[sdiy] Polysynth considerations

[Bob Weigel]

I find the JP4 to be optimal for a lot of arpeggiator playing.  It's 
easy to do smooth professional sounding movements in arpeggiator modes 
on the machine; better than any other I've used I think.  On the other 
hand for my style of real playing I need 6 voices minimal really to not 
miss notes.  I think something like the SX-210 where you can easily 
select mono, 4 voice or 8 voice mode with a chord stack is excellent.  
On the other hand I would shoot for two oscillators per voice in the 8 
voice mode like the Chroma except having 16 in single vco/voice really 
is more of a less needed feature I think.  For one-instrument play I 
really think 8 voices is usually plenty in most practical applications.  
There are some good applications of higher polyphony but I'd say you 
probably won't miss them that much really.  Harp type movements and 
rapid broad ranging string arpeggios maybe.

Anyway if you want it high end I'd stick with 8 x 2 and make it so you 
can cut it to 4, 2 and 1 voice stack mode.  THen...have an 'intelligent 
canceller' that allows you to set 'maximum osc/voice' at 1, 2, or 4.

See what I mean? That way if you are in 2 voice mode and you have 1 
osc/voice max, then the machine knows to cancel all but two of the vco's 
and to assign only on those voices so it will play like a duophonic but 
with two independent filters.  On the other hand if you flip to 8 voice 
mode then it will know to just cancel the B oscillator in every synth 
channel.  If you flip the switch to 4 max osc/voice, it will still only 
have 2/voice of course since there are only 16 total vco's. -Bob

Nicholas Gregorich wrote:

> I am interested in building a polysynth or two with my recently 
> acquired CEM chips. I am having a really basic problem: deciding how 
> many voices I need/want.
>
> I've owned and played a fair number of synths, but I never stopped to 
> think how much polyphony I use. I am not much of a player, more of a 
> programmer, so my technique does not depend on the number of voices 
> available.
>
> I rarely grab two hands of chords, but I do like long-release pads. 
> Voice stealing can actually be useful in these types of sounds, for 
> example 16 voices of Andromeda with long release can turn very mushy.
>
> I did not plan to include anything fancy like splits or multi-timber 
> controls but I could be convinced otherwise. I guess I don't use these 
> features enough to implement them.
>
> There are a couple duophonic synths out there, but that would be too 
> limiting. A few 4 voices too, this might be the lower limit of 
> "acceptable" polyphony. There's a certain famous 5 voice (who's newest 
> sibling has 8 voices) and a lot of 6 voice synthesizers. I don't know 
> of any 7 voicers, but quite a few synths have 8 voices.
>
> So I guess I'm looking for some insight. Do people find the Jupiter 4 
> to be short on voices? How about the Prophet 5? There are so many 
> synths with 6 voices, but are they noticeably more useful than a 5 
> voice? Eight might be too much for me.
>
> Nick.
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