(click to enlarge)

The Six-Trak is Sequential's beginner synth. It has typical Sequential sounds in an analog six oscillator, six voice synth. It is not fun to program, there is only one knob and you need to assign the parameter you wish to adjust to this knob. The assignment settings for the various parameters are listed in the center of the front panel. It does however feature MIDI with controllers for its parameters to make editing easier using a computer program such as Unisyn or other external MIDI controller.

The Six-Trak features two operational modes: Polyphonic Mode and Unison Mode. In Unison mode, with all six oscillators, this baby gets fat, rich, creamy and wild making it an excellent stand-in for Moog-like sounds. Also, the Six-Trak is capable of interesting and complex sound effects, mostly thanks to useful cross modulation and the six oscillators. It also includes a simple 6-channel on-board sequencer (of little usefulness these days). Its biggest limitations were: shortest attack too slow for really percussive sounds, smallest vco frequency adjustment too big for Zawinul-style subtle frequency envelopes & LFO, and the lack of built-in chorus, which would have helped to thicken the rather thin sounds in Polyphonic mode. The SixTrak can be fun and cool but is overshadowed by its cousin - the Multi-Trak. It is used by Überzone and Cirrus.

30 VISITOR COMMENTS

chachilongbow

January 22, 2012 @ 9:58 pm

the sequencer might be basic, but fortunately the MIDI spec is great, especially for 1983 - love being able to control every parameter by MIDI CC, and when put in OMNI mode (track record + select 4), you can program and sequence the six voices separately, each on its own MIDI channel (channel 3 for voice 1, channel 4 for voice 2, etc). on top of that, the sound is very unique and inviting to my ears.. fat oscillators, squelchy filter, punchy VCA, poly portamento, filter cross mod, PWM.. i'll never sell this thing!

prosper donge

January 22, 2012 @ 4:08 pm

my first synth, bought in `87. for years i only used this synth with an echolette. all rubber buttons went bad, so i used a screwdriver to touch down the buttons for changing sounds or for programming. and it survived and still sings. now 20 years later i use a "IBK 10 control" to control it. a BCR2000 will surely do this job too.
i dont like it, when people start to "glorify" a synth more than it deserves. the sixtrak is good, but it will not save your creativity. in 2012 the onbord sequencer is totally outdated and in general it will not sound like something you never heard bevor.

Michael

January 13, 2012 @ 7:29 am

I've played this thing for 20+ years and love it.

cmh

September 13, 2011 @ 8:25 pm

I just had to comment on this little synth. I just got one this last weekend on a lark. It truly is the little synth that could. I don't know what I was expecting. Simon Mills from Bent said that he loved the silly little daft sounds and loved it's charm. He sold his Prophet 10. Anyway it has the sweetest loveliest sounds. I don't know how else to describe it. I played the prophet 600 today and it has a wider palate but far less beauty in the tone for me. Sound wise I almost like it better than my Juno 60.

heisenberg

August 29, 2011 @ 12:42 pm

also want to clarify something i've seen some misinformation about - each of the six voices has its own LFO and three ADSR envelopes (pitch, filter, and amp), which opens up a huge amount of possibilities when taking advantage of the six-trak's multi-timbral applications. it's also worth emphasizing is what a bargain this synth is - they regularly go for under $500 on ebay (got mine for $400).

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