Poly-61M
Digital/analog synthesizer
A cross between a PolySix and a Poly-800. Actually it's easier to program than an 800. Solid, honest analog sounds.
the Factory sounds:
Stream all preset examples below:
| Preset name with example | My comments |
| 11 Fat Brass | Great-sounding synth brass patch. |
| 12 Bowed Strings 8' | Analog and warm strings. |
| 13 Synthe Clav 16' | Honest reproduction of a Clavinet. A bit synthy... |
| 14 Vibes Piano | Haunting, melodramatically sad. Also a good candidate for the Poly-61M's on-board arpeggiator. |
| 15 Percussive Organ | 888800000 organ with plenty of key-click. Great sound. |
| 16 Funk Bass | Great '70s style synth bass. Works also in the higher register - as a solo funky worm-synth. |
| 17 Flute | Good programming - makes it sound like in a small room. OK. |
| 18 Helicopter | Apocalypse Now |
| 21 Brass in 5ths | These types of sounds were much used by '70s Progressive Rock artists such as Keith Emerson. |
| 22 Soft Strings 16' | Awesome analog string ensemble. |
| 23 Synthe Piano | What it says. |
| 24 Steel Tongue Flute | Cool synth sound |
| 25 New Wave Organ | Great for New Wave, and for The Doors - a cross between Vox and Farfisa. |
| 26 Celeste | Oh, this is beauty. What marvelous, dreamy sound... |
| 27 Pipe Organ | Add a "Cathedral Reverb" patch from your favorite FX processor and you're set. |
| 28 Synthe Sweep | Playing around with resonance and VCF LFO. |
| 31 Solo Brass | Very cool, analog trumpet/trombone! |
| 32 Horns | Nice. |
| 33 Crescendo Fat Brass | Juicy rising filters |
| 34 Brass in Octaves | Medieval goodness. |
| 35 Piccolo Trumpet | Pocket trumpet sound. Very good. |
| 36 Obi Wah | Reference to Oberheim synths. Nice sound. Funky. |
| 37 Synthe Brass | Big, powerful, analog resonant polysynth! |
| 38 Purcussive Brass | (I suppose it's a typo for "Percussive") Very good, full brass patch. |
| 41 High Strings 4' | Well-programmed small ensemble |
| 42 Low Strings 16' | Outstanding warm, dark string ensemble. |
| 43 Bowed Violins | Just what it says. |
| 44 Sforzando Strings | A little soft but would work for '80s music. |
| 45 Pizz Strings | Bright and synthy |
| 46 Solo Violin | Great, honest reproduction. Expressive vibrato |
| 47 Square Wave Ensemble | A cool synth ensemble. |
| 48 Lunar Flutes | Nice. |
| 51 Clav | Actually sounds more like brass... |
| 52 Harpsichord | Good sound! Has the right fharmonics. |
| 53 Plucked Synthe | Nice :-) .. these are the 1980s! |
| 54 Bright Piano | Actually, for an analog synth, a beautiful emulation. |
| 55 Sinful Eyes | Outstanding! Great analog-synth monster patch |
| 56 Vibes | Dreamy, jazzy... perfect patch. |
| 57 Reed Piano | A piano with a more metallic tone. |
| 58 Jazz Guitar | The muted, warm tone of a hollow-body. |
| 61 Organ 1 | Hammond land. Again it's 888800000. |
| 62 Organ 2 | Hammond again. This time could be 808000808. |
| 63 Organ 3 | Awesome patch! It grooves like a fox. |
| 64 Chimes-chord | Cinematic quality. For '60s movies. |
| 65 Steel Drums | Welcome to the islands |
| 66 Accordion | or synth |
| 67 Harmonica | okay |
| 68 Sax Ensemble | Cool analog ensemble. Reminds me of the synth horns used in "Puttin' on the ritz" - the version by Taco. |
| 71 Space Cathedral | Great patch. This is highly hypnotic! |
| 72 Honky Tonk | Whew... this piano is really out of tune! |
| 73 Space Voice | Great synthesized male vocals |
| 74 Music Box | Perfect for a horror movie scene. |
| 75 Grunge | Strange sound. |
| 76 Synthe Gong | Excellent patch. Reminds me of the Nord Modular for some reason... |
| 77 Break Up | Good for special effects in a movie. |
| 78 Om-pah Brass | Fantastic patch!!! Quirky, different, strange... we want more! |
Presets 81-88 are the same as in 11-18.
available as .pdf at http://www.synthesizer.at/download/download.htm# (great site, by the way). I noticed that pages 30, 31 and 112 were missing, and so was the Data Table sheet, so here there are:
Korg Poly-61M Owner's Manual - page 30.JPG
Korg Poly-61M Owner's Manual - page 31.JPG
Korg Poly-61M Owner's Manual - page 112 (back cover).JPG
Korg Poly-61M Data Table - page 1-4.JPG
Korg Poly-61M Data Table - page 2-4.JPG
Korg Poly-61M Data Table - page 3-4.JPG
Korg Poly-61M Data Table - page 4-4.JPG
.JPG){kind=link}
Between the .pdf manual and the files above, we have a complete manual set.
Preloaded Sound Data of Poly-61.wav
| Year of release: | 1983 |
| Polyphony: | 6-voice |
| Sound generation method: | analog, 2 DCOs |
| Preset memories | 64 |
| MIDI: | in, out, thru |
| Sound expansion capabilities: | no |
| Sequencer | no |
| Arpeggiator | yes |
| Effects | no |