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.

Johannes

June 8, 2011 @ 5:41 pm

Not the smoothest sounding synth that's for sure!
Also prone to battery leakage "varta" and key contact issues. It took me two goes at finally getting all the keys to strike properly... Still the same,
despite it being really cheaply made I've been able to dial up some solid polysynth sounds on it. Its nice too that it can sound like a Prophet + a Juno + does a fair job at nailing that early 80s Oberheim brass. Not nearly in the same class but for $200 what do you expect? Be careful while writing patchs that yours doesn't double trigger, same goes for my DW-8000 and Poly 800. Poor design!

plasticanimal

April 12, 2011 @ 11:22 am

Ok people, just because someone re-caped and pimped out a 61M with wood sides and then some idiot bought it for $500 doesn't mean they're all worth $500. I've had this synth for years and it's not [i]that[/i] good. It does sound fat and gritty and analog and has a nice variety of sounds, but it is very limited compared to other synths you can get for the same price. If it's more than $300 just wait for another.

danik

March 13, 2011 @ 8:30 pm

For its price, if found in good condition it is a GREAT synth. The polyphony really cuts it for those 80s pads and lead sounds. DCO2 is somewhat crappy if set to triangle, but can be useful at times, especially with the detune parameter, who needs chorus? This guy is FAT! The filter is pretty dirty in a good way, and the envelope is classic ssm2056-sounding ;) Programming is not that hard, but since I already removed the battery, I'd prefer to get rid of the preset system and go with the analog-controls-mod, seems easy enough. Could use an oscillator level control, though... oh well.

JoeXtinct

February 5, 2011 @ 4:30 pm

Love my Poly61, so much that I pimped it out with a custom UV paint job and screenprint. I take it only us Poly 61 owners know how bad [beep] this machine really is. Programming is actually very stright forward and not complicated at all, plus the joystick rocks. You can take your Poly 61 to the next level with parameter knob and switch mods, like that one guy has it on youtube. Interestingly, this beut is trading at rock bottom prices (even less then the Poly800) at times on Ebay.

Mykringo

January 31, 2011 @ 4:28 am

Just picked up a poly 61 at auction in Sydney for $15 Australian. Most keys weren't working but after pulling the keyboard apart and cleaning up the rubber pads most keys are now working. I see some comments about a kit for rejuvinating the rubber pads, how effective is this and any ideas where to pick a kit up in Australia?

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