Most filters can emphasize the frequencies just before those that are reduced in volume. Resonance is the degree of emphasis that occurs. It makes the filter much more audible and gives it character - it would otherwise sound like just altering the equalisation - and is the foundation of the acid sound....
2500 Modular Unveiled in 1970 under the name, Tonus, Inc., this was ARP's first synthesizer. Modular in design, it uses [color-coded] sliders for patching, doing away with other modulars' messy cords. However, the sliders introduced problems with cross-talk. [Where patch cords are necessary, and they are for some things, the 2600 uses mini-jacks, not 1/4-inch] It was available in custom configurations.
Along with Philip Dodds [ARP vice-president of engineering], the 2500 made a cameo appearance in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977,1980), where it helped man communicate with the visitors from outer space through music and mathematics.