Analog Poly Synths w/ Analog Controls (no presets)

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

I would like to know about analog poly synths (at least 3 voices) that have pure voltage controls for the LFOs, filters, and amps; no digital controls; no preset saving. Just pure continuous electricity.

Anyone know of any?

I know about the old Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim stuff, so we can skip right over those.

Anything goes: vintage gear, boutique companies, DIY kits, etc. I would prefer to know about new synths from active modern companies, but honestly I can’t seem to find anything at all, so my ears are open for whatever. My search engine skills apparently are useless in this modern era of advertising, so that is why I am posting this topic here.

Thanks for your time!

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Looking for a simple polyphonic analog keyboard synth
#2

Vermona Perfourmer?

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#3

I guess this new cs80 is fully analog :
https://youtu.be/BNf0kpidGc4

Oops, it has preset so, it is digitally control from the pots.

#4

The Moog Matriarch may come the closest to what you’re looking for in terms of synthesizers being manufactured right now. It isn’t truly polyphonic, however, – they describe it as paraphonic, which I believe means that each of the four oscillators share the same filter, LFO, etc.

You may be hard-pressed to find a modern analog, polyphonic synthesizer that does not have presets/digital control. How those presets and control schemes are implemented, however, varies a lot. I have a Dave Smith mopho 4X, for example, where you get an indication on the screen of what the preset value of a particular control/knob position is, making it relatively easy to figure out where things are as you move from preset to preset. You’re also under no obligation to use the presets – most preset synthesizers these days have a “panel” function that allows you to hear the results of whatever the current knob positions are, regardless of what preset you might have loaded.

I used to have an OB6, which sounded glorious, but I couldn’t get around the interface – going from one preset to another, you have no idea what the knob positions are until you start moving things and stuff jumps around all over the place. Not for me. Kind of wish I still had it, though.

I’d love to get my hands on a Melbourne instruments, Nina, which seems to have solved a lot of the interface issues by having motorized rotary controls that move as you change presets. It’s also 12 voices. But those features com at a cost: I think it’s $3500. Someday, maybe.

Keep us posted on what you decide to do!

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#5

The only one I can think of is the Roland Juno 6. Most analog polys have preset management. Not sure why you wouldn’t want presets.

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#6

It’s not really about the presets. I’m interested in synths that don’t use digital controls. Analog controls have more of an organic feeling and digital controls can have some dead zones if the resolution isn’t high enough. I want to see what sort of options are out there for pure analog electrical connections with rheostats that directly interact with the audio signal without that digital middle-man.

#7

Because that little dot shows on the display when you are at the correct setting Ive always found it easy to get everything lined up.

Feel it really lacking when a synth doesn’t even have that.

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#8

Off topic, but the endless encoders are yet another reason why I love the Cobalt 8(m). No knob jumping, but it still has a very hands on interface.

OP, another poly synth I just remembered without presets but is fully analog- the Korg Delta. I had one for a few years a while back. Sounds great. Always wished it had presets, haha.

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#9

Timbre Wolf

(no LFO)

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#10

I also had a Delta for years !
My first analog synth.
Sold it when I bought my A4.
I miss it a bit now, it has those old school vibes !

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#11

I totally forgot about that little dot! But, I guess that’s kind of the argument, in a way – for whatever reason it wasn’t enough for my brain. My BassStation II had two dots to show whether a value was above or below the current knob position, which was more helpful.

For the OP: a quite expensive but perhaps worthwhile possibility to consider is going modular. Doepfer made a series of modules a few years ago for polyphonic use. It’s designed as a four-voice system with modules for oscillators (A-111-4), filters (A-105-4), VCAs (A-132-8) and ASDRs (A141-4), plus a controller module with USB and 5-pin MIDI (A-190-5). If you don’t already have a controller you want to use, you could stick all of those (except the controller, which wouldn’t be necessary) into something like a Cre8audio NiftyKeyz keyboard and you have a very analog polysynth. Xoac Devices also offers modules with multiple, independently controllable envelopes (Zadar) and LFOs (Batumi) that could be integrated into such a system.

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#12

Korg PS-3300:

Gleeman Pentaphonic:

https://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/pentaphonic.php

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#13

Excellent info. Thanks!

I’ve avoided the world of modular, it’s still a bit over my head. But every year I get closer and closer to entering that world. It’s really an amazing music-making universe. One day it’s gonna happen haha.

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#14

Vermona perfourmer is entirely analog.

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#15

eurorack case akin to Cre8audio NiftyKEYZ can probably hold 4 voice amount of poly
its going to be a more expensive version of grandmother, but you can pick and choose pure cv components + have more optons for routings + true poly if you stack filters, envelopes and lfos

but also vermona perfourmer rocks :+1:

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#16

Korg Mono/Poly. I had one. Enormous monster of a thing.

Blehringer made a version of it.

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#17

Crumar Stratus or the more generously equipped Trilogy (which had a string section and ‘presets’ as well as the organ and synth sections shared with the Stratus). They were both a bit of an oddity in that they used divide down oscillators which fed into 6 synth voices based around CEM 3310/3320/3330 chips tied to pairs of notes across the keyboard. This was because the synth didn’t have any voice allocation as it didn’t run under digital control (no CPU etc).

Likewise the presets on the Trilogy weren’t stored digitally; each preset accessed a bank of trimmer pots under the hood that mirrored the front panel controls. The good news is that because the oscillators used were divide down you got full 49 note polyphony but the filter allocation meant retriggering of notes occurred if that VCF was already ‘in use’. Osc mod is limited (being TOS based) although there was glide, ‘sync’ and the ability to switch between saw and square waves per key press or by the LFO.

Its big, dated, limited and fairly scarce but it fills your criteria. Similar in many ways to the Korg Delta but with a more comprehensive and better sounding synth section.

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#18

The JP 4 had 8 user presets as well as the fixed factory presets. The front panel controls were scanned by the CPU and stored in memory so it’s a very early digitally controlled analogue synth

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#19

Dreadbox Abyss?

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#20

I stand corrected.
Thought I read somewhere there were only fixed presets.
Never played one, sadly, nor the Promars.
They’re some of the coolest looking synths imo.

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