One the first affordable polysynth with internal sequencer.
Once in your life you must have played of this little plastic chap! is this synth still worth a buy, even at low cost?
KEYBOARD ALL plastic synthesizer about 4.5 Kg featuring with 49 keys with no Velocity. >TIP< The Poly-800 exists also in special reversed keys version technically the same, a bit more hard to find, but not worth for collectors anyway.
Main panel features 3 sliders + 19 buttons and a simple numeric display with the down / up data entry single parameter per time, which is a bit awkward.
Back panel has these connections: Midi I/O (no Thru), one pair of stereo Outputs, Headphones out, Tape I/O, Switch tab memory protection. On both sides a pair of hooks to use the synthesizer it as a keytar in a pure '80 fashioned way.
Power supply is external with 9V AC/DC with negative on center,500 mA should be enough.
VOICE DCO is based on MSM5232 chip, well-known for some eighties arcade games.
It generates 8X digitally controlled voices assignable in 2 manners:
1. Double mode : 2 x 4 voices for a thicker richer sound.
2.
Whole mode :1 x 8 voices for more polyphony.
DCO has 2X waveforms 1.Sawtooth 2.Square with individual volume gain + 4 summable harmonics octaves 16' 8' 4' 2' + a white noise generator. > IHMO< sound is sometimes unusual with many sonic artefacts resulting pretty harsh, that could be interesting but it has absolutely NO bass bottom and sounds flat on lower octaves.
ENVELOPE 3X EG DEG :1X each DCO + another for Filter with 6 individual stages ADBSSR per DEGAttack / Decay /Break point /Slope /Sustain / Release
FILTER based on NJM2069 chip a resonant (but not self-resonant) analog 4-poles LowPass with classical Cutoff, Contour and Polarity reverse.
MOOGSLAYER FILTER MODDING like many CPU, Filter values are quantized in 99 numbers, but some nice guys made out some hardware modifications called Moogslayer, implementing 2 real time knobs for VCF Cutoff filter and Resonance that result no more digital steps. >TECH< I did this mod once but to the laptop version EX800 Moogslayer but it does not change much the machine anyway. Listen to this sample:
Moogslayer bass line test
LFO MG and modulates FILTER VCF and DCO pitch.
Low Frequency Modulator t has a single Triangular waveform with a Delay Start function and it is triggered by joystick control.
FX Stereo old fashioned Chorus, not as cool as Roland polymachines (like Juno 60) but if you are into these kind of effect,s it surely gives a warmer touch to your sounds.
MEMORY 64 RAM patch locations and NO ROM memory.
The synthesizer retains sounds with 6 x 1.5 V batteries in the dedicated slot, but there is a custom modification to implement a less expensive internal lithium 3V like standard Cr-2032.
Big miss: no Midi Sysex implementation.
SEQUENCER features 256 steps step sequencer with internal frequency or external Midi clock Sync. Rather old and uninspiring.
RELATED FAMILY
POLY800 II enhanced POLY800 with new motherboard and digital delay.
Ex800 Laptop version of poly800 mk1 with Midi thru and Midi sysex.
