Poly-800

At a time when Roland was doing well with their Juno-series, KORG countered with a poly-synth of their own in 1983 with the Poly-800. The Poly-800 was comparable to the Juno-106, at the time, with respect to the fact that musicians now had access to affordable programmable polyphonic analog synthesizers (it listed for under $1,000) with memory storage, stable DCOs (digitally controlled oscillators) and a new state-of-the-art technology called MIDI (although there was no SysEx implementation yet).

The Poly-800 is an eight-voice instrument (two more than the Juno series) with 64 memory patches (half of what the Juno-106 offered) and up to 50 editable parameters! Like the Juno, the Poly-800 had one DCO per voice, although it did feature a Double mode in which the oscillators could be stacked up for a fuller sound and only four voices of polyphony. The analog filter is a 24dB/oct low-pass which is shared by all voices (the Juno has separate filter chips for each voice). There's also a stereo chorus effect, chord memory, a simple built-in sequencer, three digital envelope generators (for the oscillators, the noise generator and the filter), and a funky joystick used to adjust the pitch, modulation and the filter.

Unlike the Juno, which was still a “studio” instrument, the Poly-800 was built for the performer. With a light-weight plastic case (only 10 lb.), a couple low-profile sliders/knobs and only 49 keys, the Poly-800 can run on batteries and has guitar strap pegs so it can be worn like a keytar. A less common reversed color keys model was released for a unique look as well.

EX-800

In 1984, a keyboardless tabletop/rackmount version was released, called The EX-800. In both the Poly and EX models, all sound editing is accomplished by scrolling to a given parameter, described by little more than a two-digit number, and pushing the up or down buttons to adjust it. Fortunately every parameter’s two-digit numeric code and data-range is printed on the faceplate. Obviously, the Juno series has the edge over the Poly-800 when it comes to hands-on editing, however, some sort of external MIDI controller is usually sufficient to get more hands-on and real-time control.

Poly-800 mkII

The Poly-800 model was succeeded by the the Poly-800 mkII (pictured above) in 1985. The mkII added digital delay effects, MIDI SysEx functionality and a darker paint job. Note that the Siel DK70 is very similar to the Poly-800. Poly-800s have been used by Orbital, Depeche Mode, Sneaker Pimps, Vangelis, Geoff Downes, Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran), Yesterdays and Jimi Tenor.

Beeb

January 31, 2013 @ 12:07 am

I bought one of these when they first came out back in the day. Actually it was my very first synth .Spent many hours lost in the headphones with this baby! Loved it.

jj

January 30, 2013 @ 1:18 pm

@illogicgate: The oscillators are not analog. The saw wave is obtained by summing together square waves at four different footages, which results in a stepped waveform (16 steps). Now of course that doesn't mean that it sounds bad or anything!

illogicgate

January 29, 2013 @ 4:19 pm

@tim, Different harmonics of square waves? These are digitally controlled analog oscillators with Sawtooth, Square, etc. waveforms.

Anyway, I may be getting one soon, and I think I'm gonna like it :D

Signaljoe

January 25, 2013 @ 7:05 pm

I have an MkII and did the Moog Slayer mod myself. Turned it into a whole new synth for me. Great for dirty synth basses and big pads in the DeadMau5 style. You can even coax some 303 style synth lines out of it using the higher resonance levels available on the modified filter. I highly recommend it this synth, and i picked up the parts for the moog slayer mod from Frys electronics for roughly $12 bucks!

tim lloydsmith

January 25, 2013 @ 3:08 pm

How can VSE score this 4 stars & the MicroPreset only one star?

My but it's an awkward looking thing innit. Slider knobs are just grooved bits of dingy plastic. Plasticky but tough, bit like how it sounds. Editing is bearable. Good but not great sounds can be coaxed out of it. Has its own tone but nothing amazing. Sure it can be modded - but at a cost. I wouldn't bother - just get a better synth in the first place! Having said that I kind of like it & it plays well with other studio toys. Don't bust a gut to get one but if it's cheap like mine was..maybe worth a punt.

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