IMAGE SOURCE: Svuntutheysari
- Date Produced – 1981
- Keyboard – 61 Keys
- Sound Generation / Synthesis type – Analog synthesis
Maximum Polyphony – 6 voices
Program / Storage – Can store up to 32 different TONES, and up to a thousand after an upgrade
Voice Modes –
- Oscillators – One true analog VCO per voice: sawtooth, Pulse Width, PWM and a sub-oscillator per voice…Nice!
Filter(s) – Cutoff, Resonance, Low-pass, self-oscillates at high
resonance. ADSR envelope on the VCF (filter).LFO(s) – One LFO that is assignable to the VCA, VCF or VCO
VCA / Envelope(s) – VCA uses the filter’s ADSR envelope or alternatively a
simple gate on-off- Sequencer – Arpeggiator up/down, latch, FULL, by octave improved with an upgrade that also adds a sequencer.
Effects – Chorus, Ensemble and phaser
Connectors – Controllable by MIDI, CV input on the filter cutoff, chord memory
Dimensions (W x D x H) –
Weight –
- Date Produced – 1981
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Check battery fault; leakage can destroy the board. Also, the end cheeks can get wrecked as chipboard falls apart with humidity and damp, reliable wood replacements are the way to go.
The Polysix was one of the first analogue polysynths that were sold at an affordable price… Until it came out, you had to sell your house to buy one! It was Korg’s answer to the Prophet 5 and a similar spec Roland Juno 6.
Build wise it has a chipboard base and ends cheeks, but an excellent metal chassis for the rest and the top sits on hinges which makes the opening for maintenance and repairs a bit easier.
These units do suffer from a hard-soldered battery that will leak if it has not been changed, this will wreak the board it sits on in most cases a replacement board will only restore the synth back into life.
Luckily there is a great website that does upgrades for both the board where the battery is located (part number KLM-367) and the power supply which can get hot. The upgrade can be viewed here on the Kiwitechnics website. (Opens a new tab) – note I have not done this yet to the broken Polysix that I bought on eBay for a mere £280, but I might as it adds a massive amount of new features too like a proper midi implementation, please also see the link above for a full list of features.
The sound of the Polysix is a warm generated from analogue oscillators a bit softer sounding than other synths; it has a built-in chorus which sounds fab, it does strings, brassy patches, great bass sounds and a very cool arpeggiator which one can upgrade with the vastly improved Kiwisix boards.
It has six voices of Polyphony that can be played in unison just like the Korg Monopoly. Other effects are phaser and Ensemble. It has a full 61 note keyboard, with a chord memory feature. Initially, you could store up to 32 patches, with an upgrade you store up to 1000, how spoilt are we today.
FINAL WORD:
The Korg Polysix has its faults, but if you can get one and repair it you will snag a bargain, if not be prepared to pay £1200 – £1500 in full working order and maybe more if the Kiwisix upgrade is onboard! Great analogue synthesiser we rate it a true classic!
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