MATRIXSYNTH: Vintage Chroma Polaris synthesizer - pristine SN 300830


Sunday, November 19, 2017

Vintage Chroma Polaris synthesizer - pristine SN 300830

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"This synth was manufactured in the early 1980s by Fender. I was the lead designer, and when the project wrapped up, I bought a couple from the company cheap. This one is serial 300830. Since I mostly played a different unit, this one stayed in its original shipping box for the intervening years, and it is in essentially perfect condition.

This is a six-voice synth with a 61-key velocity sensitive keyboard. It has selective pitch bend, which lets you bend some notes in a chord while keeping others fixed. It has a MIDI interface, and includes a built-in sequencer.

When I took this out of the box for the first time in a long time a week or so ago, the membrane switch panel connections has dried out and cracked, as happens with most Polarises, so I installed brand new panels. I also replaced the CPU with a faster one for a snappier feel, put in the latest revision of the firmware, upped the sequence memory to the maximum 64K, checked out and calibrated all the circuitry, and cleaned the keyswitches and keys. You're not likely to find a cleaner looking and performing Polaris on the market anywhere.

This will be packed in its original box with styrofoam supports, then wrapped in large cell bubble wrap, then packed in another double-wall box. I'm including the line cord, one sustain footswitch, and the original manuals. If you want the Tempo-Tap function for the sequencer, you'll need another footswitch, but any standard footswitch with a 1/4" phone plug will work. It doesn't come with a variable pedal, but any Chroma or ARP pedal you find on eBay will work. It doesn't have a cassette interface cable, but MIDI is a much better way to get data into and out of the Polaris. It comes with one set of factory sounds in it, and the two sets that Fender provided on cassette can also be found on the web, and sent in via MIDI."

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