Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Does anyone know device that would allow me to reproduce polysix ensemble effect (especially in analog way)? I used to love this ability on my p6 till it died. I've got very similar effect nowdays on my kawai but it would be nice to use it on the other sort of more powerful synths.

Jurgen Haible's Triple Chorus is the closest thing, but it has to be built from PCBs that are still available. Its design comes from the ARP Solina and the Polysix 3-BBD ensemble circuits.

The Synthoma Elkorus is no longer in production it seems, but available at Wutierson.

The Oakley Sound SE330 has a quad-BBD ensemble mode, which is more akin to the VP-330. So it is a thicker, more swirly sound than the polysix.

I don't know why there aren't more 3-bbd modulated chorus modules out there. I've heard of instances where chorus boards have been ripped from dead synths, sometimes they come up for sale on ebay.

Yeah, pretty much what garranimal said. The Elkorus will get you there. The Oakley is great too but different, definitely more "Roland".

Maybe some 90s Korg Digital Effect (rack unit probably) will have a "Ensemble" emulation? I'd say that's the closest (made by Korg) OR you could hunt down the Ensemble board from a Polysix and mod it into a stand-alone unit? I dunno...
Ps. Korg effects from a similar period maybe? Like the Korg stompboxes or analog racks?

The Boss SE-70 FX Processor has a an algorithm called "Wave Chorus" which will emulate the 3 phase ensemble effect. It's perfect for that vintage string sound - of course you'll need to get your hands on an SE-70 though

A tri and a sine LFO modulating two chorus lines on L and R, one normal and one inverted...That's pretty much the classical "Roland" chorus setup and will give you a nice Dimension D, CE1, JU60 sound. But not really the P6 Ensemble.

The Oakley SE330 does this in its "Dimension" mode. With actual BBDs, of course.

hageir wrote:you could hunt down the Ensemble board from a Polysix and mod it into a stand-alone unit?

Please do not sacrifice a working or repairable Polysix for the FX board! If you really want that, keep the synth: There's a P6 mod to add an input to the FX.

pflosi wrote:Please do not sacrifice a working or repairable Polysix for the FX board! If you really want that, keep the synth: There's a P6 mod to add an input to the FX.

Also, for the cost of some of these chorus modules mentioned you could get your P6 repaired/upgraded to a Kiwisix.

pflosi wrote:

hageir wrote:you could hunt down the Ensemble board from a Polysix and mod it into a stand-alone unit?

Please do not sacrifice a working or repairable Polysix for the FX board! If you really want that, keep the synth: There's a P6 mod to add an input to the FX.

Of course not!
That's pure blasphemy haha
I was more talking about something like this:
https://reverb.com/uk/item/1953713-korg ... re-klm-368

I have a mti adl-100 and it might be something to consider. Mine is a little beat up and I can't say for certain how well it functions because I don't have any idea what a perfectly functioning unit sounds like, but it definitely is a decent chorus.

http://www.modezero.com/mti-ensemble.htm

30h5 wrote:I have a mti adl-100 and it might be something to consider. Mine is a little beat up and I can't say for certain how well it functions because I don't have any idea what a perfectly functioning unit sounds like, but it definitely is a decent chorus.

http://www.modezero.com/mti-ensemble.htm

That's a nice piece, never heard of it. Examples sound good.

hageir wrote:Maybe some 90s Korg Digital Effect (rack unit probably) will have a "Ensemble" emulation? I'd say that's the closest (made by Korg) OR you could hunt down the Ensemble board from a Polysix and mod it into a stand-alone unit? I dunno...
Ps. Korg effects from a similar period maybe? Like the Korg stompboxes or analog racks?

There is one often very much overlooked old-school digital box of wonders than can very much do a BBD style triple string ensemble and thats the Korg SDD-3300 triple digital delay...

Forget the factory presets.. you will need to program this little 2U gem youself but with 6 LFOs with configurable phase angles locked to two free-running master LFOs modulating 3 delay blocks with all manner of regen and feed-forward routing with EQ it's capable of everything from sweet JUNO-106 style stereo chorus to lush string ensembles to the utterly bonkers!

Its cleaner than BBD ensembles with less distortion but still worth a look.

By far the richest and most complex string ensemble effect I've ever encountered has to be the granddaddy of them all ie. the Eminent 310U with its triple BBD "Orbitone" chorus modulated by 6 LFOs. I have fitted external inputs to both my 310U and others and it is quite remarkable how these things can turn the thinnest most horrible weedy little sawtooth into lush strings and choirs!!

I once fed Novachord 346 through the 310U which basically resulted in the worlds oldest string synth that never was - the result was really quite haunting! You can hear some of the result of this experiment in action at 4:18 into this recording:

https://soundcloud.com/hideaway-studio/ ... lection-ii