Korg Polysix

Robert L's Analog Synths

Korg Polysix

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Robert L's Analog Synths

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Korg Polysix was made in early eighties (1981) and it soon became a popular analog standard. It was among the first polyphonic programmable synthesizers affordable to wider audience. After the big leaders in synthesizer technology, like Oberheim and Sequential Circuits, made their classic but extremely expensive models (OBX, Prophet 5), Roland and Korg answered with their top models Jupiter 8 and Trident (Trident MKII) respectively. These four keyboards, with the addition of Yamaha CS-80 and CS-70M are usually considered as the top classic polyphonic analog synthesizers.
And where is Polysix in the whole story. Basically, Korg succeeded in making the scaled down version of its top model Trident, using the same stable VCOs (Hz per Volt system for greater accuracy and stability), using the same famous SSM 2044 filters (that could be found also in early Prophets), and extremely versatile effect section. By reducing the number of voices from 8 on Trident to 6 on Polysix, by eliminating the second VCO on each voice and omitting a little bit old fashioned Trident's String and Brass sections, alltogether with some other minor changes, Korg succeeded in producing a synthesizer that was priced below $2000 USA and able to produce warm, truly analog sounds, very similar to those on Trident, and early

Prophets. Of course, there are no all the modulation possibilities of the legendary Prophet 5, nor is there the second VCO for magnificent Trident basses, but the basic sound timbre was there. No wonder that it became very popular and widely used. The fact that it was produced in large series made this synth kind of common and low priced item, especially on the European market dominated by Germany.
It is not exaggerated to say that the Polysix was probably one of the most underestimated analog synths in the recent history. Why? Compare it to Junos from Roland, which are its nearest competitors. It's true that Junos have portamento and a noise generator (also an HPF), but aside from this, if you are into classic "playable sounds", like warm, warm pads, analog filter sweeps, juicy funky resonating bites, warm and yet strong basses -- it's all there. And since it was produced with VCOs it does sound more analog and finer than Roland's DCO based synths. Not at all that we are simply stating that the Polysix is overall better than Junos -- and period (after all every serious collector should have both of them), but yes, its sound is warmer and basically closer to the analog legends mentioned above.

Apart from the VCOs, the before mentioned SSM 2044 four pole filter (with the slope of 24 dB per octave) is considered to be one of the best single chip filters ever made. Experts say that it is as close to the Moog filter as was ever produced in the short analog era, and is the single most important factor for making the sound of Polysix so excellent and unique. Besides that, on the front pannel you'll find the most of what you expect, arranged in a very simple layout that is easy to comprehend. In VCO section you can choose among the 16', 8' and 4' oscillator ranges, and the three waveform shapes of: 1) saw, square/pulse with 2) manually variable (PW), and 3) modulation variable (PWM) pulse width, the letter being driven by its dedicated low frequency oscillator. The 1 or 2 octave lower suboscillator can be added to the sound, which can be used to imitate the presence of a second VCO.
In the VCF section, there is the usual VCF Frequency and Resonance control that can be easily pushed to self oscillation. VCF can be controlled by envelope generator and also by the "keyboard", i.e. by the pitch of the note played. Filter, oscillators and VCA can be modulated by LFO with additional delay control (so that LFO effect comes not immediately after the key is pressed, but some time after).

At the end of synthesis the sound can be fattened by anexcellent palette of effects: Phaser, Chorus and Ensemble will add the necessary richness in various ways. The sounds can be played in polyphonic mode, or in unison mode (all six voices at once) which nicely emulates the monophonic synth. There is also a versatile Arrpeggiator with controlablle range and modes (Up, Down, Up & Down), and a Chord Memory feature that will make you playing house-style paralel chords in seconds!
There are 4 banks with 8 programs each, for the total of 32 sound memories, and a cassette tape interface, which can is nowadays more practical to be used to back up the memory as a sound file into your computer through the sound card input (for more interesting details also check this page).
And at last, just to remind you that this synth is definitely on the rise among serious musicians, collectors and analog fans in general. Check its price on the VintageSynth page for instance! Or ask the experts who keep their synths in excellent state and properly tuned, what price tag would they put on their Polysix if selling it anyway? So think of getting yours before it's too late. (Send your email.) (The picture is gratefully taken from Vintage Synth.)