From daedalus@tezcat.com Fri Mar 15 08:16:16 1996
    15 Mar 96 11:16:12 +0500
    14 Mar 96 13:26:26 +0500
5: 40 -0800
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 11:50:11 -0600
From: daedalus@tezcat.com (Steve)
Subject: Re: Korg poly61!!
Cc: analogue@hyperreal.com

>>Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 21:12:45 -0600
>>From: player@jeack.apana.org.au (David Foster)
>>Subject: Korg poly61!!
>>
>>What's a korg poly61 worth.. is it good ra ra ra? I saw one in a pawn shop
>>fer $350.. prolly a bittov play in the price.. it looks like a juno106!! :)
>>TIA, also I saw a JSQ-60 fer $245.. ant good?
>>
>>
>>btw: I don't know if this went to the mailing list? who nose.. pleas forward
>>it on if not
>>
>>Dave
>>
>>

My standard rant on the Poly61:

If it's got no MIDI, forget it.  About the only interesting thing you can
do for it then is trigger the arpeggiator from an external source to get
more interesting rhythms.  No cv.

Sounds: Not bad, actually.  You can get the standard polymoog-ish sounding
stuff out of this thing.  The sound is a little thin, but you can
compensate for this by turning on the "hold" button, hitting a key 8 times,
and then pressing "chord memory".  You are now in mono mode (even though
the machine wasn't marketed as having a mono mode).  The 2 oscs are
non-syncable and are always at least slightly detuned.

Interface: Yeeeech.  The joystick is not MIDI.  No real knob/slider control
- you have to fiddle with one parm at a time from the LED window.  The
parameter setting adjustment is ridiculously coarse - 32 settings for
cutoff freq, 8 for resonance, 8 for EG intensity - programming this thing
gives you the feeling of always wanting that setting in between two others.
Patches are retained when you shut the machine off and are savable to
tape.

MIDI: Note on/off, program change, omni off (receives on omni or channel 1
only) and sustain pedal.  Maximum density of program changes is 240/min.

Value: The straight Poly61 is in the "doorstop" category.  I'd say about
$150ish.  With MIDI, I could see paying $200, but only if you want to
sequence it.  This is *not* a performer's synth - it really shines when you
can sequence it and control timbre using note duration instead of the
non-existent velocity.


****************************************************
I can't walk a mile in your moccasins,
but I can think for an hour in your hat.
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