Discussion about the Korg PolySix synthesizer

Greetings. Just bought a polysix on Monday and I'm loving it. Never heard anything that sounds quite like it. Anyway I posted these questions on another message board yesterday and got some great responses but figured I should post it here as well and see what people had to say!!


Battery
So far it seems like the battery is holding up fine. However I doubt it's been changed. Is there any easy way to determine if this is the case? Would I notice something immediately if there was a problem with the battery? Should I get it changed as soon as possible to avoid corrosion? If there is corrosion before I get the battery changed, will there be irreparable damage? What kind of battery should it be replaced with and how much should this end up costing? Will this prevent me from having to change the battery again in the future?

CV/Triggers
Is there anything that I can send to clock the arpegiator that could cause any harm to the synth? Should it work fine with a gate , trigger, or clock from any euro module; namely things like the MFB Seq 02, RCD, Maths, or even Wogglebug? Should it work fine with the Dr-50 drum machine?

What can I do with cv'ing the filter?

There's no way to control the pitches from an external source without getting a midi mod right?

The polysix itself can't control anything externally via cv or any other method right?

Midi
Would most agree this is a good place to get the parts for adding midi? http://www.chd-el.cz/index.php?id=399
Any other comments regarding midi?

Saving patches
Forgive me for being dense. I can really just hook this thing up to a normal tape recorder and record patch data to a regular cassette tape?? Blows my mind?
Also I saw on another form somebody mentioning saving patch data simply to their computer? What program would I need to do this in?

I'm sure I'll have plenty of other questions as time goes on.
Forgive me if I'm dense or the questions are redundant. If they annoy you, you can just not respond instead of calling me a dumb ass.

Any answers are greatly greatly appreciated.

Thanks a ton,
Luke

you'll know if it's been changed if it's still the original fat blue varta style one rather than a modern button cell (in a holder usually). Some people do swap them for 'new' rechargables but i'd still cut it out and do the mod properly for future safety.
see the old crow site - the pics are all you need to compare to see if you have a dangerous battery type still fitted :)
cut it out NOW if it's the original. Tomorrow could be the day it takes a dump all over your klm pcb :) - better to go without patch storage a while if you can't do the mod straight away than risk battery damage.
"Forgive me for being dense. I can really just hook this thing up to a normal tape recorder and record patch data to a regular cassette tape?? Blows my mind?"
Nothing special about that! That's how home computers did it in the early 80s to - it's just a series of tones modulated/demodulated into data the synth understands. And MOST people don't use a tape deck but just record WAV files of the tape dump to their computer these days. There is a librarian app out there somewhere that can help with this if you are stuck. P6 tape dump/load is very reliable and easy to use considering it's age (less flaky than my other tape dump synths i've had)
welcome to polysix - i have 2 of them - they rock :)
good luck

To: PolySix@yahoogroups.com

From: stillbirth120385@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:58:54 +0000
Subject: [PolySix] Questions


















 



  


    
      
      
      Greetings. Just bought a polysix on Monday and I'm loving it. Never heard anything that sounds quite like it. Anyway I posted these questions on another message board yesterday and got some great responses but figured I should post it here as well and see what people had to say!!



Battery

So far it seems like the battery is holding up fine. However I doubt it's been changed. Is there any easy way to determine if this is the case? Would I notice something immediately if there was a problem with the battery? Should I get it changed as soon as possible to avoid corrosion? If there is corrosion before I get the battery changed, will there be irreparable damage? What kind of battery should it be replaced with and how much should this end up costing? Will this prevent me from having to change the battery again in the future?



CV/Triggers

Is there anything that I can send to clock the arpegiator that could cause any harm to the synth? Should it work fine with a gate , trigger, or clock from any euro module; namely things like the MFB Seq 02, RCD, Maths, or even Wogglebug? Should it work fine with the Dr-50 drum machine?



What can I do with cv'ing the filter?



There's no way to control the pitches from an external source without getting a midi mod right?



The polysix itself can't control anything externally via cv or any other method right?



Midi

Would most agree this is a good place to get the parts for adding midi? http://www.chd-el.cz/index.php?id=399

Any other comments regarding midi?



Saving patches

Forgive me for being dense. I can really just hook this thing up to a normal tape recorder and record patch data to a regular cassette tape?? Blows my mind?

Also I saw on another form somebody mentioning saving patch data simply to their computer? What program would I need to do this in?



I'm sure I'll have plenty of other questions as time goes on.

Forgive me if I'm dense or the questions are redundant. If they annoy you, you can just not respond instead of calling me a dumb ass.



Any answers are greatly greatly appreciated.



Thanks a ton,

Luke





    
     

    
    






   		 	   		  

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

CV/Triggers
- Not sure about harm, I imagine if you're sending something that's gate or cv, you should be fine. I wouldn't recommend using mains power in the socket, but that's just a guess.

- P6 takes an s-trigger, so if you're sending gate, you need to add a resistor and a transistor to the lead to get it to work. See http://www.doepfer.de/faq/gen_faq.htm for a quick tutorial about how to do it 
 very simple electronics.

- CV to fcm is really simple. Just plug in a cv source and off you go> I'm using a doepfer maq16/3 step sequencer with mine, and can set each note cutoff with the front panel knob using cv out from the back. Not sure if you need a particular voltage to make it run.

- Midi. I'm a bit new to this, but have a couple of different things on the go at the moment. The elekroservis kit is on order and taken a long time to get to me, but it's a cheap and very basic (notes and sysex in only) kind of thing. I've also got a P6M kit that's about to go to Andrew Jury for building (I'm not really a kit guy). It's far more expensive at around $600 all up, but lots more features like volume, cutoff and mod control, sysex patch saving (to a midi sequencer if you're not familiar), and a noise generator added. I'm still unsure if every parameter like resonance and env adsr etc. can be controlled via midi, might be a question someone with one installed can answer.

So, midi-wise it depends what you need, but I think the P6M is worth the money. I'm getting the elekroservis one for a friend who doesn't wanna pay the price, the P6M is for me.

- P6 won't send anything out as far as I can remember, unless you install the P6M kit.

Good luck

--- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "stillbirth120385" <stillbirth120385@...> wrote:

>
> Greetings. Just bought a polysix on Monday and I'm loving it. Never heard anything that sounds quite like it. Anyway I posted these questions on another message board yesterday and got some great responses but figured I should post it here as well and see what people had to say!!
> 
> 
> Battery
> So far it seems like the battery is holding up fine. However I doubt it's been changed. Is there any easy way to determine if this is the case? Would I notice something immediately if there was a problem with the battery? Should I get it changed as soon as possible to avoid corrosion? If there is corrosion before I get the battery changed, will there be irreparable damage? What kind of battery should it be replaced with and how much should this end up costing? Will this prevent me from having to change the battery again in the future?
> 
> CV/Triggers
> Is there anything that I can send to clock the arpegiator that could cause any harm to the synth? Should it work fine with a gate , trigger, or clock from any euro module; namely things like the MFB Seq 02, RCD, Maths, or even Wogglebug? Should it work fine with the Dr-50 drum machine?
> 
> What can I do with cv'ing the filter?
> 
> There's no way to control the pitches from an external source without getting a midi mod right?
> 
> The polysix itself can't control anything externally via cv or any other method right?
> 
> Midi
> Would most agree this is a good place to get the parts for adding midi? http://www.chd-el.cz/index.php?id=399
> Any other comments regarding midi?
> 
> Saving patches
> Forgive me for being dense. I can really just hook this thing up to a normal tape recorder and record patch data to a regular cassette tape?? Blows my mind?
> Also I saw on another form somebody mentioning saving patch data simply to their computer? What program would I need to do this in?
> 
> I'm sure I'll have plenty of other questions as time goes on.
> Forgive me if I'm dense or the questions are redundant. If they annoy you, you can just not respond instead of calling me a dumb ass.
> 
> Any answers are greatly greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks a ton,
> Luke
>

Hi there,

Congrats on the new keyboard, it's a fun one.  As mentioned, take the old battery out right now!  Get some clippers and cut it off the board, even if it'll be a few weeks before you can get it repaired.  You do not want to risk a leak if it's in good shape. Don't be tempted to leave it in while you're waiting for repairs!

If you're handy with a soldering iron and have and hour to spend you can do it yourself. The instructions on Old Crow's site are excellent and detailed, easy to follow.

Total cost for me to swap the battery was ~$10 at a Radio Shack. Battery, holder and resister (I already had the soldering iron).

I lucked out with my Polysix and the battery had only leaked down the stems, but the vapors can still do harm. On my synth the key contacts were dead, probably because of the toxic vapors from the battery.  I cleaned them by hand but they went south again shortly thereafter.  So I bought the little key contact sticker kit (http://sounddoctorin.com/synthtec/parts/key.htm#polycontacts) for ~$25 and it's good as new.  No key contact problems in the last three months. I also cleaned the rest of the keyboard's guts in an effort to rid the thing of any residuals from the battery vapor.

$35 + 3 hours of work to resurrect a classic vintage synth. Awesome!

Here's a reasonably priced midi solution (I've never used it, but it's the one I'd get): http://www.chd-el.cz/index.php?id=399&lngid=en

It will only provide key on/off input and sync the arp to a midi clock but that's plenty. Especially since it costs an extra $400 for a better kit just so you can dump patches and record filter sweeps in midi.

Good luck!

--Mark



--- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "stillbirth120385" <stillbirth120385@...> wrote:

>
> Greetings. Just bought a polysix on Monday and I'm loving it. Never heard anything that sounds quite like it. Anyway I posted these questions on another message board yesterday and got some great responses but figured I should post it here as well and see what people had to say!!
> 
> 
> Battery
> So far it seems like the battery is holding up fine. However I doubt it's been changed. Is there any easy way to determine if this is the case? Would I notice something immediately if there was a problem with the battery? Should I get it changed as soon as possible to avoid corrosion? If there is corrosion before I get the battery changed, will there be irreparable damage? What kind of battery should it be replaced with and how much should this end up costing? Will this prevent me from having to change the battery again in the future?
> 
> CV/Triggers
> Is there anything that I can send to clock the arpegiator that could cause any harm to the synth? Should it work fine with a gate , trigger, or clock from any euro module; namely things like the MFB Seq 02, RCD, Maths, or even Wogglebug? Should it work fine with the Dr-50 drum machine?
> 
> What can I do with cv'ing the filter?
> 
> There's no way to control the pitches from an external source without getting a midi mod right?
> 
> The polysix itself can't control anything externally via cv or any other method right?
> 
> Midi
> Would most agree this is a good place to get the parts for adding midi? http://www.chd-el.cz/index.php?id=399
> Any other comments regarding midi?
> 
> Saving patches
> Forgive me for being dense. I can really just hook this thing up to a normal tape recorder and record patch data to a regular cassette tape?? Blows my mind?
> Also I saw on another form somebody mentioning saving patch data simply to their computer? What program would I need to do this in?
> 
> I'm sure I'll have plenty of other questions as time goes on.
> Forgive me if I'm dense or the questions are redundant. If they annoy you, you can just not respond instead of calling me a dumb ass.
> 
> Any answers are greatly greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks a ton,
> Luke
>