Chroma Polaris Vs. Chroma Polaris II
2019-03-17 by chadgrisly@...
How was the Chroma Polaris different from the Chroma Polaris II?
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Chroma Polaris Vs. Chroma Polaris II
Re: Chroma Polaris Vs. Chroma Polaris II
2019-03-18 by synthparts@...
I had both I and II and the only difference I could find was cosmetic - The lack of red and blue in the Chroma logo (just plain white), the "II" label, and the handy Lower Functions chart on the front.
See -
Doug
synthparts.com
Re: Chroma Polaris Vs. Chroma Polaris II
2019-03-18 by rob.ocelot@...
On the outside as Doug says it's just cosmetic.
There's a few updates on the inside (power supply, CPU, RAM) but nothing that drastically changes functionality other than the double speed MIDI port mode has been removed. Seeing as the Polaris was the only synth to have this feature its not a huge loss unless you were connecting two Polarises together (and you can't use a second Polaris as a polyphony expander anyway). I'm sure Paul will chime in on the finer details of the internal changes...
There's a few updates on the inside (power supply, CPU, RAM) but nothing that drastically changes functionality other than the double speed MIDI port mode has been removed. Seeing as the Polaris was the only synth to have this feature its not a huge loss unless you were connecting two Polarises together (and you can't use a second Polaris as a polyphony expander anyway). I'm sure Paul will chime in on the finer details of the internal changes...
Re: Chroma Polaris Vs. Chroma Polaris II
2019-03-18 by synthparts@...
The PS is the same as in later regular Polaris, right? Are you sure about the CPU and RAM changing?
Doug
synthparts.com
Re: Chroma Polaris Vs. Chroma Polaris II
2019-03-19 by rob.ocelot@...
Yes, I believe the II uses the late revision power supply.
There's also early and late revisions of the main board and from what I can gather it accommodates a faster clocked version of the 80186 and faster RAM, probably because of component availability.
Its probably safe to say Polaris II units are mostly the late hardware version but I've heard of II units having older version EPROMS. Most of the II units I've heard about seemed to be intended for foreign markets like Japan, so I wonder if the II designation was an easy way to distinguish 100V or 240V units at a glance. It's weird because most other synth manufacturers wouldn't create a whole new model with different badging for what are minor hardware refinements.
There's also early and late revisions of the main board and from what I can gather it accommodates a faster clocked version of the 80186 and faster RAM, probably because of component availability.
Its probably safe to say Polaris II units are mostly the late hardware version but I've heard of II units having older version EPROMS. Most of the II units I've heard about seemed to be intended for foreign markets like Japan, so I wonder if the II designation was an easy way to distinguish 100V or 240V units at a glance. It's weird because most other synth manufacturers wouldn't create a whole new model with different badging for what are minor hardware refinements.