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Korg | PolySix

Description

The PolySix was a milestone because, along with the Roland Juno 6 which appeared almost simultaneously, in 1981 the PolySix was the first opportunity ordinary mortals had to get their hands on a proper programmable polysynth. Up until then, you had to be loaded to afford a Prophet 5, Oberheim OB-Xa, or Roland Jupiter 8.

At first glance it looks like a scaled-down Mono/Poly, but really it's not! In fact it had a lot of great new features such as 32 memory patches, 6 voices of polyphony, cassette backup of memory, even programmable modulation effects and Chorus, Phase, Ensemble!

The Polysix has warm-sounding real analog oscillators, softer and brassy-er sounding than the Juno. Engage the built-in Chorus on a simple single-oscillator sawtooth patch and you were pretty darned close to that expensive Prophet sound. But the big ace in the Polysix's hand was the Ensemble effect. Instant Mellotron-like strings.

Like the Mono/Poly the voices can be played in Unison for a 6-oscillator lead sound that was so big, it was often too big! The advanced arpeggiator can memorize and sequence chords across the keyboard. The PolySix has now been recreated in software as part of the Korg Legacy software bundle!

With it's full editing capabilities, the instrument also has 32 memory locations for the user to save programs. An arpeggiator, and chorus, phaser, and, ensemble effect are also onboard as well as the ability to backup the synths data via cassette tape storage.

More Features:

UNISON and POLY modes, to create incredibly fat six-VCO soloing and bass sounds as well as versatile six
voice polyphonic sounds.
CHORD MEMORY which memorizes intervals and chords, to produce exciting parallel harmonies by depressing single keys. Memorized chords can be arpeggiated as well. 
HOLD sustains notes and chords indefinitely
ARPEGGIATOR the Polysix Arpeggiator automatically "sequences" (i.e. plays in sequence, one after the other) individual notes of a chord being held down, at any desired speed and in three different patterns. This effect is often used to create a feeling of musical "movement" via a rapid cascade of notes. Chords may be latched so as to arpeggiate
indefinitely, if desired. Any Assign mode can be used (except "Hold"), including Chord Memory, which allows you
to produce "sequences" of parallel chord or intervals.

Although the Polysix only had one oscillator per voice, it also featured built in chorus, phaser and 'ensemble' effects (using a 'bucket brigade' analog delay line design), to provide a fuller sound.