Poly 800

[verkannt]

Have one coming this week. Payed 100 euro for it. I've heard mixed things. Some love it, some can't stand it. I was looking for something that produces decent polyphonic tones, some decent pads and for the price it seems like a decent deal. I'm planning on hooking it up to my pedals (delay,reverb etc..) and running it through my tape deck. I'm into making drone, ambient noise etc... So it could be a good addition. I'm looking to invest in a alpha juno 2 next week, so they could compliment each other well.

Anyone have any feedback or opinion on this synth?

[V301H]

The Poly 800 definitely has a unique sound and voice architecture. The DCO oscillators each combine four square wave harmonics (16' 8' 4' 2') somewhat like an organ. It really does Pipe Organ-type sounds and Hammond organ-type sounds better than most analog synths. It is also capable of some spacey pads and string sounds. It has several unusual features while leaving off more common features which was typical of Korg.

[gridsleep]

It really sounds surprisingly better than it looks as if it should. Even the guitar like sounds are very realistic and yet have a nice synthy kind of touch that in a way almost makes them sound more real. I don't know how better to explain it. It's as if the sound had come from a real performance and had been run through the Poly-800 filters as an external source. So, in the end, even with the sort of synthiness on the surface, like a pastiche, it has a core that definitely sounds acoustic. It's a tricky little machine. And the editing isn't as clumsy as one would suppose. As long as you keep an eye on the large clear chart on top, you can snap through editing in seconds and be back to playing. And it definitely doesn't feel cheap. I'd call the Poly-800 the bargain of the decade as long as you keep it under two bills for the regular and MkII and under three for the collectible reversed keys version.

[Nannerfan]

Great simple cheap synth. Some great mods out there.. I suggest against the Slayer mod tho...

Not for beginners. Do you know how to program a synth? then you're fine.

my 2 cents.

[depulse]

One of the best filter sweep synthesizers ever made.

[Stab Frenzy]

The cool thing about the Poly800 is that it's paraphonic not polyphonic. So all eight oscs are going through the one filter, which makes it react really nicely to distortion and other effect pedals. Eight voices going through one filter and amp is much more like six strings of a guitar going through an autowah than any other synth. It means you can play it in a different way to a regular subtractive synth, in a way it's like an additive synth going through an analogue filter. Very cool.

[Psy_Free]

One of the best filter sweep synthesizers ever made.

You're not wrong there.

IMO this is one of the great 'budget' synths. Does very cool pads, strings, brass & even organs, it has a definite almost indefinable atmosphere about it. I find it's limitations & interface make me think a lot more about programming sounds than a knob & slider laden synth does.

It's true to say that you may be forced into 4 note polyphony (doubling up the DCOs) for the best sounds, but you can always multi-track. Also, as Stab says, it sounds even better through a few effect boxes.

Another thing, you can switch it to monophonic by pressing the 'Hold' button in the Key Assign section, play a single note, then press the 'Chord Memory' button. Then, leaving it in 'Chord Memory' mode it will play monophonically.

You made a very good purchase for 100 Euros.

[grabme]

Some of the sounds are good until you hear the DW8000.

[Virgule]