What's the point of a polysynth?

[panamabirthcanal]

It seems to me pointless to have an analog synth that plays chords. The sound of the Voyager is so fat that why would you want to multiply it? I understand the need for harmony, but why not just use a real keyboard like a clavinet or Rhodes for chords? In my opinion an analog synth should be monophonic, like a saxaphone is monophonic. To each his own, but to me analog synths were made to play new and interesting sounds with rich resonant possibilities, not to create something just to play harmonies. And multitimbral chords hardly ever work because it just gets muddy. That is where the genius of the minimoog comes in. I am a musician more than a sound designer, and I definitely use harmonies extensively, but using a synthesizer for that seems counter intuitive.

[anoteoftruth]

Every hear a Jupiter-8?

[Just Me]

Yeah, or a Prophet 5, Chroma or Matrix 12? Must have been no point.

[Voltor07]

This is why. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQLmEN47z-E

[anoteoftruth]

Jeez... no matter how much synth porn I look at.. nothing turns me on like a MemoryMoog lol.

[Subtronik]

This is why. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQLmEN47z-E

Best reply

[david]

Great video, but not playing 'polyphonically'. Mostly arpeggios that could be played with a Voyager! I have an Oberheim Xpander (my one analog poly) and I do find myself playing fewer simultaneous notes the more complex the sound.

[Just Me]

To me the poly isn't really about chording. It is about attacks and decays of played notes and overlap. If I have a nice sound with a moderate release time, I want it to decay out as the next note triggers and plays.
It's also nice to be able to lay down some wide and varying intervals instead of being stuck with the programmed 3rd, 4th or 5th interval, etc.

[nikola]

I have an Oberheim Xpander (my one analog poly) and I do find myself playing fewer simultaneous notes the more complex the sound.

same here, usually i play intervals on my juno 60, and building cords with single bass or melody sounds coming from phatty.

sometimes i do play tree notes at the time on juno, but that is very rare, and not to get harmony, it's more like some wierd cluster chords ... or playing bass in left hand, maybe an octave, and melody in other hand.

yea, well i ques i do need a poly...moog!!! :(spiking of that video of yours voltor07)


certainly, no problem playing brassy, sparkling 80' chords on juno, but i don't wanna sound like eighty's

edit:

maybe if juno 60 would have aftertouch and velocity, things would be somehow different

[EricK]

Prophet 10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFwINV0C8_Y


I have to ask you though, and please, please don't take this the wrong way or consider this to be of malicious intent towards you or anything like that. Its just sort of perplexing to me that one would register for a forum such as this and then make some potentially inflamatory remarks like "Why would anyone want to buy the T3 if they already have a Voyager or Phatty?" or "Whats the point of a polysynth?"

Initially, Bob and others wondered if they even wanted their Synth to have a keyboard controller attatched, because of the things that electronic musicians were doing in that time (music concrete, etc) and the Oscs weren't even really designed to produce accurate musical tones. Finally, they decided to put a keyboard controller on it and the first modular synth prototype "The Abominatron" was polyphonic.

Its sort of like me going on the Les Paul Guitar forum and asking "Whats the point of an electric guitar, when you plug it in and turn it up, it just gets all distorted and loses its tonality."

Forgive me if you think im being out of line here, but you see what I mean?

The point of a polysynth is that generally, most people who can get around on a piano, want to play more than 1 note at a time, if skill allows. Now, with a synth that sounds as good as a MiniMoog, if they want to play chords, they have to multi-track, which can be time and space consuming, depending on the format you are recording on. A Steinway grand will sound muddy if you play enough of the wrong keys together. If people wanted a Rhodes sound (I own a Rhodes, big fan of Moog and Rhodes sound....nothing in the world like it) they would buy a Rhodes or a keyboard that emulated a Rhodes. If they want clavi, they get a clavi. Music, being an art form, lends itself to using any and all means of expression, and if an artist wants a polyphonic synth, and it suits the particular style they are playing in (for example, a clavi won't produce PAD sounds associated with a lot of 80's music, and a Rhodes won't do string emulations) then the point of a polysynth becomes very evident.

Paint on a palette gets muddy when you mix the wrong colors, so its not so much the instrument's fault as it is the person playing, as Just Me illustrated.

Again, Please don't take this the wrong way.


Respectfully,
Eric

[Subtronik]

Great video, but not playing 'polyphonically'.

Wow, you missed the polyphony? Watch it again from 0:12 - 0:20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQLmEN47z-E

He's not going chord crazy, but the argument for polyphonic analog is made there in eight seconds.

Here's some Polymoog examples with more polyphony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_ijprswhOA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLA7JRsYfuc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8e9J614fXU

[Klopfgeist]

What's the point of using a moog if you can get more sounds and notes with a motif or a fantom?

[anoteoftruth]

What's the point of using a moog if you can get more sounds and notes with a motif or a fantom?

*facepalm*

[panamabirthcanal]

Not trying to be inflammatory, just trying to start a discussion. Different musicians have different needs of course, as I alluded to in my post. But when I hear chords coming out of something like the memorymoog, it just sounds pointless to my ear. I have heard all of the polys out there and to me it clouds the sound. But then again at least 80% of the synth sounds out there there analog or digital sound like crap to me. It's all about getting that one good sound where you can play just one note (not at a time, just one note like a C#) and get profound satisfaction. I come from an Indian classical music background as well, where there is no such thing as sonorous harmony, and just one note of a Sarod or Sarangi can make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

Oh yeah, the post about the modulars in a way kind of backs my point. The first widely known synths were monophonic, and the crazy sounds were the objective. Polysynths were made in a race to create something for musicians (like the memorymoog was created in response to the prophet), not sound designers. A sound designer who does not know much about music theory would have not much use for a polysynth, and in that way they kind of defeat the purpose. Though I am a musician, I use synths more for sound design. Why not create a polyphonic trumpet?

[nikola]

brass sections ?

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