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.
- Demos & Media
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Audio Clip 1 - Some nice demos to give you a taste of the Poly 61, submitted by Antoine G.
Audio Clip 2 - Some nice TB demos to give you a taste of the Poly 61, submitted by Antoine G.
Audio Clip 3 - Some nice analog demos to give you a taste of the Poly 61, submitted by Antoine G.
Manual - Download the original owner's manual from SoundProgramming.net.
- Specifications
- Polyphony - 6 Voices
- Oscillators - DCO1:sawtooth, pulse, and square; DCO-2: sawtooth, square
- LFO - 1 LFO can modulate the DCOs or the Filter
- Filter - 1 lowpass filter w/ ADSR
- Memory - 64 patches
- VCA - ADSR
- Keyboard - 61 keys
- Arpeg/Seq - Arpeggiator with external sync
- Effects - Chorus
- Control - MIDI (on later Poly-61M models)
- Date Produced - 1982 - 1986
- Websites of Interest
- Resources & Credits
Images from Perfect Circuit Audio.
Errors or Corrections? Send them here.



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
Amazing & dirty sharps analogs sounds out from this unit.
The only one problem (except rubbercontacts :-) I have
it's to sync it with Roland rythmbox like 606, the problem it's not 24/48 difference. Problem it's a 1/2 step delay response from the keyboard.
Anybody have another solution like buying a KPR 77 & sync it out with a 606?! Thanks