FARFISA POLYCHROME (1979)

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"Chapters
..................
00:00 Musical Interlude 1
01:29 description
02:08 Vocal Chorus (Chor) section
04:00 Strings section
04:45 Musical Interlude 2
05:11 Ensemble (polyphonic Synth / Brass) section
05:51 Modulation (chorus)
06:12 Phaser
07:40 Musical Interlude 3
08:40 General Controls (double octave, white noise and after touch)
10:48 Percussive (Piano) section
12:15 Muscial Interlude 4

FARFISA POLYCHROME - 1979
A gigantic instrument with an equally huge sound - was this the ultimate string machine of the era? With 4 independent sections of Divide Down-based instruments with lots of modulation capabilities - our bets are in. The Polychrome uses octave-divider technology to achieve full polyphony meaning you can effectively play a 61 note chord.

It's a big-boned piece of gear, wide and surprisingly deep - it shares the same measurements as the ELKA SYNTHEX but adds a couple of kilos of weight - this to comfortably fit all the circuit boards inside.

We have an additional unit available for purchase - in excellent condition with the original carrying bag included - if you're interested please don't hesitate to contact us for more info, price and photos.

Most of the Farfisa Polychrome specifications are in the video as text already but a quick spec sheet would look like this :

There are four main instrument groups with individual preset sounds that are selectable one at a time

1. Percussive - 6 presets in. all (Piano, Harpsichord, Clavichord and the latest in modern piano emulation - Honky Tonk). This section is equipped with a dedicated filter with Brilliance, Decay and Emphasis parameters, effectively it doubles as a polyphonic synthesizer section.

2. Strings - 1 single preset with 3 octaves selectable simultaneously to form a massively huge string section.

3. Ensemble - 3 Brass preset sounds with an expanded filter section of brilliance and emphasis filter as well as attack and decay controls. There's an error in the video text here : all presets are "free" - meaning you can adjust the parameters of all sounds. You can get a wide variety of sounds here, from synth leads to basses, brassy chords, you name it.

4. Vocal Chorus - Now this is special : 3 haunting choir preset sounds with an additional free mode, with access to Resonance and Cutoff parameters."