Record producer, film composer, musician, arranger, and engineer David Baron is an avid collector of vintage analog synthesizers and recording gear, who worked with the likes of The Lumineers, Lenny Kravitz, Four Tet, and Lana Del Rey. On his new album The ARP 2500 out on November 17 via Here & Now Recordings, the iconic vintage synthesizer ARP 2500, known as a “keyboard legend,” was the only sound source used during the whole process, in order to preserve the original glory of this rare monophonic analog modular instrument within modern settings.
Designed by a NASA engineer on an analog computer model, and not by a musician, the synthesizer was launched commercially in 1970, but was mainly sold to universities and sound labs, as the 2500’s modules were known to be a bit overwhelming to use.
His new track “The Plan” has a more percussive and uptempo beat-driven sound compared to “City of Nerves” and “Distance of Time,” making it more reminiscent of a chase scene in the video game Cyberpunk 2077.
The ARP 2500 exhilarating sounds upload us into the cyberspace of a dystopian future, made of cyberware upgrades, intergalactic communications, neural networks, and consciousnesses stored on cybernetic biochips. David Baron’s creative pursuit results in a truly rewarding and exciting endeavor, to the point of making oneself ask a weird question: what if the next big technology was actually a really old one?
Check out “The Plan” video here :
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the album go to the ARP Foundation.
