Synth: Chroma Polaris Review by: Matt Haines Summary: analogue, multitimbral, polyphonic MIDI synth with real VCOs and a full set of sliders, programmable, extremely flexible. A cut-down version of the Chroma. Years Made: Polyphony: 6 Multitimbrality: yes MIDI: yes Note on/off:yes MIDI controllers (aftertouch, CC, etc): all sliders send and receive non-standard CC's Sysex patch dumping: Sysex parameter control: (CC control) Other inputs/external control: CV/Gate: Clock: sequencer clock in and out Other CV:pedal, two footswitches Audio: Proprietary (DCB, etc): 5-pin DIN cassette port for saving patches, "chroma interface" Programmer: Outputs: mono (low or high) Patch storage: yes Patch dumping (tape, MIDI, etc): tape Voice architecture: 2 VCOs (square/pulse/pwm or saw) ring modulator LFO (called "sweep") w/ square or sine waveforms resonant LPF (mod by: kbd tracking, LFO, +/-EG, velocity) VCA (mod by: ASR, velocity) oscillator sync noise Interface: sliders, membrane switches for programs and other functions Sequencer/Arpeggiator: sequencer Keyboard/rack: 5-oct keyboard Known problems: membrane switches fail, irreplaceable Accessories: pedal, footswitch Related synths/gear: Chroma, Chroma Expander are predecessors, have more features than the Polaris (but not the sliders) Price range: medium low (around the price of a Korg Mono/Poly or Roland MC202) Availability: medium common Comments: Strengths: multitimbrality is unique, even has "virtual" channels so that more than 6 MIDI channels can be assigned patches, and voices are allocated dynamically. Slider moves can be recorded to a sequencer in real time. Keyboard split, layer. Wood end-pieces. Weaknesses: Sounds is a bit "thin" yet "grungy". Resonance, pitch bend, some other sliders have very coarse control. Heavy. Wood end-pieces. Overall: Not bad if it can be found for cheap. Other: Matt Haines haines@cloverleaf.com \co/ntrol-X \to /\abort / \transmission.