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.

Pepe

December 14, 2009 @ 5:51 am

to Maikel Yeremy:

No poly chords in the chord Memory function? This can easily be generated! Just activate the Hold-Function, take for example a three-note chord, play it twice and then select Chord Memory. Voilà! Every chord should sound doubled now!

I think that the chord memory function is just great. A detuning function for the unison mode would be great (I don't use the unison mode, because I really don't like this stacked sound). Mainly I use the chord memory function for fat octave or 5th sounds and more complex 7th chord clusters.

I really like this machine! Great for solos!

Maikel Yeremy

December 9, 2009 @ 12:52 am

Solid, cheap polysynth. Don't get it for over $300 - you'll be sorely ripped.

Pros: easy quick editing, pitch-stable, has pulse width modulation, has an additional vibrato LFO aside from the assignable LFO, has a do-able arpeggiator.

Cons: no portamento, stepped settings of no more than 8 ~ 16 settings per parameter, DCO's are a little sterile and the waveshapes get crunchy above 2khz, reliability is in question because of age. The 'CHORD MEMORY' mode is just not that great...would've been better if it was a poly chord memory and reduce the polyphony as more voices are used, or at least include a unison detune setting.

Suggestion to replace this synth: Oberheim Matrix 6.

JV

November 21, 2009 @ 9:42 am

Hi people
Somebody knows how Brian Auger can produce a great organ sound with this keyboard in the Burdon-Auger Band during 90s

mm

November 20, 2009 @ 8:24 pm

as for saving the sounds, try pressing write, then typing the program number to save to. perhaps you have figured this out already.

Pepe

November 16, 2009 @ 2:48 am

The weak point of the Poly-61 are all the connectors that may not work properly after 25 years.

Here is a site of a friend of mine that has tons of information about this synth and its insides:

www.mik-music.org

<121110987654>

 

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