Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

clueless wrote:What knob did you turn that could possibly damage a polyvoks?

Well when it arrived a key had fell out and one of the keys wasn't triggering so I bought a reed switch from Maplin and soldered it in to replace the non-working one. That was fine.

Then I opened it up again to replace the other key successfully and when I put it back together there was now a really loud humming sound on the outputs that's higher in pitch than your usual grounding hum. It's only there when the gate is open.

At first I thought I'd maybe not connected the grounding wire to the keyboard assembly properly but on further inspection it seems something more serious has developed. Maybe a blown cap on the power supply? Who knows - it's with a good synth tech right now and I should have it back before Christmas.

Here's what it sounded like before - http://www.digitaloguesynth.com/synths/ ... livoks.mp3.

And after the problem developed - http://www.digitaloguesynth.com/buggeredpolivoks.mp3.

My model is apparently a really early one with the dirtier sounding filter but I find it can sound quite musical at times too. It's got a ripping, sharp quality.

I know you don't like the sound of the Polivoks though clueless - as memo said it ain't bound to be everyone's cup of tea.

OriginalJambo wrote:Here's what it sounded like before -http://www.digitaloguesynth.com/synths/ ... livoks.mp3.

Damn!

I like its sound - but I got lucky. I bought one that's solid in tuning and has a nice filter sound. From what I understand, any particular model can range from sounding like a distorted Casio, all the way to a nicely driven Arp Odyssey. I got the latter.

I made a video awhile back - sometimes I'll get an email or comment about how I referred to it as "built like a tank".

It was a bad choice of words - the build isn't the most solid out there. I meant that it looks like a piece of military equipment. There's something about the shape and control placement.

I love that sound and everyone tells me it's the one thing that can outdo all my other synths. Problem is, much like the Soviet Union, it does not allow control from outside sources. With no CV or Gate inputs, all those repeating envelopes and S&H arps will chug along at unsyncable rates. Good for me, a Polivoks Modular Filter will be out soon.

REwire wrote:I love that sound and everyone tells me it's the one thing that can outdo all my other synths. Problem is, much like the Soviet Union, it does not allow control from outside sources. With no CV or Gate inputs, all those repeating envelopes and S&H arps will chug along at unsyncable rates.

My Polivoks has CV/Gate.

Although I don't think it can outdo all your other synths. It can possibly make a good addition.

The Polyvoks is duophonic, right? Did the Soviets make any 6 or 8-voice analog polys?

Big Gnome wrote:Damn!

Tell me about it - I really hope it's fixable.

pricklyrobot - yes, the Polivoks is duophonic and also mono with high-note priority.

memo - while my Polivoks is down with the tech do you think I should ask him to mod it for CV/gate? Looks like quite an easy one from the resources I've found online.

Would it take a really good tech more than a couple of hours to do?

pricklyrobot wrote:The Polyvoks is duophonic, right? Did the Soviets make any 6 or 8-voice analog polys?

they made few polyphonic synths:
amfiton, electronica em25, faemi 1m, rmif ti3 & ti5 (i think that it is some kind of soviet jupiter 8 or 6) unost 21 (strange kind of string) there are also some hybrid synths (maestro - wavetable synth) or totaly strange like opus - electric piano/string/bass/organ with filter and ring modulator or string/vocoder - electronica em26.

many of soviet synths you'll use only for one or two sounds, but they'll be really unique.

It wasn't made for western people!

mirt wrote: It wasn't made for western people!

See, Jambo ? why did u buy it ?
now it broke

Jexus wrote:See, Jambo ? why did u buy it ?
now it broke

What can I say - it was a gamble. You only live once. 8)

Maybe when it's repaired I'll be able to tame the beast from the East.