Poly 800 Lovers, show yourselves!

[ElectricPuppy]

Let your shame be known to us so that we may mock you openly! Come forward at once!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(notice: Joke thread is a joke. Mostly. You dirty 800 users, you. Tsk, tsk!)

[Allerian]

Just checking to see if I'm here?

 

 

[ElectricPuppy]

Oh, the shame!!

 

BANNED!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:poke:

 

Who's next?

[Metrosonus]

!!!WARNING!!!

!!!WARNING!!!

 

Poly 800 users should be approached with extreme caution and heckled with extreme prejudice. Poly 800 users can be easily identified by attire fit for an aldebaran smack whore and often answer to the handle of "80's fanboy". Beware if they approach you with one or more of the following instruments and immediately report them to your local constabulary if they ask you to listen to their "jump" patch.

 

 

[ElectricPuppy]

Oh, I am shocked, just SHOCKED at this display of 800 lovery! FEEL THE WRATH OF MY BAN HAMMER, YE UNCLEAN HEATHEN!!

 

 

 

 

(Also, I am amused. That's a mighty clean looking EX-800 there, I must say.)

[bruto]

EX-800 owner here! And I have it fired up right now.

[enx]

just sold mine. so i'm in the clear?

[eric]

I am glad I clicked on this at home, because I would have been worried to sample the thread at work. Poly 800 people exposing themselves. The horror.

 

I had a Poly 800 for a few years, bought merely to store in my old band's rehearsal space along with my Wurly 200A. It got the job done for rehearsals, but did not love it!

 

Somewhere along the way, it was sold to fund some other gear.

 

Regards,

Eric

[ElectricPuppy]

I had a Poly 800 for a few years, bought merely to store in my old band's rehearsal space along with my Wurly 200A. It got the job done for rehearsals, but did not love it!

Sir, are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Poly 800 Party?

[RichF]

Just checking to see if I'm here?

 

That is a finely festooned 800, right there. For the sake of humanity, I can only hope there's a matching strap.

[ElectricPuppy]

If any keyboard ever deserved to be called a strap-on, that's the keyboard right there.

 

 

Oh, wait-- I mean: Grrr! Shame!

[keybdwizrd]

Easily the worst keyboard I ever owned. Wouldn't have one in my rig even if someone gave it to me with extra cash.

[SoundwaveLove]

I owned a modded "moog killer" poly for a few weeks. Honestly if it had knobs for all those params it would be a half decent little kit. You can actually tease some cool sounds out of it if you double stack, But as it is, it just sucks.

[flat earth]

My 1st real synth. Once pround Poly800 owner here (holds head up high)

 

Here she is: (only pic i have of her)

 

[flat earth]

.... but don't worry, it would appear theres an antidote for our sins

 

[depulse]

Very good sweeps, clearly underrated.

 

 

Check the mods available (HAWK):

 

http://patrioticduo.tripod.com/hawk800/index.html

 

The NEW SOUND FEATURES are:

 

1) Portamento mono mode with slide rate parameter stored per patch.

2) Tremolo - apply either LFO1 or LFO2 to the volume of either of the DCO's volume with control over Tremolo depth for each DCO.

3) The single LFO is now two (LFO1 and LFO2) and two more super LFO's (SLFO3 and SLFO4) have been implemented.

4) All four LFO's have triangle, sawtooth, sine, square PWM and random sample and hold waveforms. All waveforms can also be inverted.

5) All four LFO's have free running modes.

6) LFO1 and LFO2 delay type select - allows the LFO's to cycle at note on and then stop cycling when the delay timer expires. This allows the reversal of its original behavior where the LFO delay timer must expire before the LFO begins to cycle.

7) LFO2 sync to MIDI clock.

8) EG3 retriggering sync by MIDI clock.

9) Note triggered sequencer transpose - You can now select a global parameter that will set up the keyboard to transpose the playing sequence. You can also set the mode to allow MIDI to transpose the sequencer too.

10) Resonance can now be modulated by LFO's and the envelope generator.

11) The LFO1 frequency can be modulated by SLFO3.

12) The LFO2 frequency can be modulated by SLFO4.

13) Random sample and hold waveform clocked by the on board seq. or MIDI clock.

14) Random sample and hold waveform clocked by sequencer repeat.

 

The NEW MIDI FEATURES are:

 

1) MIDI controllers (special and NRPN) for all original and extended parameters.

2) MIDI standard controllers implemented for LFO1 rate, VCF cutoff and resonance depth.

3) MIDI controllers for setting Poly, Hold, Chord and Portamento modes.

4) MIDI sustain controller send and receive.

5) MIDI SYSEX single patch dump send and receive.

6) MIDI SYSEX bulk patch send and receive.

7) MIDI EX-800 SYSEX dump receive (sequencer and patches).

8) MIDI Poly-800 MK2 SYSEX patch dump receive (patches only).

9) MIDI user initiated SYSEX HAWK-800 bulk dump all patches.

10) Selectable Omni On, Off or Auto on power up.

11) Keyboard MIDI TX channel selection (1-16 or no MIDI TX).

12) Joystick MIDI TX channel selection (1-16 or no MIDI TX).

13) MIDI soft thru of all messages.

14) Sequencer MIDI time code send on/off.

15) Chord mode synchronization SYSEX send - if cascade sync mode is selected then pressing the chord key will send a SYSEX message to set up the chord progression table. This allows a slave unit such as an EX-800 to operate in chord mode with the same chord structure as the master unit.

16) MIDI patch bank selection (1 of 4).

17) MIDI note on velocity sensitivity where VCF and envelope generator parameters can be influenced by incoming MIDI note velocity data.

 

The NEW USER FEATURES are:

 

1) All notes off panic button (with MIDI TX too).

2) Local keyboard control on/off.

3) Local joystick control on/off.

4) Extended playing range on/off (increases the playing range by two octaves while ignoring the parameters 11 and 21).

5) Cascade mode (for when you have two Poly's or a Poly and an EX800. One unit plays odd notes and the other plays evens).

6) Cascade sync mode (the master unit sends SYSEX patch dumps to the slave as well as setting the Poly mode and patch number. This ensures that your slave unit plays exactly the same sounds as the master).

7) Poly mode is stored and recalled with patches.

8) Bend depth stored per patch.

9) You can send the global parameters from the Poly 800 to another Poly-800 or EX800.

10) A global parameter is now available that allows setting the keyboard MIDI note velocity.

11) Local sequencer control on/off so that you can send the Poly 800 sequence to another synth via MIDI.

12) A global parameter now allows keyboard MIDI transmit octave shift up or down 3 octaves.

13) You can cancel out of a patch write by pressing the write button (instead of reaching around the back and fiddling around for the write enable switch).

14) All user patches, globals and sequencer data are stored directly in flash memory so that you no longer need ANY backup battery.

15) Sustain pedal operation. The original "step up" jack now also operates as a sustain pedal with patch control over decay and release times as well as sustain hold point.

16) Joystick parameter editing and patch section. You can now change the operation of the joystick to edit patches and select patches.

17) The Up/Down data keys also operate as patch up/down selectors when in Program mode.

18) Four banks of 64 patches (for all kits shipped from June 2009 onward) giving the HAWK-800 256 patch storage in flash memory (no backup batteries are required).

[Metrosonus]

.... but don't worry, it would appear theres an antidote for our sins

 

On a simply ethical note, do not buy those.

[Metrosonus]

The 800 is definitely a weird little synth. If anything it's an example of Korg's innovative spirit. I don't think it was ever meant to be a "go to" or professional quality synth, but it has a sound some people seem to like and considering how many people over the years on this and other forums have claimed to at least play, let alone own one when they were starting out, I think Korg accomplished what it set out to do.

[zoink]

Like many here, the Poly 800 was my first "real synth" . When I bought mine used in the mid 80s, it was the only programmable synth with MIDI in its price range.

 

To its credit, the Poly 800 could make some really good sounds. In retrospect, it could be a very annoying synth to program, though I programmed the hell out of that thing. If they had just given the synth knobs instead of "up and down" parameter and value buttons, the 800 would be a classic to this day. It would have been worth it if they'd added knobs, even if it bumped the retail price up $100-$200 dollars. But alas, this was the 80s, and everything was moving in the direction of fewer controls, and buttons over knobs, thanks largely to the commercial success of the DX-7.

 

I used to impress my friends with renditions of Van Halen's "Dreams" and "Jump" using home-grown Poly 800 patches, and I made lots of other good sounds as well. It had a really fat sound for certain uses, though it was never as good as Roland for punchy basses or searing leads. I bought an Alpha Juno in 1986 for the very reason (better leads and basses). The two complemented each other well, and the BCR2000 actually breathes new life into the Juno.

 

The cassette backup feature on the 800 was kind of interesting, though it was an evolutionary dead-end and a pain in the ass to use.

 

The keybed (non-velocity responsive) was one of the worst out there. Very spongy. But the synth did have guitar strap pegs on either side and you had the option of running it on batteries, meaning you could rock out in 80's Keytar style if you so chose. The 800's bare-bones step sequencer also synced up nicely with my TR707. It was limited, but fun to use at the time.

 

Ironically, I still have that old synth sitting in my closet, alongside a half dozen other 80s relics that see little or no use. I haven't used the 800 in probably 17 years or more. It's not there for sentimental reasons; I just never bothered to get rid of it.

[WDMcM]

No Poly 800, but I do have a Poly 800 vinyl sheet demo record from an old Keyboard Magazine, though I've never played it so I'm safe.

[augerinn]

 

It's not there for sentimental reasons; I just never bothered to get rid of it.

 

 

I hope you took the batteries out of the battery compartment......# 1 problem with these is battery corrosion (CZ-101, Too)

[zoink]

 

I hope you took the batteries out of the battery compartment......# 1 problem with these is battery corrosion (CZ-101, Too)

 

 

 

Thanks for the warning. They're already out. I dealt with a minor battery explosion years ago, and learned my lesson.

[bloopbleep]

 

No Poly 800, but I do have a Poly 800 vinyl sheet demo record from an old Keyboard Magazine, though I've never played it so I'm safe.

 

 

Haa Haaa I remembered those flimsy black vinyl that came with the magazine. I had a few still at my parents home, my favorite was the Sequential Max or was it Six-Trak demo...

[OPEN OCEAN]

never had it wanna get it haha...

[hammyham]

My buddy gave me an EX 800 we found in his building's basement. (Yes we know who left it there). We thought it might be broken cause it just had the same noisy static sound for every patch. he didn't have a midi keyboard to play it with, so I took it home and found it worked fine but the memory was gone. I searched for the factory sysex file, loaded it, and everything was rockin'. I mean ... it's alright, if you like that sort of thing.