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.

Donut

July 13, 2010 @ 1:47 pm

I love how people compare these lesser-known synths to their legendary counterparts/predecessors/namesakes as if they've played any of them ("... well, i touched a ARP2600 in Guitar Center once, and it were so fat and kicks this synths butt d00dz!!!")

This is not a Polysix, and not a Poly 800... It is a Poly-61. Programming is a little on the limited side, but - as Machineman has said - the sound quality is awesome, and the arpeggiator makes it shine extra nice. It's more hollow and cutting tones are hard to match, and it's worth the dirt-cheap prices I've seen these go for...

Machineman

May 18, 2010 @ 5:29 pm

I really love this synth! The programming and the resolution of the parameters is limited, sure. But the sound quality is very, very good. Much more hi-fi, crisp, full and fat sounding than the JX-3P, which i also own. The 3P has vastly superior programming options (with the PG-200). But i like the sound from the Poly-61 a lot (yes, a lot) more. The arpeggiator is great - instant Tangerine Dream.

P6

April 25, 2010 @ 5:54 am

Poly 800 is garbage.

Poly 61 is not bad, sometimes useful, actually quite nice but I fully believe the JX-3P has it beat as an equivelant DCO synth.

Polysix beats them all however, a true beauty. I'm just saying to anyone thinking of buying this as a 'cheap' polysix substitute (proxysix? ;) ) that it's not really comparable. Compare p61 to JX-3P not to Polysix. Of course the Dual DCO nature of P6/JX can allow you to do stuff the Polysix can't, that's why I love JX-3P too. Polysix however is in a different class and can make awesome sounds all day long.

Siebe Pol

February 21, 2010 @ 10:40 am

It's also possible to add midi to the non-midi version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON-f43zaspw

kb

February 16, 2010 @ 6:57 pm

The Poly-61 becomes a _lot_ more fun if you modify it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYpo_AF5hSE

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