I have for sale an Arp 2911 (serial number 00074) Explorer Monosynth in excellent working order. The synth was fully serviced by Ben Rossborough at Cyberwave EMS in June 2021 and sounds fabulous. It's around 50 years old now, so some of the labelling is a little hard to read, but that does not affect it's functionality. All knobs and sliders are working properly.

As this is pre-midi, and does not have a CV/Gate input, this is a performance synth - it is begging to be played. Sadly I don't really use it, and would like the synth now to be used properly. Think Tony Banks or Herbie Hancock.

The Explorer is a programmable preset analog synthesizer. It was very similar to ARP's Pro-Soloist and Pro-DGX preset synths, but offered more flexibility when it came to modifying or creating entirely new sounds. The preset sounds of the Explorer are your basic flute, trumpet, clarinet, strings, pulsar, lunar lander, etc. But unlike other preset synths of the time, in "Manual" mode you could synthesize all kinds of new sounds ranging from wind effects to electronic synth sounds.

The simple design and controls offer three main sections. The waveform section lets you mix and match its various waveforms at different pitch ranges to create unique sounds and timbres. There's a VCF/VCA section with basic ADSR and filter controls for shaping and contouring sounds. The filter is a decent low-pass 4-pole filter. And an effects section offers controls for repeat, vibrato, pitch bend, portamento, etc. All in all the Explorer is a unique and somewhat rare piece of equipment which signalled, at least for ARP, the transition of compact vintage synths from preset to programmable sounds. This model of synth has been used by Philip Glass and Herbie Hancock.