 was demonstrated at Fifty Years of ARP: The 2500 in 2020.

Features

  • Twelve different virtual modules also found in the original:
    • 1002 Power Control
    • 1004-P Oscillator
    • 1004-T Oscillator
    • 1005 Modulator Amplifier
    • 1006 Filter Amplifier
    • 1016 Dual Noise / Random
    • 1027 Ten-Position Sequencer
    • 1033 Dual Exponential Envelope Generator
    • 1036 Sample & Hold / Random Voltage
    • 1046 Quad Exponential Envelope Generator
    • 1047 Multimode Filter / Resonator
    • 1050 Sequential Mixer
  • A new 1102 I/O Control virtual module not found in the original
  • A virtual version of the 3001 Keyboard also found in the original
  • Play notes using 16 keys on the computer keyboard and selecting octave with two additional keys
  • Audio input from any system sound input device selected in the Preferences
  • Audio output to any system sound output device selected in the Preferences
  • MIDI input from any MIDI input device connected to the computer and selected in the Preferences
  • Recognizes MIDI All Notes Off, Note Off, Note On, and Control Changes
  • Save pieces of audio directly to disk in WAV format by the push of a button
  • Setup is fully user configurable, in order to choose which and how many of each module to use
  • Choose between two skins, Vintage and Black
  • Option to display tooltips for many controls
  • Use patch cables for even more connections than possible using the upper and lower matrix
  • Load requester to load new patches from disk
  • Save requester to save your own patches
  • Patches are stored as text-files in directories on disk, to be easily manageable with operating system tools
  • Zoomable user interface to easily go between a full overview and a detailed view of modules and controls
  • Choose between windowed or fullscreen mode
  • Studio quality 24bit/96kHz audio in and out (*)
  • Audio is easily sent to e.g. a software DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) using software such as "Soundflower for Mac"
  • The G2500 is easily controlled from e.g. a software DAW using the IAC Driver found in the macOS "Audio MIDI Setup"
  • Five banks to store patches in memory, which is a benefit when creating new patches
  • Choose between Even Temperament and Bach-Lehman Temperament
  • Toggle bandlimiting on and off to stay below the Nyquist frequency (half the sample rate of 96kHz)
  • An optional post-filter for more smooth acoustic transients

(*) Audio is actually 32-bit floating point, and as values goes from -1.0 to +1.0, it is comparable to 24bit audio and is easily converted to 24bit by the operating system, if that is needed in the further signal chain.

General patches

A sortiment of sound patches is found in the "General/" folder. Once G2500 is launched, press <Ctrl>-O to open the "Load patch" requester and navigate to the "General/" folder.

Below are some demo sounds made from these general patches. These samples are the raw output of 24bit/96kHz from the G2500 virtual analog synthesizer. The only editing is fade in and fade out on some of the examples. The master volume is set to 0 dB in G2500, so some sounds will reach maximum loudness. The size of the sample files in megabytes is also shown.

(7.7 MB) STRINGS-1.wav
(4.3 MB) FLUTE-1.wav
(7.0 MB) FLICKS-1.wav
(9.8 MB) BASS-SEQ-16-1.wav

Technology

Characteristics of G2500

  • The synthesizer sound is constructed in real time, responding to how the musician strikes the keys and interacts with the control knobs
  • Due to modern development of computer CPU technology, a precise simulation of an analog synthesizer is possible producing 24bit/96kHz studio quality audio output
  • A technique known as "bandlimiting" is used to keep the audio output frequencies below the Nyquist frequency of half the sample rate (96kHz) - so below 48kHz - to remove audible artifacts, for example when sweeping sound to high pitch
  • 64bit summing is used internal for high quality audio output
  • High precision dial knobs with more than one billion individual positions for each, where e.g. MIDI controllers typically have 128 (7-bit) individual positions.
  • The combination of these techniques is also known as "virtual analog synthesis" and makes this software produce sounds very close to a hardware analog synthesizer with the benefits of the digital world (like much less noise and other benefits)

Download

Quick Start

  1. After you have downloaded and unpacked the application, launch it and wait for the application to load and the GUI be seen.
    On newer macOS, security prevents downloaded apps to launch. To fix this, if you moved G2500.app to /Applications, launch the Terminal.app and type: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/G2500.app
  2. Then press <Ctrl>-, (Control + Comma) or <Command>-, (Command + Comma) to open the Preferences and check the "Audio Output" device.
    "Built-in Output" or similar is probably a good start.
  3. Zoom the GUI with Tab, Control + Tab, Shift + Tab. See the Keyboard Shortcuts document or section in the Manual for ways to control G2500.


Download the free demo version of G2500. It is not possible to save patches in the demo version, and it will close down after 20 minutes of use.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. REMEMBER TO BACKUP YOUR DATA.

macOS ARM

macOS intel

Linux x86_64

Windows

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  G2500_M1_v1.1.5.tar.gz  

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  G2500_v1.1.5.tar.gz  

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  G2500_v1.1.5.tgz    

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  G2500_v1.1.5.zip    

The manual can be read in the G2500 application by pressing the <F1> key. It can also be downloaded here:

Manual

One Page Keyboard Shortcuts

Release Notes

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  G2500_Manual.pdf  

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  G2500_Keyboard_Shortcuts.pdf  

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  release-notes.pdf  

Buy

Price: 150 Euro.

To buy a license to the full version of the G2500 virtual analog synthesizer, fill in your name and email address to be associated with the license, and press the "Buy Now" button.

The license will be sent to this email address once your order is processed.

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