The Poly-61 also lacked the on-board effects capability of the Polysix.Ĭrucially, the Poly-61 was released just before the introduction of MIDI, and still used old style analog voltage trigger outputs to interface it with sequencers and drum machines (although this was addressed by the later addition of MIDI in the Poly-61M). The Poly-61 was not as well received as its predecessor, in particular the push button programming interface being criticised for its lack of resolution compared to the knob-controlled analog synths of the period this would foreshadow general criticisms of the 'menu-diving' required to edit patches 'on the fly' whilst playing that would be directed at the digital and sample-based synths that were to follow. There is a simple arpeggiator with dedicated control buttons and tempo knob, which can work in conjunction with the chord memory for moderately sophisticated sequences. A hold function works in either Poly or Chord mode, with a dedicated input jack for a release foot pedal. This chord is then replicated, its lowest note matching any note played on the keyboard.
#KORG POLY 800 PEDALS FULL#
Unlike the separate pitch and modulation wheels of the Polysix, the Poly 61 features a full joystick, with variable pitchbend (+/- about 7 semitones), and an independent LFO (see above).Īs well as standard 6-voice polyphony, a chord memory can be engaged, memorising any chord voicing held down while pressing the Chord Memory button.
#KORG POLY 800 PEDALS PATCH#
As control of this LFO is entirely manual, it does not feature in the programmable patch structure of the synth. The joystick can be used to route this to DCO pitch (vibrato) or VCF. The joystick controls a second LFO, adjustable by a knob with rate indicator LED, and entirely independent of the main LFO, although the effect can be cumulative. It has a variable delay before it is triggered. The LFO (known as a 'modulation generator' on the Poly-61) is a simple triangle wave that can be routed to the DCOs or VCF. This means there are only 16 possible settings for each of the ADSR parameters.
#KORG POLY 800 PEDALS GENERATOR#
There are 6 SSM-2056 analog envelope generator chips used in the Poly 61, each being controlled by discrete 4-bit D/A converters. All parameters can only be set to one of 16 values. The minimum instruction length is 8 bits and the maximum instruction length is 16 bits. Some 70% of instructions are single byte/cycle, but 30% need two cycles and/or two bytes, so raw performance is closer to 0.5 MIPS. crystal, one gets 0.73 MIPS (of one-clock instructions). The ♜'s oscillator block divides the incoming clock into 15 internal phases, thus with its 11 MHz max. The 8049 has 2 kB of masked ROM as well as 128 bytes of RAM and 27 I/O ports. There are 2 of them on the CPU board (KLM-509), one is a Programmer and the other is an Assigner. NEC D8049C - 8 bits, 11 MHz (max.), 40 pins (DIP), Supply Voltage = 5V
It can be driven by the envelope generator or a CV/Gate pulse. The final component in the audio path is a VCA. However, when manipulated by internal LFOs, the resolution is considerably better without notable stepping.
Keyboard tracking is simply "on" or "off" for example, and resonance and envelope level (here labelled "EG Intensity") have only 8 values. Some of these are rather limited by the parameter resolution. The filter has the typical controls for cutoff, resonance, keyboard tracking and envelope amount. DCO2, based on low-resolution counter ICs, has only sawtooth and square, and is not available on its own. DCO1, a more traditional design, provides sawtooth, pulse, and PWM waveforms. The MIDI implementation was basic with only note on and note off information, partly as the synthesiser was not touch sensitive. In 1984 a MIDI version, the Poly-61M was released featuring basic MIDI implementation, however, prior to that, a person could order a factory installed Poly 61 with MIDI in and MIDI out jacks installed on a plate on the rear of the keyboard, simply called Poly-61 with Factory Installed MIDI.
The Poly-61 also boasted double the amount of patch memory (64 memory positions versus the Polysix's 32), but did not feature its predecessor's on board effects. The Poly-61 also uses digitally controlled analog oscillators or DCO's (Roland's Juno-6 had made the same leap the previous year), in place of the Polysix' VCOs.
It was notable for being Korg's first largely "knobless" synthesizer - featuring a push-button interface for programming, dispensing with the Polysix's knobs and switches. The KORG Poly-61 (PS-61) is an analogue programmable polyphonic synthesizer released by Korg in 1982, as a successor to the Polysix.