Korg Analog Synths

Don't let the size of the Korg Monotron fool you. It sounds amazing. I've got it running though an ART DPSII pre and it sounds so freaking massive I keep expecting the cops to show up and inform me I'm disturbing the peace. No joke this thing has a really good VCO and Filter. The LFO has an unusually large range. There's aux input for processing external sources. But, It's no performance instrument, mind you. The ribbon strip is inarticulate. The only way to power it is with batteries and it is completely plastic. It will go through a set of batteries pretty fast though, they wont last long at all you will have to keep changing them out frequently. UTILIZATION a real MS-20 filter with tweakable knobs and a "ribbon" keyboard (think pressure sensitive pad). You can coax amazing sounds out of this thing and the best aspect for me is that it's far more portable than my giant Korg MS2000R rackmount synth. You can run other stuff through it but the only 'in' is a wimpy 1/8" mp3 style headphone sized input. I wish there were rca jacks or a simple quarter inch instrument cable input without having to go and buy a ton of adapters for my needs SOUNDS sounds unbelievable. OVERALL OPINION I'm more than satisfied with dropping 60.00 bucks on this little gem. I bought it to sample from and has proven to provide quite a wide range of sounds despite its obvious limitations. I'd like to see it made in a durable chassis, with an actual small keyboard, for around $100 USD, hopefully Korg reads reviews and will enhance the next version & make it more durable. This thing is a blast to play with through good . So if they come out with another version that’s a little more well built I will be the first buyer! But with that being said this little unit is great you will have a lot of fun with it for years to come.

The Korg Poly - 800 is a synth that was made in the early 80’s and released in 83. The original price of it was around 800 dollars which was pretty expensive in but not too much compared to other synths that were on the market in the 80’s. The Korg Poly 800 was the only fully programmable synth that sold for well under 1000. It has 49 keys that are non velocity sensitive and two buttons for data entry. Also a joystick controller that you can use to modulate with. UTILIZATION Another neat thing about the Korg Poly is that it was the first synth to introduce midi to the music world, which is why my group decided to purchase this because it is a vintage synth that has midi connections for the current trend of music equipment. Korg was way ahead of its time when creating this one and that’s why Korg has been around and is still one of the top companies. SOUNDS The sounds are classic sounds of the 80’s and some can still be used in todays music and still bring new flavor, t can be switched into double mode and that stacks two dco’s for fuller sound, much like you can on software today when you stack instruments. You could do it right on board with the Korg Poly, not many other boards allowed that to happen. OVERALL OPINION Overall the Korg Poly800 is a great top of the line vintage synth. If you love vintage synths like I do you must find one of these they are really cheap now and hold up well. It has a built in sequencer just in case you don’t want to use the midi with your computer you can create full compositions right on board. Another neat thing is that you can run it off of batteries, so its really portable as well. This board is no longer produced and they don’t carry parts for it anymore. They stopped making this in the late 80’s, but its still relevant today. Its amazing!

The Features on this synth a interesting as some of the more regular features are missing from this synth for example there is only one envelope for VCA and VCF and there is no portamento control. However there is an areggiator, 3 built in fx (chorus, phaser & ensemble) and most importantly...presents! 4 banks of 8 patches. This synth does not come with midi as standard. UTILIZATION Cant really fault the interface - its a standard vintage analoge affair with a labelled button or dial for every control. Creating sounds is also pretty easy as there arent too many controls to get to grips with and the sound is so classy anyway that it doesnt take long to find someting that sounds nice. The lack of a 2nd envelope does limit the amount of sounds that you can make however. SOUNDS Lush is probably the only world to describe the sound of the p6! It is deffinately the most underated vintage polysynth of all, mostly as it was oringally a budget synth when released. However people overlooked the SSM filters (the same as found in the Prophet 5) and the top quality fx unit. The Unison mode also perfoms fantasically as the analoge OSC's still drift a teenie weenie bit. For pads, leads and chords the p6 just rocks! Some audio demos are here: http://www.synthmania.com/Audio%20Files/Synthesizers/Korg/PolySix/Tweaks/Filtered%20Mega-Pad.mp3 http://www.synthmania.com/Audio%20Files/Synthesizers/Korg/PolySix/Factory%20Presets%20Bank%20B/B-1%20%20Electric%20Piano.mp3 OVERALL OPINION My polysix has been fully restored and fitted with a new wooden case so i cant really comment on how well the outside lasts. However they have a well known issue with the internal battery which will leak! this frys the board completely and will render the synth useless. Its essential that this is changed and luckily most of the p6's that i have seen on the market have had it changed but beware the ebay bargain! I cant help but love it, its got the moody expressive feel that all analoge synths should have and many expensive digital synths lack, its a great budget alternative to the other vintage polysynths like the Jupiter 8 or Prophet 5 which cost upto 3x more! There is a softsynth version, and its very good, it sounds very much like the real thing, but lacks the sparkle and depth of the original. Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: Dakuan (January 1-, 2005)