Discussion about the Korg PolySix synthesizer group photo

Yahoo Groups archive

Discussion about the Korg PolySix synthesizer

Index last updated: 2026-04-28 23:40 UTC

Message

Does my Polysix have a problem (from S.O.S forum)

2004-02-02 by dotwav

At the bottom is the message I wrote to the sound on sound forum, 
somebody advised I post it here as well.Apparently it appears as if 
there is a problem with the P6, so I've had another play around with 
it to see if I can identify some more symptoms.
I'm sorr if it all seems a bit here and there, bu as I write it, 
I've been trying things out.

Going through the patch banks, all but one sound (so thats 1 of 23) 
sounds fine in poly mode when it's switched on, if I play about with 
the delay in the MG section, or the decay in the EG section I can 
put it into "6th note differnt mode"
This is where if I play 6 notes, (either the same or different, 
varying lengths doesnt matter) the sixth note always sounds 
different to the 5 before it, usually the 6th note will be quiet, or 
vastly different in resonance or something.
Of the other 23 patches, most of them suffer this 6th different note 
in one of two types, the type I've just explained where the patch is 
audible for 5 notes then quiet or differnt on the 6th, or, there are 
some patches that are virtually quiet, and then sound something on 
the sixth note. (and they have this from the preset, playing about 
with the delay or decay doesnt alter the 6th note)
The other type of sixth note note it's doing is when I switch to any 
number of patches (there's about 12 that do this) It plays a note, 
but carries on playing the note even tho I let go of the key, (like 
a chord hold)... press a different key, for 5 times and it still 
plays the first one and none of the keys just pressed, press a key 
the 6th time and it starts to play the 6th note on hold until 
another cycle of 6 comes round at which point it'll play whatever 
6th note was then hit.Again this is in the patch that way.
I'm thinking, because all patches sound this way in one way or 
another, it can't be that they were programmed like this.

One suggestion, was the battery may had leaked, but this was one of 
the first things I checked whenI bought it, and the battery looks 
like a new one (I can take a picture of the circut board around the 
battrey for anyone that thinks this may be the problem, it looks ok 
to me, but an expericed pair of eyes may tell me otherwise.)

Finally, and possibly not to do with this problem, can someone 
explain the function of this EG switch - again I just tried th piano 
patch from the patch sheet, and it didnt sound anything like a piano 
(unless piano sound a bit spacey bass), and I think the patch sheet 
is telling me to have the eg switch on. This results in the note 
playing on hold (and actually stays on hold until a 6th not is 
pplaye when the 6th note the plays on hold).

When in unision mode, I don't suffer with this 6th note difference. 
(well I havent come across it yet)

Another thing I've just stumbled on (patch 8 bank A) quiet for 5 
notes, noise for 6th, so doesnt play much, (patch 7 bank A) first 
note pressed is one of these held notes, throw the EG switch on, 
then off again, and patch 7 plays notes normally, switch back to 
patch 8, and it's now playing normally too, however, play around 
with the knobs and i can put it into 6th note different, tried this 
on some other patches, and it does the same thing.

If I discover anything, I'll post that up too... Anywats a picture 
of the battery are, can do that (can I attach pic files here)

Rob






SOS forum posting.

Had my polysix for about 4 months now, got my hands on the 
programming side of it straight away.However, I was a bit put off, 
as a lot of the time when it's in poly mode, I get odd "results". 
Having bought it second hand, it had programs already on it, when 
you hit a note, you get a sound, hit it consecutivley a number of 
times, and every sixth note sounds different (most of the time, 
silent)... or the opposite, 5 notes of silence, and the an audible 
sound on the sixth. I'm sure this is just the way it's programmed, 
but I can't seem to make many sounds where it doesnt do this. (I did 
get 1 sound on both poly and unision, where it doesnt have this 
effect, but it's a pretty lame sound and I can't remember what I did 
to get rid of this error on this particular patch. (<- NOW INCORRECT)
Having said all that, if anyone has seen the patch sheets for the 
original sounds (picked them up from here OldSchool Sound , I 
downloaded copies of them today, and as an example, I tried 
programming the piano sound to see how it sounded, and all I get is 
some really slow oscillating bass type sound.

I have a copy of the manual for this, and though it gives you an 
idea of what each section is for, it's been knob all help in trying 
to get me any decent "synth" sounds on it.

Any pointers, anything I can try, any way to initialise the thing...


Thanks if any one can help me sort this.. 

Rob

Attachments

Move to quarantaine

This moves the raw source file on disk only. The archive index is not changed automatically, so you still need to run a manual refresh afterward.