Korg PolySix Synthesizer
The PolySix is a 61-key, six-voice programmable analog synthesizer first offered by Korg in 1981. I bought mine from Rhythm City in Atlanta in March of 1982, and consider it the first real synthesizer that I ever owned.
My Korg PolySix synthesizer, purchased new in 1982
The PolySix is a 61-key, six-voice programmable analog synthesizer first offered by Korg in 1981. I bought mine from Rhythm City in Atlanta in March of 1982, and consider it the first real synthesizer that I ever owned. List price was $1395 plus tax, which wasn’t exactly cheap, but was certainly much more affordable than almost any other programmable synthesizer at that time. By comparison, in 1982 a Moog Memorymoog (also a six-voice instrument) would set you back $3000 or so, and a six-voice Oberheim OB-Xa was in the neighborhood of $5000. Those were pretty daunting price tags, especially back then. The affordability and features of the Korg PolySix enabled many budding musicians in the 1980s, including me, to enter the world of the programmable synthesizer and add it to their palette.
I used the PolySix quite a bit in my band “Genetic Fix” in the early 1980s. An example of the PolySix in action back then can be heard on my song “What Can I Say?”, which we recorded in 1983.
I ordered an Anvil Road Case soon after I purchased my PolySix. This case was probably one of the best purchases I ever made and it has been key to my PolySix surviving relatively unscathed over the years. Also, a number of years ago I read that the nickel-cadmium battery used to power the PolySix on-board memory was often prone to failure after exceeding its original design life, and the leaking battery fluid could cause serious, and often irreparable, damage to surrounding circuit boards. This story definitely got my attention, so as a precaution I took my PolySix to Advanced Musical Electronics in West Los Angeles in 2009 and had them replace the original battery. Other than that, I’ve never had any work done on my PolySix and it has always worked like a champ.
The Korg PolySix was one of the first truly affordable, programmable polyphonic synthesizers
Many of the original factory patches for the PolySix definitely have an “80s” flavor, but hey, what would you expect? The PolySix was a child of the 80s. However, the instrument is by no means limited to the factory presets. In fact, I started creating my own patches the day I bought my PolySix. There are a sufficient number of knobs you can turn to get the sound you’re looking for, or at least pretty close, and you can store them in the 32 available on-board memory slots. You can also download and upload them from cassette tape if you want (ah yes, cassettes). Anyway, I’m proud to say I still use my PolySix today, and most recently used it in 2023 on my song “Spring Day Chapparal”.
Original PolySix Owner’s Manual, Setting Charts, and Cassette Tape of Uploadable Factory Sound Patches
When I purchased my Korg Polysix from George Luther at Rhythm City on a March Saturday in Buckhead, I never dreamed I’d still be using it over forty years later and living on the other side of the country. There must be a moral somewhere in that story.
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