The Korg Poly 800 provided a chart to find the combination to each parameter.
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The interface for the Yamaha DX-7 was nothing more than a flat panel of button. Eventually we were delivered a class of synthesizers that had no controls on their front panels.
#Korg poly 800 low volume Patch
Clarity and predictability were the benefits of removing the patch panels and reducing the nobs. Emerging out the fog of experimentation was a new wave of cheaper keyboard synthesizers that could be adapted to any style of music. Gone too were the wall sized behemoths that only a handful of people on the planet could control let alone afford. Gone were the frustrating and limited analogue sequencers to be replaced by easy to program and accurately tuned digital midi sequencers. The cost savings associated with these two inventions cannot be underestimated. The invention of midi (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) meant that idea in music could be recorded with thousands of correction and variations in small home studios. The invention of the polyphonic synthesizer with pre-set memory made sound creation accessible to the masses. If not for two factors much of electronic music would still be drifting away in its own area of specialization. As for that old analogue sequencer? Grrrrr! The answer was obviously how music you wanted to create was to be created rather than how many experimentations you could follow heedlessly. Few people can instantly remember a great piece of experimental music but they can certainly remember their favourite melody and rhythms. It is the dilemma of experiment music versus structured music. Recording endless LFO sweeps and slow pitch drifting may seem like heaven but like all good things it become tedious and boring after some time. It was a glorious well of new discovery but it was not a bottomless well.įrustration always exists in music when an artist tries to convert the concepts in their mind to a tangible performance. If you were wearing headphones then you could have the illusion of sound passing through your brain from ear to ear. There was power in this drifting and shifting further patching could drive the sound across the stereo channels. Cascading waterfalls of soundscapes were now under my control as I followed a journey into a world that only the synthesizer could perform. Suddenly sweeping LFOs (low frequency oscillators) could fill the room and with randomness and beauty. However, this is crucial, when I patched the analogue Roland synth into the analogue Korg synth a new level of ecstasy was created. On the 101 you can see the reference oscillator volume dial on the far right(Grrrr!!!!) Roland System 100 : 101 synth with keybed, 102 module, 103 mixer and the 104 step sequencer (Grrrr!) Were they exploring the cutting edge of music or just frustrated with musical instruments that were impossible to tune. Immediately after playing this setup I realized why so many of the early Kraftwerk albums feature generic bleeps and blatt sounds. The analogue sequencer was even more frustrating because it also had no fixed pitch. Instead it had single oscillator that was fixed to 440Hz which turn needed to turn on and used as a reference against the synthesizer’s main oscillator.
#Korg poly 800 low volume series
Unlike most synths the 101 series had no pre-sets for pitch such as 16′, 8′ or 4′. It was a demonically frustrating device whose turning required a keen ear for pitch and a very steady hand to master. It was a Roland System 101 and its 104 analogue step sequencer. But sometimes it plays up and needs a little serviceįor a few years I did own another analogue synth of a similar vintage. Understanding how everything works so that you can start to design you own pallet of sounds is easier than it looks. All its knobs and patch panel ports are there to tempt the player to explore and find new sounds with just a few subtle moves. Compared to today’s plastic fantastic products this humble monophonic synth is built like a tank and looks like something from the control room of a submarine.
![korg poly 800 low volume korg poly 800 low volume](http://sunshine-jones.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Poly-800.jpg)
Over the years I have had a variety of synths both analogue and digital but for some reason I have always held on to my trusty MS20. I still own the first synthesizer I ever purchased which is a Korg MS20. Image taken in Melbourne for the Clan Analogues Gear Shift jam session (Sept 2014)
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Is there really an Analogue Revival? Or is it a passing fad?Ī mess of knobs and wires in the world of modular synthesis