The PolySix was a milestone because, along with the Roland Juno 6 which appeared almost simultaneously, in 1981 the PolySix was the first opportunity ordinary mortals had to get their hands on a proper programmable polysynth. Up until then, you had to be loaded to afford a Prophet 5, Oberheim OB-Xa, or Roland Jupiter 8.

At first glance it looks like a scaled-down Mono/Poly, but really it's not! In fact it had a lot of great new features such as 32 memory patches, 6 voices of polyphony, cassette backup of memory, even programmable modulation effects and Chorus, Phase, Ensemble!

The Polysix has warm-sounding real analog oscillators, softer and brassy-er sounding that the Juno. Engage the built-in Chorus on a simple single-oscillator sawtooth patch and you were pretty darned close to that expensive Prophet sound. But the big ace in the Polysix's hand was the Ensemble effect. Instant Mellotron-like strings.

Like the Mono/Poly the voices can be played in Unison for a 6-oscillator lead sound that was so big, it was often too big! The advanced arpeggiator can memorize and sequence chords across the keyboard. The PolySix has now been recreated in software as part of the Korg Legacy software bundle! The PolySix has been used by Eat Static, Geoff Downes, Astral Projection, Jimi Tenor, Global Communications, Kitaro, Robert Rich, Keith Emerson and Tears for Fears.

Ralph

July 10, 2012 @ 6:37 am

Hey George, if you see this I just did a comprehensive rebuild of a Polysix. Have a significant amount of documentation etc that I would be happy to share to you, including some of the effective repairs etc.

freezedream

July 4, 2012 @ 1:27 am

Hi george, did you solve the problem of no sound? If so, what was the issue?

F-Machinery

June 29, 2012 @ 6:39 am

Korg has recenlty launch a rack extension version of the PolySix for Propellerhead's Reason 6.5, for around €40.

George

June 4, 2012 @ 12:10 am

Hi All,
Just purchased an ASIS condition, Korg Polysix. I'm a newbe but have electronics background and hope to repair with help. Problem is no audio output. I've checked the battery for leakage and none and will replace with a lithium. Anyone who can point me to a website with diagnostics info would be appreciated. Thanks.

alim

May 30, 2012 @ 6:15 am

@vince - Polsix anyday! even non midi! Juno 106 sounds like a toy next to a polysix 8-)

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