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
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