Yann writes: "I don't know if you know about Philip Dodds...he was the guy who played the ARP 2500 in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He was VP of Engineering at ARP, he wrote all of the service manuals and
schematics and helped design and build many ARP synths, from the 2600 to the Chroma. He then went on to work for Kurzweil, developing the digital pianos. He was even involved in the creation of the MIDI standard. He also happened to be my uncle. I thought you might be interested to know that he died last weekend." Phil is the young, nervous looking chap who says 'What are we saying to each other?' at 1:05 in the clip above. Read more at the AICC blog and Wikipedia.
Posted by Tom Whitwell.
Comments:
i own a 2600 that brings me joy every day,so i guess i owe this guy a lot. R.I.P.
I've been reading about him all this evening after having come across the news of his passing quite by accident. I had no idea this gentleman had such a tremendous impact on so many people and was such a renaissance man. Truly amazing.
I also enjoyed reading about and seeing the extended family pictures on the restoration of the farm pages and the services for his own father Capt. Dodd. .
The Arp part of the movie where your Uncle played those tones was the most uplifting part for me when the three saucers rose up and played those tones. Communicating with music was such a brilliant concept that it showed how thoughtful the writers of the movie were to include this. And to include your Uncle was just as historical as including J. Allen Hynek towards the end. I still have my Micropiano although I never had an Arp. Magical times for synthesis. RIP Phillip!
: 7:26 pm