Vintage Synth Explorer

Korg • Poly-800

Poly-800

During the time of the Roland Juno series in the mid-80's, Korg offered the Poly-800. Comparable to the Juno and in many ways better, the Poly-800 is an 8 voice polyphonic analog synthesizer with 64 memory patches and up to 50 editable parameters! There's also a stereo chorus effect, a sequencer, and a weird joystick used to adjust pitch, modulation and the filter. There is a double mode in which the oscillators double up making 4 fat voices of polyphony - fun for trance and techno.

Poly-800 mkII

Then in 1984 came the Poly-800 mkII (pictured above) which added digital delay effects. The rackmount EX-800 version (pictured below) has a built-in 256-step polyphonic sequencer. Poly-800s have been used by Orbital, Depeche Mode, Sneaker Pimps, Vangelis, Geoff Downes, Yesterdays and Jimi Tenor.

EX-800

Below is the more rare Reverse Keys version of the Poly-800. Its specifications and features are the same as the original. Only the key colors are reversed.

Poly 800 (Reverse Colored Keys)

VISITOR COMMENTS

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Posting Rules: Please keep your comments relevant! Do not post requests for help, do not use for sales, do not post unless you have something interesting to say about this instrument, or we may delete your post.

 

andrew

Posted 32 minutes ago

if anyone is looking to buy a poly-800 mkII, i have one in near mint condition. has all original presets....great sounds, and great cosmetic condition. email me: soulsurfer365@hotmail.com

Beau

Posted 3 days ago

I have some files that are SUPPOSED to contain the patch loading information...possibly for more than just the original sounds...I found them online, but haven't had time to copy them to a cassette or cd and try them...so I can't guarantee results...if anyone here wants them post back and I'll upload them on a file download site for you

elektrasoul

Posted 6 days ago

does anyone have a patch script file for this?

Chris

Posted 7 days ago

Carlo, When I first bought my poly800 the same thing happened. I took the batteries out of the back and all my sounds were deleted. Basically you have to re-program the entire keyboard. You might be able to find a back-up cassette on ebay that will give you the factory presets.

carlo

Posted 10 days ago

I'm hoping someone can halp me. I have a Poly 800, and within a few days of purchasing it, there's no sound that comes out of it anymore. on certain sounds, you'll hear noise, but that's about it.

I have no idea what might be wrong with it, any info would greatly be appreciated.

thanks

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