Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Discussion about the Korg PolySix synthesizer

Kerry,

Where I see the effects of the acetone fix are in the prices for MKS-30's and HS-60's since people used to buy them cheap to strip them for parts. Even when the cloned chips became available they would still gut MKS-30's and put the 'real thing' into their beloved 106's. (Strangely the GR-700 doesn't usually suffer this fate)

I'm going to digress for a moment:

Recently the MKS-30/Planet S has come out from under the shadow of the Junos and the JX-3P to be considered a distinct synth in it's own right. I specifically mention the JX-3P because more often than not it gets called a 'rack 3p' which is a bit of a misnomer. Nowadays hardly anyone refers to the MKS-80 as a Jupiter 8 or 6 in rack form (unless they are reading old websites or forums). It's got that Jupiter sound but it's neither an 8 nor a 6 -- it's something else. Same deal with the MKS-30 -- I've listened to the same patches side by side in a JX-3P and a Planet S and even taking into account that two analog synths of the same model and vintage may not sound similar there is a distinct difference between the MKS-30 and the 3p. (I tested this with multiple units of each).

In addition to the acetone fix there's also our good Polysix friend Johannes (who improved on a great MIDI kit for the P6) who also sells an updated firmware for the MKS-30 that eliminates the need for a PG-200 programmer to get those all important knobs (any midi knob controller will do). Yet another reason why the MKS-30's star is on the rise.

So I definitely agree that the availability of services and free information to fix these old analog synths has helped them increase in value. There are other far reaching effects too. The Kawai SX series also suffers from the same battery problems as the Polysix (and are far more likely to be found in non working condition, though the damage is usually less catastrophic than a P6 since the battery isn't as close to critical IC's). There's also renewed interest in the Poly-61, which was even more ignored than the Polysix for years. Have you seen Chroma Polaris prices recently? -- there's another synth that people avoided for years because of 'unfixable' problems.

It's a good time to be an electronics hobbyist. I have a feeling once the kids who cut their teeth circuit bending get tired of that a few of them will be curious enough to keep going in electronics. One more 'Old Crow' out there is a good thing.

Now that the low end polysynth prices are creeping up into the zone of the cheap monosynths there's going to be a period of catchup until prices settle down again.

Here's what I think the current undervalued monos are:

-Mono/Poly (I don't see it being priced less than some Polysix machines for very long. Minis and ARP's are so expensive now that the lesser multi oscillator monos are going to be picked more often than not. What usually gets picked first is the Pro-One and P1 prices are through the roof at the moment)

-Yamaha CS monos, especially the CS-10 (these have the advantage of not being overexposed in recordings like the Roland SH's and the MS Korgs. The CS-10 is already getting the 'more phat' spin in various forums because of its filters so prices may already be starting to get out of whack)

Modern monos (Studio Electronics, Waldorf Pulse, DSI mopho and evolver, Neptune I/II -- while these will never command the prices the vintage gear does, I've seen a renewed interest in these because everything else is transitioning from musicians prices to collectors prices. It'll be interesting to see if the Mopho keyboard does anything to Pro-One prices -- chain that with a DSI Tetra and you effectively have a modern Prophet-5 for the price of a Pro-One)