KORG Polysix

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"The Polysix was release in 1981 as an answer to Rolands cheap Juno range but in my opinion the KORG Polysix was a far nicer synthesizer, let me explain.

The Polysix featured 6 voltage controlled oscillators making the sound much warmer compared to the crude digital controlled oscillators of the Juno 60/106. You can really hear that on brass patches as this synth sounds so much more "vintage" then the similarly priced Juno 60, or even the later high end Jupiter 6. Each VCO also features a sub-oscillator which can be pitched down 1 and 2 octaves to add that extra low end bass.

The filter is a 24 db/octave based on the earlier SSM chipsets. These are considered more 'ballsier' then the later more popular CURTIS ships found in the Prophet 5's MKIIIs, Oberheim OB8's, Elka Synthex, Rhodes Chromas, Moog Memorymoogs (and just about everything else). Many synth collectors favour the earlier P5 MKII and OB-X's purely on the bases of the SSM chipset... and here it is in the Polysix. Really, this filter sounds lovely and adds so much to this simple single oscillator synth.

The Polysix also had what can only be described as the first on-board effects unit found in any polysynth at that time. The signal can be routed through a chorus unit, a phaser and the world famous Polysix ensemble effect. All these effects are analogue and sound absolutely fantastic... so much so that KORG made these effects in to a separate VST when they created their digital version of the Polysix. These effects make this unit sound huge... actually, put the mighty Elka Synthex next to a Polysix and there's not much in it in my opinion... especially when you consider the huge price difference... which really shows how great this little synth sounds!

On top of all the great sound making features there are some really fantastic extra functions.

Firstly the Polysix has an autotune function which really makes this synth very stable... compared to the manual digital tuning of the memorymoog this little synth starts up and is in tune in less then a minute (I know, the memorymoog has 18 VCOs to tune up instead of 6)... but at the same time it doesn't sound too perfect because of those analogue effects... just a perfect retro analogue sound.

You can play in normal Poly mode or make all 6 VCOs play in unison for a huge fat monosynth sound... best of all there is a chord hold function which is wicked... hold down any combination of notes and press the chord memory button and then the synth will play that combination of notes for every root note you play... great for playing jazzy 4ths.

The arpeggiator is stolen directly of the KORG Mono/Poly which gives you the standard up, down, up/down over 1 or 2 octaves or the full range of the keyboard... quite retro sounding.

Lastly, there's 32 patch spaces for your sounds and a cassette tape interface for exporting or re-installing your sounds... I would plug this directly into my Mac and record the white noise signal and then just use QT player to play it out again... works a treat so at least that feature isn't redundant even if tape cassette players are!"