Polysix back from repair, experts could you please take a listen?

[david1103]

hello fellow analogue fanatics,

i have just got my polysix back from repair. i bought it broken for £150 and it didn't even play more than one note then. i got a good deal having it repaired locally for £110 which included new battery, sorting out the battery damage, 3 new voice chips and total setup.

The engineer said he spent a very long time tuning it and setting it up and it was a bit of a 'nightmare' to do

my question to you is, how good and tuned/uniform per voice should a polysix sound, and could mine be better?

i KNOW a vintage polysynth won't have perfect tuning! i just would like to know how it compares to other peoples and if mine could be better.

i think it sounds close to amazing in 'sound', but the tuning/envelope/volume inconsistencies per voice and across the keyboard makes it sound quite off sometimes. i have never owned a VCO polysynth, so am not sure what to expect.

i have run some tests and the results (after a 45min warm up) are attached:

Polysix 12 Same Notes Arp.mp3
------------------------------------
it's just a C note and the arp button pressed repeating the same note on same octave to test the voices. some notes have a slight different envelope, and the pitch is not quite the same for each.

i analysed them in melodyne and got the Polysix 12 Same Notes Arp Pitch Reading.jpg result. it shows exactly the pitch movement.

next is the same arp using all octaves:

Polysix 12 Same Note Octaves Arp.mp3
--------------------------------------------
and finally, a badly played melody by me, the tuning doesn't sound quite right?:

Polysix Playing.mp3
------------------------
i notice if notes are in tune in the middle of the keyboard, they will become more and more off as they go up and down.

Could things be better? Is it just a case of hours of tuning, or could a hardware fault/age means it can't get any better? Any Advice?

Many thanks!

[dhollmusik]

Am bookmarking this thread, as it is very relevant to my interests

See my Polysix drama here

Good luck, mate...110 quid sounds like a brilliant deal for all that work, I will also wait and see what the more experienced P6 users say.

[dougt]

Did the tech say he calibrated/tuned all the voices? It needs it especially after installing new chips. The procedure is here -

Old Crow's Synth Shop: Polysix "Mini" Service Manual

[Teknobeam]

Originally Posted by david1103

hello fellow analogue fanatics,

i have just got my polysix back from repair. i bought it broken for £150 and it didn't even play more than one note then. i got a good deal having it repaired locally for £110 which included new battery, sorting out the battery damage, 3 new voice chips and total setup.

The engineer said he spent a very long time tuning it and setting it up and it was a bit of a 'nightmare' to do

my question to you is, how good and tuned/uniform per voice should a polysix sound, and could mine be better?

i KNOW a vintage polysynth won't have perfect tuning! i just would like to know how it compares to other peoples and if mine could be better.

i think it sounds close to amazing in 'sound', but the tuning/envelope/volume inconsistencies per voice and across the keyboard makes it sound quite off sometimes. i have never owned a VCO polysynth, so am not sure what to expect.

i have run some tests and the results (after a 45min warm up) are attached:

Polysix 12 Same Notes Arp.mp3
------------------------------------
it's just a C note and the arp button pressed repeating the same note on same octave to test the voices. some notes have a slight different envelope, and the pitch is not quite the same for each.

i analysed them in melodyne and got the Polysix 12 Same Notes Arp Pitch Reading.jpg result. it shows exactly the pitch movement.

next is the same arp using all octaves:

Polysix 12 Same Note Octaves Arp.mp3
--------------------------------------------
and finally, a badly played melody by me, the tuning doesn't sound quite right?:

Polysix Playing.mp3
------------------------
i notice if notes are in tune in the middle of the keyboard, they will become more and more off as they go up and down.

Could things be better? Is it just a case of hours of tuning, or could a hardware fault/age means it can't get any better? Any Advice?

Many thanks!

I thought it sounded very good. It's easy to obsess over minutia sometimes. I have done it myself. Start using it to make some music. Nothing is ever perfect. Nothing.

[maisonvague]

Originally Posted by david1103

Could things be better? Is it just a case of hours of tuning, or could a hardware fault/age means it can't get any better?

I believe it could be better. You yourself have already noticed the two biggest issues that come to mind when I listen to your examples: uneven envelopes and bad tuning. The voice that is playing the fourth (and tenth) note in the sequence has a longer (larger) envelope than the other five voices -- just enough of a difference that it would bother me (others, perhaps not). The remaining five voices sound fine to me.

As for the tuning, the phenomenon you describe of notes getting more out of tune as you move away from the center of the keyboard has to do with the octave scaling of the VCOs. Ideally, a "C" played at the top of the keyboard should be in tune with a "C" played at the bottom of the keyboard. I wouldn't assume any hardware faults at this point. It just needs to have the octave scaling and envelopes adjusted.

[maisonvague]

I'll just add that in general I think your PolySix sounds pretty good! Nothing to worry about! It's never going to be perfect -- nor would you ever want it to be. I just think it could be improved a bit. Cheers.

[kpatz]

I'm sure it could be tuned better, especially the envelopes on that one voice.

Download the service manual and do it yourself if you have a scope. Even if you don't have a scope you can do 95% of it yourself. I calibrated my Polysix without a scope years ago.

It'll never be 100% perfect since it's analog (and that's the charm of it!) but it shouldn't be blatantly obvious by ear when cycling through the voices.

[dhollmusik]

Originally Posted by david1103

how good and tuned/uniform per voice should a polysix sound, and could mine be better?

We could do a comparison if you like. I have two Polysixes which require some voice calibration.

I'll upload some basic audio of slow arpeggiator loops and chords using a simple patch. The community here felt my Polysix sounded worse than yours, so at least it will give you some idea of 'ranking' in terms of how a good Polysix should sound.

Here for now is how one Polysix sounds:

http://soundcloud.com/elseedier/p6-note-test-after-hum

You can tell it has amplitude inconsistencies when in the second half I use the 6-voice unison mode.


and here are both together (not a test, but a spiel):

[Resonance5]

Originally Posted by alien radio

haha wow isn't that a casio pt 30?!

[Kenton]

Originally Posted by david1103

The engineer said he spent a very long time tuning it and setting it up and it was a bit of a 'nightmare' to do

Hi David, I'll be working in Brighton next week (Tues, Weds & Thurs) and, although it's been over 20 years since I last tuned a Poly6, I'd be happy to take a look at it and see if it could be improved.

Regards,
Ken.

[david1103]

thanks for your input everyone, and esp thanks to Kenton for his very kind offer! (have been away from web, i will PM you)

i think tuning is very important, and its not being obsessive. if you have a fine piano you should honour it and tune it well, same with this classic synth.

its great we are getting these sound examples on-line so people in the future have something to judge their tuning by.