What poly synths are exciting to you lately?

Udo Super 6. Ever since this demo https://youtu.be/Z324F47wVFo?si=D_RMid-7J4dXC6sn

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Would love to have hear your take on the rs6 I’m on the look out for a poly and was always going to be the peak but have been keeping an eye on the rs6.

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In light of your criteria, and synths I’ve played a lot, you could look at the Sequential Prophet 6 and OB-6, if they’re not too pricey where you live. They are versatile re the roles they can play (although OB-6 is probably a fatter bass synth). I’d suggest trying before committing if possible (or doing a 30 day buy-and-try if your retailers do that), because each of those two synths has a very distinctive sound you might like or hate.

The Peak is a very flexible polysynth, although the non-subtractive features (FM, wavetables, fx editing) are good but not knob-per-function, you have to dive for that stuff. I don’t personally think the Peak sounds like a VCO-style analog with the filter open, but it is a good chameleon for many sounds and has a lot of modulation, much more than the OB-6 and P-6.

I’ve always thought the Summit might be even better than the Peak but haven’t played one. Bigger footprint, obviously.

The Waldorf M is a wonderful synth and can stand in for an analog poly for some pad sounds (IMO), because it has nice analog filters. At heart it is definitely a wavetable synth, but it has good knob-per-function for wavetabling. The interface can be a little confusing for the LFOs (I’ve never gotten deep into that), and the envelopes have shared controls, whereas P-6, OB-6 and other old school synths give you separate ADSR knobs for each envelope.

Hope this helps.

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really liking what i hear from the waldorf protein. have successfully stopped myself from spending too much on a xt and didn’t think xenia sounded very good. PH mk3 was amazing but too few voices. protein sounds like everything I would want at a crazy price. excited to run it through my ms-20 filter :flying_saucer:

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just going to give a shout out to my polys, two of which already mentioned:

  • ob6 / just oh so warm and full. fairly straightforward and the filter (bi-polar ADSR contour generator) is :ok_hand:t3:
  • waldorf m / such a lush and beautiful controlled grit to it. using your own user waveforms is a pain, but other than that, it’s quite a deep synth especially when upgrade w/ the additional 8 voices.
  • novation nova desktop / kinda old, but such a solid virtual analog especially l if you can nab one for a good price. it’s multitimbrality really makes it shine as does it’s modulation depth.

For Poly duties I have a Virus TI2 Polar in the studio. Love it, it’s just amazingly built hardware, and it’s my masterkeyboard too. Now I’m putting a portable live setup together and need something portable for poly/pad sounds. I love gritty wavetables through a nice filter, and I have the PH MKIII in my modular rack. The Polyvera would be my absolute favorite for the sound and interface, but I think it’s a bit too big to take on the road. At the moment my JU06a is taking that part, but 4 voices are not enough and yeahh… I love the sound, but it’s always that Juno sound. I’m strongly looking at the Protein now — it could check all the boxes. The envelope controls look a bit complicated, but you can’t have it all in such a compact package. And I love the sound of the Waldorf M too! Like it even better than the 3rd Wave. Polyvera and the M are definitely my favorite sounding synths that you can buy new. oooh… and the : Twisted Electrons - TwistFM !!! This one is ACE too !

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I’ll put in a good word for the Sequential Fourm. I don’t own one, but I’ve had a few sessions in store with one and came away very impressed with the sound, build quality, and keybed. It’s a sturdy little analog poly with full MPE and 95% controllable from the surface panel. If it was any bigger or more complicated, it’d be too much of a hassle compared to my VSTs and a MIDI controller, but as it is, it’s in a real sweet spot for handling. I think it’ll be my next synth, unless they make an Oberheim version soon.

I find that for a polysynth, 6 voices is the minimum to cover enough chord/pad work. Sure, the Fourm is really cool and even a better price/ratio than the Take 5 and Teo 5 — that are also missing one important note. There’s a reason why Sequential have quite a big jump in price to get into 6-voice territory. :wink:

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ATM, I’m pretty exited by Tonverk as a poly synth, it brings lots of possibilities, even though it is far less complex than a “real” synth (like a Microwave X, MicroQ or Virus). I still find the Korg Modwave pretty exciting, but it is simply too big for the space I have.

Interesting, I just spent a bit of time with Xenia when extracting the wavetables for use in my TV, and I liked it a lot, maybe I need to take my headphones and take to check if that is just nostaliga. I found myself checking prices on XTs, there’s no way I can justify €1000-1200 for one of these at the moment.

But I wonder if Xenia can be ported to a RasPi, that way Waldorf could release the MW 2/TX in a new and cheaper format (like the RasPi-based Korg synths).

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I’m a little more interested in Iridium Mk2 now :joy:

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I would like to find a more raw sounding analog synth.

I have the Redshift6 and Prophet 6 and they are amazing and more then I will ever need however always wish I could get a more raw sound if that makes any sense.

I always read the Prophet 5 is raw sounding / less polished etc and would like to try one. Or maybe I am wanting something thats in my head lol

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Yeh, great that… it was the one that influenced me buying one, alongside these:

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Elta and Vladi are releasing a Polivoks 8 voice. That could be rough…

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Thanks for the recommendations! Yeah, I am actually really considering the Prophet 6, the more that I look into different Polys.

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maybe I wanted to like it too much and had too high hopes. it generally had this very dirty and clipped sound to me, and felt like i would tweak it endlessly and just get a bunch of mush. never had that feeling with mw1 vst or any of the piston hondas. still very interested in trying out a xt though.

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I love the P6 (actually more than the OB-6, which seems to be more popular on the synth forums). But see what you think, the Prophet 6 is a very specific timbral “flavor.”

Nowadays the Prophet 5 reissue is almost the same price as the P6, if that interests you. I already have the P6 and don’t like to be always swapping instruments in and out, so I haven’t paid much attention to it. But I’m betting that P5 and P6 sound different, and many people seem to really love the 5. fwiw.

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I hope they eventually release a keyboard version of the Polivoks 8 with aftertouch and MPE as I really dislike using external leyboards

I recommend the Prophet-6 as well. I’ve owned mine for 6 years. It’s a chameleon and it’s got its own flavor when pushed in other directions. I still dial in sounds I’ve never made before with it.

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The fact that the peak gives you a classic subtractive knob per function experience but then has the ability to be like “I’m gonna add some wavetable to this” or “let’s add a pinch of fm” is so great though even if you do need to menu a little

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The one I’m always excited to play? Roland System-8. The one I’m always excited to patch? Synclavier Regen.

Honorable mentions:

  • Leviasynth — I think they made it the weirdest, most unintuitive way possible. But if you’re bored of how ‘simple’ FM is, this will make it interesting again.
  • Prophet 12 — on the other side, a synth with an almost magical UI that does dusty VA like nothing else.
  • MODX M6— the workstation UI can be a drag, but this is world class PCM, VA, and FM engines that are the envy of the industry in one amazing package.
  • Trigon-6 — my favorite Moog since the Voyager
  • Micromonsta 2 — can literally give any of the above a run for their money at 1/8th the size and price
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