The Ekdahl Polygamist - a Synthesizer for the Whole Family

Poster via the knas blog.

Bottom pic and details via the KNAS site.

"Owning a couple of analog synths i was getting a little bored with all of them just sounding nice. Owning a bunch of circuit bent gear i was tired of them only sounding circuit bent and not reliably repeatable or controllable. Out of this combined frustration, the Ekdahl Polygamist was born. THIS is not your typical synthesizer.

The Ekdahl Polygamist is mainly designed with experimental / drone / noise / improv in mind but can really take you wherever you wana go. The basic architecture is classic VCO/VCF/VCA design but all of the building blocks have been designed to allow for much more interesting / chaotic sounds then you get from your bread-and-butter synth.

Highlights includes VCO1 which features a "Tilt" output which is a triangle wave that can be *tilted* from sawtooth, to triangle, to ramp. VCO2, the "Pitch multiplying oscillator" consists of a fundamental and three "sub harmonics" that mimics additative/FM synthesis for very complex waveform and chaos generation. The ADSR is loopable and can be used as an oscillator, it can also be paused in its transition. The three LFOs all go to audio range and two of them go down to about 4 minutes for one waveform period. It also features a duophonic, pressure sensitive ribbon controller which sends MIDI data. It has two independent MIDI/USB-to-CV converters which can be ganged in duophonic mode. And there is of course, much, much more.


For detailed specifications go here.

The list price for the Ekdahl Polygamist is $1450, due to the fact that this is higher then anticipated, and that Knas has no interest what so ever in just pandering to people with unlimited funds, I will introduce a tiered pricing system for musicians who have a limited income. If this applies to you, please stay tuned as this will be introduced some time after the initial sales.

PLEASE NOTE, as of this moment the Ekdahl Polygamist is open for PRE-sale. Basically this means that i haven't yet finished every detail of the synthesizer and that it will take a couple of months until delivery. As of this moment, the hardware seems to all be working properly but needs more testing and there are still a few bugs in the software that pertains to the USB/MIDI."

POLYGAMIST LOVE 10

Published on Apr 25, 2015 Smokey Quartz
Re-Published on Apr 26, 2015

"In this video I have a solo noise jam on the Ekdahl Knas Polygamist synthesizer while intermittently stopping to playing with my cat. After the recording, the Polygamist told me that it does not prefer solo jams. It is all about 'the more the merrier' for the Polygamist, or 'Poliy-G' as I sometimes call it. Sorry Polygamist, maybe I can get more hands on you next time."

Knas Ekdahl Polygamist Discontinued

via Knas

"I have decided to discontinue the Ekdahl Polygamist until further notice. It breaks my fucking heart, but i see no alternative. Long story short, the Polygamist in its current form is much too complicated to build, takes too long, have too many things that can go wrong with it, is nowhere near generating enough cash - and all this, makes it infuriatingly frustrating to build. Nevertheless, there might be another Ekdahl Polygamist in the future if i can change production methods. Sorry to disappoint, but nobody's as disappointed as me :("


Click here for previous posts of the Polygamist including video. Another synth lost to complexity. The Jomox Sunsyn suffered a similar fate if I recall correctly.

Plant Music #1 (Knas + MIDI Sprout)

Published on Jan 24, 2017 Smokey Quartz

"In this video I try out the MIDI Sprout for the first time, connecting a Flamingo Flower (Anthurium andraeanum) to the Knas Ekdahl Polygamist synthesizer. The MIDI Sprout is a “Biodata Sonification Device” that allows plants to play synthesizers! Everyone and everything should be allowed to play synthesizers! Listen to how the sounds change as I touch the plant leaves and flowers."

CLICK FOR MORE »

The EKDAHL POLYGAMIST by KNAS RARE SYNTHESIZER

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"We believe there are only around 53 of these units ever built... The duo phonic ribbon is a blast. The ADSR times are ridiculous."

Rare Ekdahl Polygamist up for sale/auction. Discontinued back in May of 2014, you don't see these come up too often. A search on Polygamist here on MATRIXSYNTH will bring up previous posts including recent video demos.

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POLYGAMIST LOVE 3

Published on Feb 9, 2015 Smokey Quartz

"I get a little help from the wife for Polygamist Love 3 and things get a bit crazy! The Ekdahl Polygamist is fun for the entire family!"

Sister wives / brother husbands POLYGAMIST BATTLE

Published on Dec 19, 2012 by elektrodwarf

"boo boo i should have tuned the oscillators before i did this, oh well. all MIDI-live fun fest, polygamists for all!! oh and those tr-808 samples indicate that someone should probably gimme a real 808"

Also see:
The Ekdahl Polygamist - a Synthesizer for the Whole Family
Introducing The Ekdahl Polygamist - Debut at The Control Voltage Faire

POLYGAMIST LOVE 15

Published on Oct 23, 2016 Smokey Quartz

"Some late night fun with the Knas Ekdahl Polygamist and blacklight fun. The ADSR of the Polygamist is being triggered by the Roland TR-77, which is heard but not seen."

Smokey Quartz - Polygamist Quad #3

Published on Aug 18, 2017 Smokey Quartz

"Oh of course the Polygamist has friends! It's no fun to always play with yourself! In this Poly Quad video the Knas Ekdahl Polygamist invites some friends from California (Metasonix S-1000 and D-1000) and an old friend from Japan (Roland SH-101) to participate in an improvised noisey jam!"

Smokey Quartz - Polygamist Quad #1

Smokey Quartz
Published on Aug 4, 2017

"A full-on Polygamist Quad is an explosion of noise, love, flow, energy, blockages to be built and released, and hot sticky passion. In this video I improvise with myself across the boundaries of time, using a Ekdahl Polygamist for some foursome noisey synthy fun. Also, I’m trying out Landscape FM’s AllFlesh patching/pressure pad things for the first time."

KNAS Ekdahl Polygamist

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

“'The Ekdahl Polygamist is mainly designed with experimental / drone / noise / improv in mind but can really take you wherever you wanna go. The basic architecture is classic VCO/VCF/VCA design but all of the building blocks have been designed to allow for much more interesting / chaotic sounds then you get from your bread-and-butter synth'

Only 53 made - discontinued -this is #17!
in great shape, there is a chip on the top panel around a screw (pictured) Everything else is great and is functional! it took me awhile to find one of these and frankly I’m sad to see it go.
Somewhere between a Serge, Buchla, and EMS sound-wise.. it’s insane! Lots of fun to patch and play."

You can find demos of the Ekdahl Polygamist in previous posts here.

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POLYGAMIST LOVE 8

Published on Apr 19, 2015 Smokey Quartz

"For this Polygamist love my parents, who are retired and haven't played a synth before, jam out on the Knas Ekdahl Polygamist with me. Truly a fun synth for the whole family! Does the family that makes noise together, stick together? Or do they just annoy each other? ;)

Enjoy the bare feet and afghans… smell the incense through your tinny speakers."

POLYGAMIST LOVE 13

Published on Jul 13, 2015 Smokey Quartz

"In this Polygamist Love video, the Ekdahl Knas Polygamist gets some random-ish sequences whispered into it's ears and we go swimming. Morning swimming? Night swimming? Synthesizers? We love it all! Background percussions from the Metasonix D-1000 and a Noise Engineering B.I. module."

POLYGAMIST LOVE 9

Published on Apr 22, 2015 Smokey Quartz

"In this video we light a bunch of incense and play with the Ekdahl Polygamist. Things get smokey. It starts pretty droney before getting wild, then mellow, then crazy, then annoying… so many emotions from the Polygamist! It's been talking to us! Am I just paranoid?"

POLYGAMIST LOVE 12

Published on Jul 2, 2015 Smokey Quartz

"In this video, the Ekdahl Polygamist gets some more love while being sat on by Oaxacan carvings. We also take a stroll through the Self Realization Meditation Gardens in Encinitas. Self-realization through synthesis? Maybe.

This deviates from the other Polygamist Love videos in that it has beats, provided by the Metasonix D-1000 and a Noise Engineering Basimilus Iteritas module."

Knas The Ekdahl "Polygamist"

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

Video in the listing previously posted here.

"Rare and discontinued - 1 of 53 made:

THIS is not your typical synthesizer.

The Ekdahl Polygamist is mainly designed with experimental / drone / noise / improv in mind but can really take you wherever you wana go. The basic architecture is classic VCO/VCF/VCA design but all of the building blocks have been designed to allow for much more interesting / chaotic sounds then you get from your bread-and-butter synth.

Highlights includes VCO1 which features a "Tilt" output which is a triangle wave that can be *tilted* from sawtooth, to triangle, to ramp. VCO2, the "Pitch multiplying oscillator" consists of a fundamental and three "sub harmonics" that mimics additative/FM synthesis for very complex waveform and chaos generation. The ADSR is loopable and can be used as an oscillator, it can also be paused in its transition. The three LFOs all go to audio range and two of them go down to about 4 minutes for one waveform period. It also features a duophonic, pressure sensitive ribbon controller which sends MIDI data. It has two independent MIDI/USB-to-CV converters which can be ganged in duophonic mode. And there is of course, much, much more."

CLICK FOR MORE »

POLYGAMIST LOVE 5

Published on Feb 12, 2015 Smokey Quartz

"Come take a bath with us and the Ekdahl Polygamist! What does the sun card have to do with it? WE DON'T KNOW! More ridiculous synth noise and drones from Smokey Quartz."

POLYGAMIST LOVE 16

Published on Oct 25, 2016 Smokey Quartz

"It was cloudy day in Southern California so we headed indoors and made noise with the Knas Ekdahl Polygamist synthesizer!"

POLYGAMIST LOVE 14

Published on Oct 19, 2016 Smokey Quartz

"The Knas Ekdahl Polygamist and some clouds."

POLYGAMIST LOVE 6

Published on Feb 12, 2015 Smokey Quartz

"In this video three people and one cat attempt to play the Ekdahl Polygamist. One of them has never played a synthesizer before… and it's not the cat!"