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.

marcinha

November 5, 2009 @ 4:20 am

Rory O'Ryan

check this: http://www.analogia.pl/s_nkorgPolysix.php

Max Vondel

October 16, 2009 @ 6:26 am

My all time favorite analog synth. Better than Juno 60, JX-3P. Emminently tweekable with pots rather than sliders. Good models are getting hard to find. I Love it....5/5*

ichor75

October 15, 2009 @ 6:27 pm

my polysix is a completely revitalised and modded version (analogia.pl), it has kenton midi and modular inputs, not to mention minty look and housing made of solid wood.

it's not too flexible, but still able to make great things that other synths can not. i was going to sell it after getting andromeda, but naaah, i won't.

il

September 28, 2009 @ 11:33 am

@Rory, you do know you'll get infinitely more answers and help by posting that in the FORUM of this site instead of as a comment?

Anyway - go there and write in detail what the problem is (I mean what fixes you did - traces, IC replacement etc) and where in the world you are - it helps a lot. If in the UK I may be able to look at your klm367 board - having repaird quite a few polysix. Sometimes it's easy other times it's quite extensive and needs IC replacements, trace repair etc.. again the forum is easier to discuss this. rgds

Rory O'Ryan

September 22, 2009 @ 1:28 pm

Hi. I have a battery-leak damaged polysix myself. I followed an online guide to try to repair the circuit board, but to no avail. Who repairs these things these days. Thanks.

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