I had a Sonic Six up until last year.
I found that most of the reviews I read about it were largely false… usually written by people who had no experience with analog synths.
It is a wonderful synthesizer… and can be used for anything that you would use an analog synthesizer for.
Don’t believe the tuning hype. Yes, it needs tuning. Analog synths need tuning. How much tuning it needs will depend on your particular keyboard… but… the tuning is worth it.
It has, despite containing an early IC, a very discrete sound!
It does not sound like a Moog, really… and despite having a SORT of ladder filter… it does not sound like it has a ladder filter. But, hey… it isn’t all about the ladder filter. The Sonic Six is a great sounding synth regardless… if you like the early discrete sound.
The Sonic Six is duophonic! And, the duophony is WONDERFUL. One of the few duophonic analogs.
Yes, due to the duo-LFO, the Sonic Six is capapble of wacky noises. This is not a bad thing… this means it is POWERFUL! It is capable of a true diversity of noises, both musical and other.
The direct-oscillators are not useless. They’re actually great for flavoring the sound. You don’t have to turn them all the way up. ; ) They’re also good for use with modulars.
The true ring mod is really nice too… and the direct out from that is also great.
Aesthetically… at least in my opinion… you couldn’t find a cooler looking synthesizer!
The only negative factors concerning the Sonic Six:
The AR envelope… SINGLE… is not very helpful.
It is made of plastic.
Some pots have off switches, and some don’t… which might encourage you to break a non-off pot.
It’s nearly impossible to set the thing on a stand without a board… it was designed for table-top. (I think it fit atop my Wurlitzer, too)
There is a giant interconnect inside of it that is lame at best… very problematic. It leads to pitch problems. If you have one oscillator that isn’t tracking, for instance.
Writing down patches is difficult due to the graphics. You have to remember your patch to really be able to recreate it.
Overall, it’s a wonderful synth… I mildly regret selling mine… except it’s sale allowed me to get a Mini. Now that I have a Mini, I would like another Sonic Six again!
“Writing down patches is difficult due to the graphics”
what do you mean by this?
Digital cameras - the new patch storage medium 
thanks for the sonic six thread. this is what i was looking for. thoughts, photos, tips etc. it is definately the coolest looking synth! i wonder why they didnt go with Attack and Decay (like the MG-1) if they wanted to skimp on the EG. Oh well. Also, if you’re willing to say, just curious what you got for your sonic six? i’d like to know how much of a deal i actually got when i bought mine 
The digital camera is definately a great patch storage method. i work at a rock club and a guest engineer soundchecked her band and rather than charting the 32 channel board, she just gets a birds-eye with the digi cam and she can zoom in/over and see every single knob etc. great tool. i love technology… haha
I have a digital camera, and would have loved to use it to store patches… but then I need either a computer near the Sonic Six to recreate patches, OR, I need a printer.
The hard part about writing down patches is not just the time it requires, but also making decisions about where a knob is pointing! If you look at the face of the Sonic Six, the lines that exist are often ill-labelled, and far apart… the only precision that exists is when you yourself write something dorky like “5 and 7/18ths” THAT is what makes it hard.
I got $1300 for mine! (I tend to get just above average on the keyboards I sell on eBay) Which was pretty great, as a few years before, when I bought it, they were averaging around $700. I was new to eBay then, and was worried about the Sonic Sixes I saw there… so I bought one from Roger at Big City Music… for $1300! So, yeah. Hold on to the danged thing! Don’t sell it!
wow, you must have some good ebay tricks! i guess i did get a sweet deal then.
Hey, writeroxie!
I checked out your myspace page! Excellent music! I added you… I’m Automatic Gainsay!
thanks muse! cool, i’ll check your stuff out now.
so here’s a question about the sonic six:
i feel like mine is a little out of tune. i know it has that “scale” knob on the pitch controls of the B oscillator(which let you set the distance of an octave across however many keys, giving you semitone steps etc.). But even when that knob is turned down all the way (and even ‘clicked’ into the off position) playing an octave spans 13 keys instead of 12. i even listen to it with JUST one oscillator (A) and it still does it. is there a trimpot somewhere that would let me calibrate this back to normal?
thanks in advance!
PS - hey marc, finally got to check your stuff out too. I genuinely love it! nice moog action! what did you use for the leads in “can’t”. this is the kind of stuff i wish i was doing at home. Check ou tthe band Self… I think you’d like it. and if you can, send me mp3s so i can enjoy this away from my computer: jim.keaney [at] gmail.com