Is the Opus 3, or the Polymoog a better synth keyboard? I know the Poly has more keys and is touch-sensitive, but is it still a match for the Opus? Just curious.
The opus and polymoog are very different, so it’s hard to say what is “better.”
Both are now old and problems are common with either, so it comes down to the units themselves too.
The opus has chorus that the polymoog doesn’t have, but the polymoog can do a lot more to the sound overall and control other synths from the keyboard.
You can run external sounds through the PM’s resonator and VCF, but an Opus requires modding to get ext audio through its chorus and VCF.
Apples and oranges.
Is the Polymoog not velocity sensitive ?
The old Opus wasn’t, so that’s One-Nil to the Poly!..
HRx
Actually, didn’t the first 300 Polymoogs require a ton of revisions and repairs? I’ve never read anything about the Opus suffering major failures.
[Bottom of the 2nd inning; Score: 1 - 1] 
Ah, but if you buy one now those repairs/revisions will have been done…
[Equalizer!!]
And the Polymoog looks cooler!!
2-1
HRx
Actually, didn’t the first 300 Polymoogs require a ton of revisions and repairs?
The correct story is that the Polymoog needed 200 engineering changes (EC) before it could go into production. 200 ECs is a LOT of changes. Prototype units had a keyboard to low C, then changed to low F, finally to low E for production. Retooling keyboards for production is not cakewalk.
Polymoogs above serial #3900 (full synths with 9 presets and panel full of sliders) had ALL the reliability updates implemented in production. I have #4032 and it has survived many club gigs. Moog production serial #'s start at #1001. That’s a lot of Polymoogs.
I have the service manual and it describes the reliability updates - LOTS of modifications.
I don’t know the serial/reliability history of the 14 preset Polymoog “keyboards”.
And they do look cool 
Oh well, but I doubt you can find one with the affordability that I’ve seen the Opus go for. The Polymoog also seems much more cumbersome to take to a gig. Not to mention, the preset buttons (on either the synth, or the keyboard) could be prioritized above the editing functions. On the Opus, you have presets, but you’ve got to get creative, without having to press a lot of buttons. I think it bridges the gap between the string synth and the classic Moog.
I think it does… But in a “Pont d’Avignon” kinda way, leaving a big gap over which one is required to leap!!
HRx
On the Opus, you have presets
Opus does not have presets. It has a complete live panel but no preset or memory recall of patches.
As for the Opus, they can suffer worn out sliders, broken switches, bad chorus chips and dividers and they had the foam inside that turns to goo.
Fwiw, Polymoogs even of the later serial numbers, with all the updates, can still be in bad condition or require cleaning and calibration, neither of which is a walk in the park. A slight setting off in a polymoog can render it pretty strange.
A keyboard with 72 notes and several contacts for each one is a cleaning nightmare.
I have a polymoog in now. Later serial number, played only a handful of times and stored all these years. The sliders and key contacts are horrible and the power supply needed rebuilding. I have more hours into servicing it than were spent playing the unit originally.
My own Polymoog, bought new in 1979, was a later serial number and died 6 years later. Cost $4500 and I ended up giving it away.
Does anyone still use a polymoog? I can’t believe that mine still works, even so i don’t find myself reaching for it very often anymore. 
Mine still works and I don’t use it anymore either. I bought new legs, chopped the legs, and the Polymoog is now a coffeetable.
Hey I lost both coffeetables in the divorce. I needed SOMETHING…
Next time, MC, ask the people at Moog Music to build you a coffeetable out of scrap walnut that isn’t going towards Minimoog Voyager casing.
Hi folks,
I still use my Polymoogs a lot.
If you love them and say nice things to them, they probably might behave. Don´t forget: they are females, so be careful.
Which puts me right to the topic of the divorce and the coffeetable:
MC, if you had consulted me for your divorce, you might have kept your old coffeetables; I would have taken your Polymoog instead of the charges (big grin).