Korg Mono/Poly
4 oscillators and a lot of tweakable power. The Mono/Poly was released in 1982 as a monophonic synth that could use it's 4 oscillators to play 4 voice polyphony. Clever idea, but the Mono/Poly is not viewed as being very practical for polyphonic use. The reason being that each voice is set up in real time in much the same way as an Oberheim 4/8-voice. However, there are people who would give an arm and a leg for an Oberheim 4-voice, and at least a few fingers and toes for the Mono/Poly. The true strength for this unit would be as a four stacked oscillator mono synth, an apealing strength indeed. Includes arpeggiator, chord memory (when in polyphonic mode), a 3 and a half octave keyboard and a generous helping of in and outs (CV in/out, VCO, VCF, portamento in, a trigger for the arpeggiator, headphones and of course an audio out).
Average Advertised Price:
$400 to $600 seems to be what I recall seeing this unit advertised for.
Jetboy's Humble Opinion Of Worth:
Hmmm, I'm going to take a blind stab and say $450. The seller definitely has the advantage on this synth, as the Mono/Poly is reasonably popular yet in short (but not rare) supply (and not Air Supply either).
Jetboy's Review - One peppy little puppy. If you see one for sale buy it. If you don't like it you'll get your money back with a quick sale. One of the most cleverly named synths (time for me to say something dorky: "For a free pass out of dull audio jail, get a Mono/Poly" - I should have been in advertising...).
Mohorific at dob@kiva.net poetically praises: Plain and simple, the Mono/poly kicks ass. If you don't like it, I don't know what's wrong with you. Leads and basses are its specialty. If the Moog sound is a power saw, the Korg analog sound is a scalpel, and the Mono is no exception. Play a chord, hit the CHORD MEMORY button, and bam, you're playing that same chord monophonically. You can arpeggiate this as well, giving you polyphonic arpeggiation. Turn on the arpeggiator, play a chord with an odd number of notes, then push the POLY button. Set the OSCs to different waveforms, octaves, and volumes, and you get the most crazy effect where the OSCs randomly come in and out of the mix. It's the bomb. The last thing that really sets this beast apart from the others is its "effects" section. You can choose between cross modulation or sync or both, and both will really screw up the sound and take it to unbelievable levels of expressiveness. The layout is a bit complex, but once you figure it out you'll be able to! get around most other analogs with ease. I got mine for $250 from someone who thought it was busted. I took off the top, and there was a wire hanging loose. Plugged it in, and the thing is now in MINT condition. If you find one cheap, don't pass it up.. This synth is totally awesome.
For another groovy image of the Mono/Poly, click here.
