1980s Korg Poly-800 MKII 8-Voice Analog Synthesizer

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Additional SYNTH CITY Listings

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Crazy Vincent SELLS 100 synths & keeps 26! EP1 = intro, synth list, and new studio space.

video upload by Vincent Presley

"After 2 years of crazy synth buying, Vincent has the new Secret Records studio down to a mere 26 synthesizers that he claims are better than the rest.....
Before you watch, maybe you can make your own list of what you would have kept or make some guesses about what Crazy Vincent kept. Remember..... he's not like other people.

Support the label, the studio, and us at secretrecords.bandcamp.com

Chapters:
00:00 Opening Music
00:14 Introduction
01:32 Overview
03:04 Stack One
04:49 Stack Two
05:48 Stack Three
07:23 Stack Four
08:43 Stack Five
09:23 Stack Six
09:55 Stack Seven
11:12 Stack Eight
13:19 Outro
14:50 Some Music

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Korg Poly800 MkII w/ CIRCUITBENDERS Mod - Demo

video upload by Ticco Ross

"Today I pulled my old Poly 800 out of the closet and set it to sing. It has the circuitbenders.co.uk modification https://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/synt..."

Synths and Apps. EP3: SoundSaw minimal.

video upload by Igor Vasiliev

"Noisy minimal provides by SoundSaw app, as main effect on the mix of modded Korg Poly-800 mkII (thru Roland Space Echo RE-201) and Alesis Micron. SoundSaw also controlled by Korg nanoKontrol2 midi controller. This app adds excellent noise and lofi sound when processing drum sequences. Notice to how interesting changes the sound of Korg when turn on Roland RE-201 at the beginning.

More details: https://motion-soundscape.blogspot.co..."

Korg Poly-800 MKII w/ Original Box SN 002268

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Korg Poly-800 MKII 8-Voice Poly Synth

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"Korg Poly-800 II, awesome sounding 8-voice analog (DCO) poly synth. Easy to use and is a ton of fun, features chord memory and a super lush stereo chorus (Juno killer). Includes non-original power supply and PDF printed manual.

Condition: Volume pot is a tad dirty and bender joystick is missing the tiny control tip, functions well otherwise."

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Keytar Madness

Published on Aug 27, 2019 Learson Peak

Korg Poly-800 mkII

SynthScaper PolyTron800 presets

Published on Jul 29, 2019 Igor Vasiliev

"New presets pack for SynthScaper / SynthScaper LE apps based on samples recorded from modded Korg Poly-800 mkII. Download it here: https://motion-soundscape.blogspot.co..."

Korg POLY-800 MKII Vintage Analog Synthesizer w/ Original Case SN 006351

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Korg MEX-8000 Memory Expander SN 002051

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"compatible with the DW 6000, DW 8000, EX 8000, Poly 800 mkII, EX 800, and the DVP 1.

Basically, it has 4 banks of storage, with each bank capable of holding 64 additional patches for any of these synths, and can be used with several at once (for example bank A can store sounds for the Poly 800, and Bank B could hold patches for the EX 8000, etc.)."

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Korg Poly 800 "Reverse Keys" HD Sound - Rare - Analog Programmable Synth / Keytar - Fast demo

Published on Jun 16, 2015 Nicolas Labatut

Video description is from Wikipedia:

"The Korg Poly-800 is a synthesizer released by Korg in 1983. Its initial list price of $795 made it the first fully programmable synthesizer that sold for less than $1000. It featured a 49 key non-velocity sensitive keyboard, two buttons for data entry, and a joystick controller, which could modulate the DCO pitch or the VCF. Though the Poly-800 had MIDI, it did not feature MIDI sysex functionality, and patches had to be backed up to cassette tape. It had 8-voice polyphony (paraphony) with one DCO per voice. It could be switched into double mode which stacks two DCOs for a fuller sound, but reduces the polyphony to 4 voices. It featured one analog resonant low-pass VCF with 24dB/oct which was shared for all voices. Like a monophonic synthesizer, the filter was switchable between single or multiple modes. In single mode, the first key pressed triggers the filter envelope, and unless all keys are released, the filter does not re-trigger. In multi mode, each key pressed in turn triggers the filter envelope, even if other keys are still pressed down.

Further it had three digital envelope generators, a noise generator, an LFO, and a chorus effect. It also sported a simple built in sequencer. The Poly-800 could be run off batteries and had guitar strap pegs, allowing a performer to wear it like a guitar. It was also available with reversed-colored keys, which gave an appearance similar to a Vox Continental organ.

About a year after the Poly-800 was introduced, a keyboardless, rackmount/tabletop version, called the EX-800, was released, adding limited MIDI sysex capability. After production of the original keyboard ended in 1985, the enhanced Poly-800 MkII was released. It featured a digital delay instead of a chorus effect, and included limited MIDI sysex functionality. It was produced until 1987.

Siel produced an almost identical synthesizer, the DK-70 around the same time period.

Modifications[

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KORG KEIO ELECTRONIC LABORATORY CORP. Electronic Music Instruments General Catalog

Korg Catalogus flickr scans by Nobo Sprits.

Quite the line-up.  It's interesting how Korg included Korg in the product name for some of their gear but not others.

The list:

Polyphonic Keyboard

Korg Poly-800
Korg Poly-61
Korg Polysix
Korg Trident MKII
PS-3200, PS-3040, PS-3060
Korg Mono/Poly
MS-20
MS-10
Korg Sigma
M-500SP
X-911
MS-01 Foot Controller
MS-02 Interface
MS-03 Signal Processor
MS-04 Modulation Pedal

Piano/Organ

Personal Keyboard SAS-20 Super Accompaniment System
EPS-1 Electronic Piano & Strings
Symphonic Piano 80s & 80 Electronic Piano
BPX-3 Bass Unit
PK-12 Pedal Keyboard
BX-3 Electronic Organ
CX-3 Portable Organ

Rhythm/Soundeffect

KPR-77 Korg Programmable Rhythm
PSS-50 Programmable Super Section
SDD-3000 Programmable Digital Delay
KR-55B Korg Rhythm
KR-33 Korg Rhythm
KMX-8 8ch Mixer
MM-25 Multi Monitor
PME-40x Professional Modular Effects
KOD-101 Over Drive
KDI-101 Distortion
KCO-101 Compressor
KFL-101 Flanger
KCH-101 Chorus
KPH-401 Phaser
KNG-101 Noise Gate
KAD-301 Analog Delay
KGE-201 Graphic EG
KES-101 EXT Selector
KFB-001 Filler Box

Tuner

AT-12 Auto Chromatic Tuner
GT-60x Guitar Tuner
KM-50 Korg Metronome
GT-6 Guitar Tuner

Korg Poly 800 mkII with circuitbenders.co.uk Polybeast mods - part2

Published on Feb 18, 2014 Published on Feb 18, 2014

"Quick demo of editing sounds on a modified Korg Poly 800 mkII. Mods include:

Rotary knob to replace UP/DOWN increment buttons.
Filter cutoff knob
Filter resonance knob
12dB/24dB filter switch
VCF CV input
External audio input
External audio level knob
External audio input signal path switch
VCF FM amount knob
VCF FM source knob
Delay time knob
Delay feedback knob

More details can be found at:
http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/synthmod/POLYEX.html
http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/synthmod/POLYII.html"

Also added to Part 1 here.

Korg Poly 800 mkII with circuitbenders.co.uk Polybeast mods

Published on Feb 3, 2014 circuitbenders.co.uk·9 videos

"Quick demo of editing sounds on a modified Korg Poly 800 mkII. Mods include:

Rotary knob to replace UP/DOWN increment buttons.
Filter cutoff knob
Filter resonance knob
12dB/24dB filter switch
VCF CV input
External audio input
External audio level knob
External audio input signal path switch
VCF FM amount knob
VCF FM source knob
Delay time knob
Delay feedback knob

More details can be found at:
http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/synthmod/POLYEX.html
http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/synthmod/POLYII.html"

Modified Korg Poly-800 MKII with ableton push

Published on Jan 3, 2014 tblv9300·35 videos

"Poly-800 MKII with filter mod and 12/24 filter switch added. No external audio effects, just the internal mod delay of the poly-800"

KORG POLY 800 with HAWK 800 + ATOMAHAWK MODIFICATION

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"I have owned POLY 800s for 15 years and love them. I installed the Hawk 800 and Atomahawk (Moog Slayer) mods to one of my fully functional POLY 800s."

The listing also includes an 800 mkII for parts/repair.

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KORG POLY-800 mkII ANALOG SYNTHESIZER

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Click these for the super size shots.

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Korg Poly 800 MkII with Original Box

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KORG Poly-800 Synthesizer with Flight Case

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"Korg Poly-800 8-Voice Programmable Synthesizer with Original padded Korg Flight Case

also included: Korg factory presert .WAV patches on CD (no need to use cassette tape player),

1/8" mini-jack mono patch cord, 9 volt AC wall adapter.

This is an early Poly-800 (serial number 0004922). That means it's a better Korg Poly-800. Here's why:

The first wave of Korg Poly-800s were originally manufactured without a battery soldered to the circuit board. This early serial number Poly-800 is one of the models without the leaky internal batteries. That means the circuit boards on this synthesizer are perfect and unharmed.

The later Poly-800s and Poly-800 MkII models had a battery soldered to the board to help hold the software sound patches in memory, and after 26 years, most have leaked corrosive battery acid on the boards. But not this one! No circuit board battery, so no circuit board damage. Look at the photos. The boards are perfect."

Inside a KORG Poly-800

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GForce Software Vintage Synth Trump Cards

I actually posted about these way back in 2005. Mark spotted them on the GForce site and sent the link in. I thought I'd put a new post up and capture the list of synths and description for the archives. BTW, also check out this post for some Roland info cards.

"Vintage Synth Trumps

This is Vintage Synth Trumps, a deadly serious card game for vintage synth enthusiasts featuring 52 classic instruments. Test your knowledge and settle those arguments once and for all with the synth-spotter's equivalent of arm-wrestling.

Can you use your skill and judgment to win the whole pack from your opponents and become the undisputed champion of vintage synth wisdom?

Playing is easy. Simply divide the cards between the number of players before taking it in turns to read aloud a statistic from your card.

For example, "Korg PS3300 - Collectability = 5 out of 5". Everyone then compares the card on the top of their hand and the highest scoring instrument in that category wins that round. The person who gains all the cards wins.

So next time your kids pester you for a card game, extract revenge with Vintage Synth Trumps (not available from any good department stores near you).

The perfect kitsch gift for trade shows, long flights, forum banter, pub quizzes, train journeys and all round anorak type showing-off.

Buy your pack of Vintage Synth Trumps for only £7.95 (price includes first class postage, other methods available)

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