The Chroma (bottom) with a Chroma Expander on top. Photo: Eric Mattei, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Rhodes Chroma
Discontinued 1984Released 1982
ARP's last design, rescued and sold by CBS under the Rhodes name: a 16-channel, microprocessor-controlled analogue poly with a weighted wooden velocity keyboard that Bob Moog loved. Pre-MIDI and fiddly to program from its membrane panel, but deep, with 16 voice configurations covering sync, filter FM and ring mod.
Replaced by Chroma Polaris
Specifications
General
- Manufacturer
- Rhodes
- Status
- Discontinued
- Released
- 1982
Sound engine
- Engine
- Analogue
- Voices
- 16
- Polyphony
- 16 voices, or 8 with channels paired
- Oscillators
- 16 VCOs (one per channel), variable sawtooth/pulse
- Filter
- CEM3350 VCF per channel, low- or high-pass; paired channels give 24dB, band-pass and notch modes
- Multi-timbral parts
- 2
- Sequencer
- None (Apple II interface and software available)
Keyboard
- Keys
- 64
- Aftertouch
- None
- Keybed
- 64 weighted, levered wooden keys with velocity; optional polyphonic pressure sensor (rarely fitted)
Format
- Format
- Keyboard
- Features
- Split and layer, 50 program memories, Cassette interface, 25-pin computer/Expander port, Membrane panel with tactile feedback, MIDI by third-party retrofit only
Connections
- CV / Gate
- No
Heard on
Artists and records that used it, as Rhodes tells it.
- Herbie Hancock
- Joe Zawinul