This is a big limitation but one that I rather like, as it’s another quirk that adds up to a very distinct character. So if you play legato, the filter envelope will trigger for the first note only, which makes for some funny playing. I myself like the effect of notes stealing voices from one another on a limited polyphony instrument.Īnd speaking of limitations, let’s come to grips with the biggest : all oscillators pass through the same low-pass 24dB filter. Limited, eh? But it wasn’t so long ago you only had 1 voice, so… If you only use one oscillator for your sound, a polyphony of 8 voices is what you get, but also your sound will often be thin and uninspiring.įor a richer sound, you’ll want to switch to the so-called Double mode, using both oscillators and reducing the polyphony to 4 voices. Wait, did I say it was a 8-voices synthesizer? Synthesis (play up to 8 notes at a time! with 1 single filter!)
It works on batteries (yeah!) and again, because it’s 1984, you’ll find buttons on each side to use with a guitar strap. The built is cheap, all plastic and please, please, beware of the fragile joystick, but its simple design seems to have aged very gracefully. The joystick is actually more than a simple pitch bend, as it also controls modulation and filter, a really nice feature. Why the dedicated slider, instead of a couple ones for filter cut-off/resonance, I have no idea. Oddly enough, Korg used sliders for functions like Pitch bend range or Oscillator tuning, at which point I should remind you that these are DCO, or digitally controlled oscillators, and they’re very stable. It certainly beats the Roland Juno-1, which is much more of a pain to program without its PG interface. Programming obviously isn’t as easy and straightforward as it should, but as 80’s interface design goes, it’s decent. What you get is a numerical board, a couple of value buttons and a graphical layout so you can understand what’s going on. Now of course, this is a 1984 instrument, so don’t expect useful stuff like, I don’t know, KNOBS. It may look like a toy or home keyboard, but it’s a real, vintage analog synthesizer with plenty of retro character.
The Korg Poly-800… here’s a quirky synth for sure. Today's Item : the analog polysynth Korg Poly-800.įirst, to have something relevant to listen to while reading this little review : the following track is all Korg Poly-800.
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