Synth-DIY Yahoo! Groups Archives

Thread

my $.02

2002-07-14 by JS

As much as an influence as Rick Wakeman has been on me, I have to agree that his audio palette has gotten thinner and wankier as the years have gone by - I really think his work on Going for the One/Tormato was the last time he used good patches, and his brush with Ensoniq gear was especially catastrophic. Much as I love the guy, and as much as I owe him, I have always felt that it was his association with Anderson/Squire/Howe that really brought out the "Wakeman-ness" in him. Rick, if you're listening, sorry, but you need to go back home to those guys and turn back into Rick again. I miss Rick.

The Korg Mono/Poly, however is a MONSTER instrument, incredibly versatile, tremendous oscillator assignment resources, REAL polyphonic portamento, and all controllable in realtime. I lost mine in my house fire a few years back, and hope to find another one someday (although my insurance company was "persuaded" by my music store that my Roland JD-800 was an "equivalent replacement"!!!!!!!) I think that the chief problem is that the filters do have a bit of an "asian" tonality to them, but believe me, you get inside of programming the instrument for a few months you can do some unbelievable things with it. I used mine to emulate Hammonds, cellos, and the "Lucky Man" patch would part your hair from a hundred feet away! I also used it to double the guitar solo in "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and took advantage of the "chord hold" feature to simulate the octaves/fifths harmonizer program that Trevor Rabin used, and everybody wanted to know how our guitar player achieved "that sound!"

Jon E Salley
MiloJohnson@...
M400 #886

Re: [Mellotronists] my $.02

2002-07-14 by sdavmor

JS wrote:

> As much as an influence as Rick Wakeman has been on me, I have to agree
> that his audio palette has gotten thinner and wankier as the years have
> gone by - I really think his work on Going for the One/Tormato was the
> last time he used good patches, and his brush with Ensoniq gear was
> especially catastrophic. Much as I love the guy, and as much as I owe
> him, I have always felt that it was his association with
> Anderson/Squire/Howe that really brought out the "Wakeman-ness" in him.
> Rick, if you're listening, sorry, but you need to go back home to those
> guys and turn back into Rick again. I miss Rick.
>
> The Korg Mono/Poly, however is a MONSTER instrument, incredibly
> versatile, tremendous oscillator assignment resources, REAL polyphonic
> portamento, and all controllable in realtime. I lost mine in my house
> fire a few years back, and hope to find another one someday (although my
> insurance company was "persuaded" by my music store that my Roland
> JD-800 was an "equivalent replacement"!!!!!!!) I think that the chief
> problem is that the filters do have a bit of an "asian" tonality to
> them, but believe me, you get inside of programming the instrument for a
> few months you can do some unbelievable things with it. I used mine to
> emulate Hammonds, cellos, and the "Lucky Man" patch would part your hair
> from a hundred feet away! I also used it to double the guitar solo in
> "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and took advantage of the "chord hold" feature
> to simulate the octaves/fifths harmonizer program that Trevor Rabin
> used, and everybody wanted to know how our guitar player achieved "that
> sound!"
>
> Jon E Salley
> MiloJohnson@... <mailto:MiloJohnson@...>
> M400 #886

Greg Amov has a very nice Korg Poly61 (pre MIDI) that he's owned for at
least 15 years, maybe longer. A very fine synth indeed that he won't part
with. He'll be trotting it out a few times on the upcoming Systems Theory
CD, and uses it to good effect for most of his lead lines on his solo
album "The Dark Within The Dark".
--
Cheers,
SDM -- a 21st century schizoid man
www.systemstheory.net
www.thecleanersystem.com

Re: [Mellotronists] my $.02

2002-07-14 by JS

It's been a while since I've been around them, but I'm pretty sure the Korg
Poly 61 one of the first four MIDI equipped instruments available (Korg Poly
61, Roland Jupiter 6, Sequential Prophet 600 and Yamaha DX7/DX9 was the
whole list as I recall it) and they all had some difficulties talking to
each other as the MIDI implementation was a little bit different for each
manufacturer at the time. The Korg PolySix, however, was the visual
"partner" of the Mono/Poly, having the same color scheme/cabinet styling,
and did NOT come with MIDI, although an aftermarket retrofit became
available soon after they came out. The Poly 61 was also (with the DX7/DX9)
one of the first instruments to introduce the "parameter address" system of
programming (up/down increments instead of dedicated knobs/sliders) that has
become the bane of programmers, and with its 2 character LED display
(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) was a BITCH to program. It was also one of the first
instruments (with the DX7, Prophet 600, and Jupiter 6) to have a
velocity-sensitive keyboard.

Those were interesting times...

Jon E Salley
MiloJohnson@...
M400 #886

Show quoted textHide quoted text

>
> Greg Amov has a very nice Korg Poly61 (pre MIDI) that he's owned for at
> least 15 years, maybe longer. A very fine synth indeed that he won't part
> with. He'll be trotting it out a few times on the upcoming Systems Theory
> CD, and uses it to good effect for most of his lead lines on his solo
> album "The Dark Within The Dark".

Re: [Mellotronists] my $.02

2002-07-15 by jgwong

One or 2 thing about the Polysix for all of you to consider if buying
using or anythingelsing it..

1. If it is working, not just making noise, get the battery up off and
away from the lower circiut board. Make ita mod, do it right way or you
will lose your insrument. You don't have to believe me but Heinz Preiss
who has seen it all trashed one of declaring it a postwar Japanese
trick.
He modded the other one
.
2. Check to see if it works stably if you are approaching a strange one.
If it misbehaves forget it and if it has the Spaghetti midi mod forget
it again if it is acting up. It is parts.

best

g wong

Show quoted textHide quoted text

On Sunday, July 14, 2002, at 03:36 PM, JS wrote:

> It's been a while since I've been around them, but I'm pretty sure the
> Korg
> Poly 61 one of the first four MIDI equipped instruments available (Korg
> Poly
> 61, Roland Jupiter 6, Sequential Prophet 600 and Yamaha DX7/DX9 was the
> whole list as I recall it) and they all had some difficulties talking to
> each other as the MIDI implementation was a little bit different for
> each
> manufacturer at the time. The Korg PolySix, however, was the visual
> "partner" of the Mono/Poly, having the same color scheme/cabinet
> styling,
> and did NOT come with MIDI, although an aftermarket retrofit became
> available soon after they came out. The Poly 61 was also (with the
> DX7/DX9)
> one of the first instruments to introduce the "parameter address"
> system of
> programming (up/down increments instead of dedicated knobs/sliders)
> that has
> become the bane of programmers, and with its 2 character LED display
> (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) was a BITCH to program. It was also one of the first
> instruments (with the DX7, Prophet 600, and Jupiter 6) to have a
> velocity-sensitive keyboard.
>
> Those were interesting times...
>
> Jon E Salley
> MiloJohnson@...
> M400 #886
>
>
>>
>> Greg Amov has a very nice Korg Poly61 (pre MIDI) that he's owned for at
>> least 15 years, maybe longer. A very fine synth indeed that he won't
>> part
>> with. He'll be trotting it out a few times on the upcoming Systems
>> Theory
>> CD, and uses it to good effect for most of his lead lines on his solo
>> album "The Dark Within The Dark".
>
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> Mellotronists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>