Korg • Poly-61
The Korg Poly-61 was released in 1982 as the successor to the Polysix. It was somewhat of a step up from the Polysix, as it has 2 DCOs for better reliability. It also retained the arpeggiator of the Polysix. It has a very dirty sharp sound much like the Yamaha DX7. This is good if you are into the lo-fi sound of electronica. The Poly-61 can provide cool gritty basses or trippy analog sounds and fx.
Also added is the familiar Korg joystick, which can be used to modulate the VCO or the VCF. However, its filter only has 7 steps of resonance and is not as fat as the Polysix's filter. It also uses the same method of programming the Poly-800 and Yamaha DX-7 use, so it's not a very useful synth for real-time-tweaking junkies. The first Poly-61s didn't have MIDI, but the Poly-61M released in 1984 corrects this. Overall, the Poly-61 is still a decent synth, and it can be acquired for practically nothing! It has been used by FM Static and The Faint.
I have a Korg Poly61 and have just replaced the blue battery that helps keep the presets,now I have to track down (hopefully at minimal cost) a rescue disc or tape for re-loading the data for the presets,can anybody help,please.....?
Tomb789
It's mono, so it's a good idea to team it up with a chorus for lush pads. Poly 61 + Electroharmonix Stereo Polychorus has turned out to be a great combination for me. Thinking about it, the chorus was actually more expensive than the synth... It's a freaking steal!
The Poly obviously has its flaws and shortcomings. Aside from the lack of knobs, the limited resolution of some parameters (resonance and envelope stages in particular) can be a pain. Having a sub oscillator and glide would also make it even more useful. But overall, it's a great sounding analog polysynth at an unbelievable price. Bargain alert!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYpo_ AF5hSE