KORG POLY-800 Analog Synthesizer 1984 | HQ DEMO

[kellyssa3]

looks like a toy but sound like a beast

[xXBlazeXx444]

how much did this cost?

[DanielDX27]

@MrModulator

"there are some vst-i;s that sound way better even when it comes to the typical analogue sounds"

Sorry but this would be the same to say that BMW is the better Mercedes. You say that the emulation of analog sounds is better than real analog sounds. Logic??

[AnalogAudio1]

@MrModulator I don't think that a vsti could emulate the Poly-800 very successfully. You say "vsti's that sound way better". What is "better"? An Arthuria Moog simulation? The cleaner - the better? Or simply different? You see - sound is a matter of taste...

[culturaleyes]

@MrModulator Hi, could you please recommend some vst's for these kinds of sounds?

[devmiles]

@MrModulator record the audio of an analog synth and record a vst, much you can see of the waveform and hear in the lows of analogs. vst's sound ok, some very good but turn pale when you compare them with their analog originators

[foreignexchange3]

why does this go for more than the 61 and does anyone know someone I can buy it from?

[dehelli1]

Hi,

mir gefallen die Sounds! Wie sieht es mit Datenblätter aus. Die könnte ich dann auch in meinem Poly 800 II eintippen?????

Lieben Gruß Helmut

[AnalogAudio1]

@dehelli1 nein, der Poly-800 ist absolut nicht kompatibel zum Poly-800 II. Selbst wenn du die gleichen Parameterwerte eintippst, bekommst du völlig unterschiedliche Sounds,

Die Parameter-Skalierung ist anders, auch der Klangcharakter unterscheidet sich deutlich vom originalen Poly-800. Diese warmen Analogflächen bekommst du beim Poly-800 II niemals hin.

[souljubilant12]

dude i love this!!! yr sounds amazing...i think i found a perfect cheap synth...one is going for 200 bucks WOW!

[BLeCHRecords]

cool

[Jokuout0]

I've been searching forever for the tune in 1:15 - 1:25. Does anyone know where it's from?

[davidtheguitarman]

@Jokuout0 it sounds like Jump - Eddie van halen

[trollfortehlulz]

:') amazing.

[weaselidiotu]

the very last patch sounds so nice

[jgk381]

wow, i love the sound of this. better than juno's, imo.

[LKJDFDG]

Great analog synth for the money

[Wardell43]

This is an easy Synth to Program. I know, because I can do it. I'm a Guitarist that is learning Synth. I Owned a Poly 800 in the late 1980's, A Poly 61, in the early 1990's, a Poly 800II in the Mid 1990's, and traded a DW 8000 for my current Poly 800. The Others had the battery issue and I didn't know a good tech to change it. I learned on the DW 8000 after I blew up the battery. These are great retro synthes!!!

[FlyingHorseKnuckles]

This is a really great demo! I have one of these. I made a ton of music with this keyboard. The midi function is a little iffy, but with patience it can work fine. I should post some of my old works some day, just to get this keyboard's sounds out there for posterity. Thanks for the post! ~Jon

[djparnate]

acieeeeeeeeeeed \o/

[zupamen]

wich preset number at minute 6.44?

[AnalogAudio1]

@zupamen these are not factory presets.

[Goth108]

you convinced me of getting one again <3

[douro20]

You could call it a poor man's Juno, especially when combined with a programmer. In some ways, it's actually better.

[douro20]

I have been able to produce some similar sounds on my DW8000, but of course this is a very different machine, and far more capable.

[douro20]

I think it was a Korg Poly 800 which was used quite extensively in the theme music to Rescue 911, composed by Richard Stone.

[francaisemusique]

omg this is an incredible sounding synth, nothing like todays models ! what kind of sound output do you need ? im guessing it does have audio sockets in the back ?

[francaisemusique]

omg this is an incredible sounding synth, nothing like todays models !

[SupercellTouchdown]

Is the poly 800 simply preset sounds or can you model your own? I'm thinking of getting one in the near future and that sequencer gave it a big yes but i need to know if its fully prgrammable too. Thanks, Alex.

[AnalogAudio1]

@SupercellTouchdown this is a real synthesizer, full programmable.

[DawnmistStudio]

I did a lot of my early music on one of these, you can hear on my album Three Wishes on Youtube. The sounds always make me tingle. Poor Poly is retired now but her spirit lives on in a new invention I use.

[kinmanyuen]

a-ha, early Tony Mansfield sound :)

[NEELAELISABET]

my first synth :-)

[Dopefish1990]

@NEELAELISABET Mine too and I bought these patches, they rock.

[theHackerOfMayhem]

Perfect instrument.... KORG's Legend.

[stuckinda8Os]

Van Halen's "Jump" at 00:37 lol

[demonicrubberducky]

Hey all, I got a question. I'm starting a symphonic black metal band, and my friend recommended my this set of keys. As a representative of a drummer and a bassist, would this thing be appropriate to fill this roll in? The sounds are beautiful, yes, but do you think it'd be good for SBM? I'm on a budget.

[AnalogAudio1]

@demonicrubberducky If analog synth sounds fit to your music style (I think so), then the Poly-800 would also fit. I think it's rather a question of sound programming, not necessarily of the synth model.

[rockethead555]

Analog, Analog thats the key word my dear people, Awesome sounds, outstanding keyboard skills, great demo, music is eternal.......thank you

[TootAzraqIndustries]

this is really good for 240p...

[Djeeloyt]

And add the 3 "w" and the dot just before.

[Djeeloyt]

and just add w w w . before it...

[countrymetalman]

Oh holy shit! This cheap old synthie sounds better as all todays Korg workstations!!!!!!!!! No digital or cheap glassy sound. Its the same sound quality as Roland Juno 106.

[VID525]

У нас в России группа Рок-Острова играла на таком синтезаторе с 1990 по 1991 год. Мне даже иногда кажется, что это их новые композиции.

[Wernerius100]

Awesome demo! Great sounds! I´m so glad that I have purchased that fantastic little synth again. To be honest, now I have my third poly-800... But this time I will keep him forever... ;-)

[theHackerOfMayhem]

@Wernerius100 These things  never sell again friend ;)

[DpbProductionz]

I want this keyboard so bad

[KodyBoy555]

@DpbProductionz It's intially a synthesizer.

[coolshit28]

Sounds fuckin' nice. Helps that you can play too. ;-)

[jrneme]

I had one and was always frustrated but oddly, I now miss it. I was in a band in the 80s and strapped it as a keytar. Hilarious now.

[lvrsnvy]

..just got the poly800.. i know it has a step sequencer but can the sequence play while i play over it with a diffrent patch? for ex:the sequencer is playing a bass patch #45 while im play a lead brass patch #28

[SuperGopie]

great!

[mishmoshable]

I bought this synthesizer very recently. Thanks for the detailed information and especially the tape programming. I've got a lot of exploring ahead of me with this.

[TheHevquip]

I've had one of these for over 10 years now, great synth.

[thumprock101]

@TheHevquip

what about the polysix?



[Jezro]

Like anything else, it's all about how you use this baby. If you ask me, huge dominating synths are not the point! I would rather have several one trick ponies than a large all in one synth...

[leknightcluber]

power fat bass like c64 :D

[tallyhoman911]

if i ever make a band im so using synth in it!

[44eelz]

did u just program 3 notes to be played on any one key at 3:37???

[jpirard]

had one of these as well. miss it !

[Sharikoff8]

Thank you for the awesome demo!



[venusprojection]

I want one

[SudoDSLAM]

Awesome demo! Loved every second of it. Makes me want to pick one of these up

[altraz2k]

OK Chef, da ich wohl morgen einen Poly 800 geschenkt bekomme, das Ding Midi hat und dein Soundset der Hammer in Tüten ist wäre es super wenn wir da ins Geschäft kommen! Hammer-Arbeit!

[tfavio1]

I have a Poly-800 II which I've had since around 1988, unfortunately the battery in it died + the power socket on the back kind of broke years ago, I'll have to dig it out and try and fix it after hearing this :). It was a great bass-machine + the built in sequencer was great for the EBM type stuff we were doing back then.

[lonelywolfy]

um, wow.. this sounds kind of awesome for such a budget synth!

[WhenDinosaursWereDjs]

THATS IN MY TOp TEN OF SYNTHS I WANT!

[MegaCrasher3000]

Thanks for the great demo.  Unique question here. I'm legally blind so LCD displays, especially when very heavily menu-driven, can pose a challenge for me. How easy is this unit to operate and what are the controls like? Do I get any real-time sliders or knobs for filter, LFO, etc.? What type of LCD is it? Any visual descriptions someone could provide would be so very helpful. Thank you!

[EFKA526]

Den kleinen Racker kriegt man auf EBay ja teilweise nachgeworfen. Einer der letzten bezahlbaren Analogen. Ich mag ihn sehr gerne, hab auch einen, und überlege grade mir einen 2. zu kaufen :D Großartiger Synth, großartiges Video. Die Sounds sind einach schön.

[KodyBoy555]

The parts:

From 0:00 to 0:14 should fit for a dream song perfomed by a animal musician from Georgia, set in 1985.

From 0:17 to 0:26 should fit for a dream song performed by a British animal band (based in London, England), set in 1988.

from 6:32 to 6:37 should fit for a dream song performed by a animal musician from Florida, set in 1984 (in my imagination).

[KodyBoy555]

I mean from 6:32 to 6:47 should fit for a dream song performed by a animal musician from Florida, set in 1984.

[KodyBoy555]

And that part from 0:17 to 0:26, should actually fit for a dream song performed by a animal pop band based in Shakopee, Minnesota. This would be set in 1988.

[Producing4life]

I got 1 coming to me in the mail. can you tell me a email where i can contact you and get the tape of these sounds.

[DieselProductions11]

I have Poly 800. Can you tell me how to do what you did starting at 2:57

[Dentz55]

@AnalogAudio1 Thanks for the advice, but I ended up with neither. Instead, I was given a poly61 for free!

[adamtheskunk]

6:15 - 6:30 sounds kind of like a small lick on incantation of dance and death by Bruce Haack.

[pmsan29]

Sounds wonderful to me! The sounds are so crisp and warm.

[oele]

going to buy a 800 on the strength of this review/demo.

thnx!

[isaacrife08]

I walked into the guitar center the other day ( my friend needed to look at drum heads and asked me to go along, on any other occation I would never go there) but I walked into the synth room and there was a KORG Poly 800 not plugged in ( big supprise) so I started ripping the instrument cable out of the other instruments and hooked it up and stayed there and played it for a good hour lmao

[brajtnerinjo]

It way a bit boring to program cos it doesn't have a slider, just two buttons... And mine also didn't have a memory backup battery. And it also looks kinda ugly - plasticky and cheap... But it's a nice analog synth, if you buy it fairly cheap. I sold mine and I bought a JX-3p with a programmer - it is much easier to program of course, but i think that the Poly had a tad warmer strings. But I would choose a 61 over the 800

[maccagrabme]

@andrewgoldringmusic I have both and I think the Juno is far better at pads and bass although the sounds here are nice! I just think the Juno is warmer and fatter. Worth having both if you like the sounds and they are cheap.

[coachcdobbs]

Is there any way to control the speed of the VCF? Im curious because I just picked up one of these and am about to use it in the studio. I love some of the almost arpeggiator type things you can do with the VCF but the speeds varie from program to program. Can anyone help me out here?

[r4x2]

Got mine for $40 at Goodwill. Sounds amazing.

[EFKA526]

Danke für das Video. Mein Poly 800 ist ganz rot vor Scham, sonst schimpfen alle immer auf ihn aber das Video hier zeigt was der kleine Kerl kann. Sehr sehr geil, Favorit und gleich mal aboniert.

[VVooDz]

My parents bought me one of these back in 1985, instead of the typical Casio's that were on sale at the time. I still have it... Beautiful piece of machinery.

[wastemick]

Thank you for posting this video, which contains a good demonstration and description, but I heard also that you have to back sounds onto tape, do you know how it works?

Thank you!

Mick

[JonMcElectro]

Used to own one of them in 2004. Great for creating Bell Sounds, plus others.

[BurningHotels85]

Hello,

I tried finding your email...but can find it. Please let me know how I can get in touch to get these patches...

Chance

[BurningHotels85]

Hello,

I tried finding your email...but can find it. Please let me know how I can get in touch to get these patches...

Chance

[Enufo]

so beautiful Synth, I'm close tu buy one! greetings! good demo!

[Squeeblebibble]

The Bottom Portion Of My Keys Don't Work, Any Reason Why?

[mummstylesound]

Die beste Poly 800 Demo im Netz (Meinung des Kommentators)!

[GanEdenAustralia]

Who would you load presets into this synth from a PC?

[drummerboy398]

I have one, but I cannot get it to turn on....ARRRRRRR...got to get someone to work on it. I've used it before, LOVE the sounds.

[ZobiLaCheum]

@drummerboy398 If I remember well, there's a lithium (I think it's lithium) battery that you must change after a few years. Have you tried this?

[drummerboy398]

@ZobiLaCheum I haven't. Where would that be located? Thanks

[MrStevon123]

Hey i just got one of these and i can only get about three sounds on it. Did you make these patches or are they pre-sets?

[AnalogAudio1]

@MrStevon123 these are all my patches. For more info - see the video description.

[sciences8]

@AnalogAudio1

Hey , was this modded at all? With either moog slayer or atomic hawk?

Do you recommend the moog slayer? I want to try it lol.

[soundandcircuit]

@MrStevon123 Hello there! You might need to reload the program cassette. You can run across them on ebay for pretty cheap.

[ksnax]

@soundandcircuit Or better yet, download the mp3 file!

Try analog.no

It's still very finicky about levels, but it works fine.

[JusticeDanger]

02:47 sounds just like "Year Of Silence" by Crystal Castles ;D

[AnalogAudio1]

@JusticeDanger yes, you're right! I searched after it in Youtube. Funny, but I never heard this song before...

[Capta1nHowdy]

Honestly dude, you have copyright precedence on that little riff, they ripped you off.

[gjc82071]

I haven't changed the internal battery in my Poly 800 since I got it in 84, & the F$#@er still works! That's like some freak'n NASA nuclear battery for space satellites & shit!

[mooshiko]

the batt in mine is still kickin too--moog slayer modded tho ;) ~mooshiko.com

[thepwnerist]

how much are sythesizers?

[omarnavarroa]

me muero por tener uno de esos contacatarme please

[BFCgamers]

I have one of these

[pixusbubblejet]

its the microkorg of the 80s

[kinderspiel27]

Hi, I am thinking of getting one because I really want analog and am on a budget : ) What is the difference between 800 and 800 II?

[AnalogAudio1]

@kinderspiel27 The most important difference is that the MK II has a built in digital delay instead of the chorus.

But the MK 1 has a better, smoother filter - I would prefer it.

[TheArtsworks]

And the second one is the total control with SYSEX parameters !!!

[bckm54]

Hi, Analog, I just found my old Korg 800 Poly II that I played millions of years ago but forgot I had. I don't have any of the cords; could you tell me what cords I need to get it up and running? I have stereo speakers I can plug them into (strictly for home use) and that cord, but no others. I must have loved it or I wouldnt have kept it for over 30 years... :) Thanks! :)

[AnalogAudio1]

@bckm54 Hi, you need 6,3 jacks. A guitar cable will do the job.

[bckm54]

At the risk of sounding stupid, what is a "6,3" jack? Also, what kind of power cord? will one of those "universal adapter" type cords work, or did Korg have a specific power cord just for that keyboard? Sorry to seem so out of date, but it HAS been 30 years since I last played it... Thanks! :)

[AnalogAudio1]

@bckm54 you can also use an universal adapter as power cord.

[maccagrabme]

This is agreat sounding synth, excellent pads and nice 80s bass but I was shocked at how close the Poly 850 vsti demo was to the real thing, it complements the hardware almost perfectly to my ears. I had to turn down the volume on the real thing to make sure it was the software actually playing.

[AnalogAudio1]

@maccagrabme For my ears the vsti demo is not close. It sounds rather digital.

[maccagrabme]

AnalogAudio1, what I mean is a very close tone that sits well with the hardware. How do I go about getting your patches through paypal please, I like them? Silly question too, when scrolling through the patches how do you dial in digit 9? cheers

[AnalogAudio1]

@maccagrabme there is no number 9 ;-) also there is no zero.

patch numbers are 11-18, 21-28, 31-38 and so on...

for PayPal, I need your email addresss.

[synthmx]

hey AnalogAudio1, can you help me backup my poly800II via sysex? I dont know how to send the dump command to the poly.. :(

[AnalogAudio1]

@synthmx you can download the manual for free! There is everything described. Google...

[MoogKorgfan]

Especially powerful synth -3 complex e.g.'s- i remember hooking up an ex-800 and feeling there was no limit to my chording power! Hearing these sounds takes me back!! I was pennyless, but the sound ...

[TheMCMXXL]

Hm. Three Envs also been found on the DW-Series. I don´t like the Poly800 because of the strange sound artifacts, mostly in the lower region and this "maybe"-Sawtooth-.waveform.

[AnalogAudio1]

@TheMCMXXL the "strange sound artefacts" come from the squarewave sound architecture. It belongs to its character. Poly-800 rules... love it or leave it ;.)

[SynthWho]

It sounds beatiful here, makes me regret selling mine, the strings and pads sound warm and lush and nicer than my Juno 1 :O

[keepitacrime]

is this worth getting?

[ec101dm]

and I thought it would sound bad, after reading so many negative reviews???

sounds beautiful to me. verrrrrrry 80's!!!

[br0therl0c0]

Ah, memories :-)

[spoonster12]

I don't understand why some people continue to hate on the Poly 800. For a vintage synth with two DCOs and a VCF that you can still get for under $200, it sounds really good to me. I bought a mk II at a pawn shop several years ago for around $75. I will never sell it. Very capable early 80s polysynth.

[guntforsure]

its cool.. really f-ing hard to program sounds.. but im still early on in my learning .. agreed though.

[AnalogAudio1]

common, programming is very easy... (if you know how to program analog synths)

it's not as comfortable as on a Polysix, but easier than on a Roland Alpha Juno 1/2.

[raistaparta]

Great synth indeed. Underrated. One of the few that still go for an acceptable price (i.e. good value for money) on the vintage synth market.

The 800 II has a very cool digital delay that can make some really twisted effects.

[Charity563]

Maybe a stupid question, but does it have the original piano sound??

[AnalogAudio1]

I can't remeber any outstanding piano sounds in the factory presets. But you can't really expect good pianos from the Poly-800... :-) The Poly800 is great for typical analog synth sounds.

[Charity563]

Okei, thanks...now I know :)

I actually have the Poly-800, I got it 20 years ago.... and it still works :)

[framus90]

GREAT!

underrated video...

[tekkentool]

didn't know these could sound that nice.

[magevers]

Great demo!

It was one of mine favorite synth's in the early 80's!

Thanks for posting.

[sauermusicDE]

Fantastic video. It really shows how GOOD the Poly 800 can sound.

[grasuh]

5:28 sounds like Oxygene5 intro :)

[Dovinia]

Very nice demo! I used to own one of these. It's fun to program, although a bit cumbersome. "Jean-Michel Jarre had one! There is a picture, which shows Jarre with a reversed-key Poly-800 in his studio. " - well the picture shows him actually sleeping beside a Poly 800 ;-) As a very cheap introduction to polyphonic synths this is a good one. Personally I found that most of the sounds had an annoying "accordion" like vibe to them. But this is of course a matter of taste.

[maxauto44e]

so beautiful