Korg Poly 800 USERS! Is yours noisy????

RedSky · Post by **RedSky** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 3:23 am

Well, I recently got this synth ( MK 2) out again having not used it for some time and as always it made me happy. The sounds I've programmed on that have formed the basis for so many tracks and they are so warm and powerful. I often fail to believe the bad press it has received (in the past at least). The only thing that could annoy me would be that clunky keyboard, but I have heard on a number of occasions that this is a fairly noisy synth. Certain patches on mine have an inherent hiss and in most cases when the on board reverb is added, the noise intensifies. It isn't the white noise, just a quiet hiss. I don't really consider this to be a grave problem, but was wondering if other KP users find this to be a noisy machine. An engineer who had owned one agreed and told me that the noise intensifies because the reverb is analogue- I'm not really sure if that's true, but the fact that his was noisy too was interesting. Any thoughts?

jayman · Post by **jayman** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:03 am

yup.. and sometimes it's "clicky' but altogether warm and yummy.

RedSky · Post by **RedSky** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:38 am

Definitely warm and fuzzy. I get the odd click on a deep bass patch- it's like a hammond dirty contact style effect.

synthetic88 · Post by **synthetic88** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:59 am

RedSky wrote:An engineer who had owned one agreed and told me that the noise intensifies because the reverb is analogue- I'm not really sure if that's true, but the fact that his was noisy too was interesting. Any thoughts?

I don't think there's any analog reverb except for a spring, and that wouldn't fit in there. I had a MK1 and the chorus was very noisy. You would probably be better off bypassing the effects and using a MidiVerb 4, or even plug-ins. Or don't worry about it, hiss isn't so bad.

RedSky · Post by **RedSky** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:09 am

Analogue reverb did sound unlikely! I already use external effects for it, but the on board reverb is useful live. I've tried that chorus on mk1 and it is indeed damn noisy.

RedSky · Post by **RedSky** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:24 pm

Not necessarily. There is noise present on some patches whether delay is on or off. I think it is a characteristic of this synth and was trying to confirm this by asking other users. In a way (having initially found this irritating) I appreciate it as a characteristic of the analogue circuitry particularly given the great sounds.
[I'm not replying to myself, the previous post has been deleted for some reason].

otto · Post by **otto** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 2:26 am

Yes, it has a unique buzzy quality to it. Not in an industrial way though... kind of a smooth noise.

jplavidfan · Post by **jplavidfan** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 5:44 am

Mine is low fi scratchy/noisy, compared to a more recent board, but nothing I was surprised at.

I like it, especially that number 85 master patch that is highly reminiscent of Tangerine Dream's main flute theme in the soundtrack from Legend from the early 80's, but the soundtrack probably has a Fairlight or something costly in it doing that sound.

jpl

Synthetic Solace · Post by **Synthetic Solace** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:03 am

warm and powerful really!?To each their own,i'm not gonna be that j**ka** to call you crazy because everyone has a different taste.But i used to have one and i even did both the fm-800 mod and the moog slayer mod and still found it to be thin and cold...

RedSky wrote:Well, I recently got this synth ( MK 2) out again having not used it for some time and as always it made me happy. The sounds I've programmed on that have formed the basis for so many tracks and they are so warm and powerful. I often fail to believe the bad press it has received (in the past at least). The only thing that could annoy me would be that clunky keyboard, but I have heard on a number of occasions that this is a fairly noisy synth. Certain patches on mine have an inherent hiss and in most cases when the on board reverb is added, the noise intensifies. It isn't the white noise, just a quiet hiss. I don't really consider this to be a grave problem, but was wondering if other KP users find this to be a noisy machine. An engineer who had owned one agreed and told me that the noise intensifies because the reverb is analogue- I'm not really sure if that's true, but the fact that his was noisy too was interesting. Any thoughts?

kokoon · Post by **kokoon** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:56 am

none of the Poly-800 models feature a reverb.
the mk2 has a digital delay/echo while the original has an analogue (BBD, panasonic MN300x series) chorus.

i have a mk1 and it is indeed noisy when the chorus is turned on. i'd expect the mk2 to have less problems with that (digital effect). otherwise the synth's not that noisy just by itself (without chorus), my korg polysix is far noisier.

offtopic: and there are other analogue reverbs besides spring - oil tank, bbd, plate, chamber

jplavidfan · Post by **jplavidfan** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:57 pm

Some use tubes to create warmth in the delay. So do some Tremolo units, and also a few Leslie boxes. They are very expensive.

The rest are VA, and chip based.

You could use room tone. Lindsay Buckingham used his bathroom off of his home studio in Malibu to get reverb effects for Tusk. They sounded distinctly "slappy" and were used to great effect.

Most reverb gotten from room tone is dependent on wall composition and mike type/placement. My friend is completing a large studio for Drum Workshop out in Oxnard, CA, and he is an EXPERT in room tone. I have learned a ton about mike placement.

Nothing can replace the trueness of a program speaker and room tone. Placing objects in the room where the playout occurs creates eddys that also can be picked up by a good mike, typically phantom-powered.

Not everything should go right to the recorder direct. Introducing a real environment creates superb surprises in sound. Poetry provided free here.

jpl

RedSky · Post by **RedSky** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:13 pm

Yep, I forgot to alter that- delay, not reverb. Double up the ocs and you'll see it's well phat. The four notes of polyphony induces note stealing but that's actually a really nice effect with 'verb on the go- sounds like a really old, fading synth. I really don't get the 'thin and cold' line. It's the most prominent synth on my early tracks and it's so warm and velvety. I have the most tangible analogue bass ever- one of the best things I got out of it- it gets right inside your head. I'm really going to have to put up some tracks to prove the Poly's good name. And it doesn't need Moog killer to be great. I only added that and the FM mod two years back. I actually used to perform real time manipulation of the resonance with delay for some nice howling sounds. The stepping on mine isn't audible for some reason (unless they're all like that).

otto · Post by **otto** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:20 pm

Synthetic Solace wrote:warm and powerful really!?To each their own,i'm not gonna be that j**ka** to call you crazy because everyone has a different taste.But i used to have one and i even did both the fm-800 mod and the moog slayer mod and still found it to be thin and cold...

RedSky wrote:Well, I recently got this synth ( MK 2) out again having not used it for some time and as always it made me happy. The sounds I've programmed on that have formed the basis for so many tracks and they are so warm and powerful. I often fail to believe the bad press it has received (in the past at least). The only thing that could annoy me would be that clunky keyboard, but I have heard on a number of occasions that this is a fairly noisy synth. Certain patches on mine have an inherent hiss and in most cases when the on board reverb is added, the noise intensifies. It isn't the white noise, just a quiet hiss. I don't really consider this to be a grave problem, but was wondering if other KP users find this to be a noisy machine. An engineer who had owned one agreed and told me that the noise intensifies because the reverb is analogue- I'm not really sure if that's true, but the fact that his was noisy too was interesting. Any thoughts?

I wouldn't describe it as powerful but it is warm, particularly with the chorus. I think I would have a hard time programming thin, cold sound on this machine. Did you go beyond the presets? I didn't put the presets on mine and just programmed it from scratch but I notice many people get cause up in the presets as examples of all a synth can do.

Synthetic Solace · Post by **Synthetic Solace** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 7:36 pm

qoute from otto----
I wouldn't describe it as powerful but it is warm, particularly with the chorus. I think I would have a hard time programming thin, cold sound on this machine. Did you go beyond the presets? I didn't put the presets on mine and just programmed it from scratch but I notice many people get cause up in the presets as examples of all a synth can do.[/quote]

i did go past just the presets but i just still didn't feel it got anywhere close to being fat.You could get some decent bass sounds out of it when throwing on some external effects but what killed me was it being impossible to get good sounding strings out of it.They sounded terrible.

gs · Post by gs » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:57 pm

Synthetic Solace wrote:You could get some decent bass sounds out of it when throwing on some external effects but what killed me was it being impossible to get good sounding strings out of it. They sounded terrible.

I'm not surprised about that... good strings require genuine sawtooth waves. The "satwooth" waves on the P800 are botched together from squarewave stock, by using some form of (non-analog) waveshaping. The P800 always retains some kind of square-wavish sound no matter what you do. They are some of the worst DCOs ever made. Juno DCOs at least have analog waveshaping after the IC counter.

Korg Poly 800 USERS! Is yours noisy????

Korg Poly 800 USERS! Is yours noisy????

Re: Korg Poly 800 USERS! Is yours noisy????

Mk II

Re: Korg Poly 800 USERS! Is yours noisy????

Tube reverbs

Re: Korg Poly 800 USERS! Is yours noisy????

Re: Korg Poly 800 USERS! Is yours noisy????

Re: Korg Poly 800 USERS! Is yours noisy????