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Various Artists — Soul of the Machine: A Celebration of the Life & Legacy of ARP Founder Alan R Pearlman
(Projekt no#, 2025, 2CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-01-09

Soul of the Machine: A Celebration of the Life & Legacy of ARP Founder Alan R Pearlman Cover art

Alan Robert Pearlman was born on 7 June 1925, and in the 60s his engineering know-how was put to work by NASA on the Gemini and Apollo programs. He also developed the circuitry for electronic musical instruments, and in 1969 founded ARP, which went on to become one of the most prominent makers of synthesizers alongside Moog during the 70s. In the mid-70s, a young Steve Roach got an ARP 2600 modular synthesizer, setting him upon a career in electronic music that lasts to the present day. In 2024, Roach met Pearlman’s daughter Dina Pearlman-Ifil, who is the director of the Alan R. Pearlman Foundation, and they conceived of a collection of music by artists using ARP machines as a tribute on the 100th anniversary of Pearlman’s birth. During the company’s existence (1969-1981) they produced the 2600, the Odyssey, Omni, Quadra, and others, and many of the most famous synthesizer parts in jazz and rock were played on ARP instruments. Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Kraftwerk, Ultravox, Gary Numan, Klaus Schulze, and many more utilized the flexible and reliable instruments. Soul of the Machine was initially intended to be a 2CD set, but there were so many submissions from artists that the download version contains an entire third CD worth of tracks, a total of 36 in all. Roach himself contributes, as do such well-known names as Michael Bruckner, Martin Gore (Depeche Mode), John Foxx (Ultravox), Mark Isham, J.G. Thirlwell (Foetus), David Torn, and Craig Padilla, along with a host of others with backgrounds in academia, experimental music, and more. Among these tracks, you’ll hear drifting ambient tones, abstract soundscapes, bubbling sequences, joyous dance music, and much more, providing ample evidence that Pearlman’s creations were every bit as important as those of Robert Moog.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Craig Padilla, Steve Roach, David Torn, Various Artists, J.G. Thirlwell (Foetus), Michael Brückner, Bob Familiar

More info
http://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/soul-of-the-machine
http://alanrpearlmanfoundation.org/soul-of-the-machine-artists/

 

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