Korg POLYSIX M Owner's Manual page 6

5) KEY ASSIGN FEATURES
No need to worry - POLY, UNISON, and CHORD MEMORY work just as before - with, however, some new
optional functionality.
This section is a bit in-depth technical; if you do not understand what is going on, just skip to the next section.
Upon powering up these settings are the same as for the original Polysix.
First of all, what is a synthesizer voice? It is not a little dwarf squashed away in a corner of the machine! Instead,
we can imagine a choir of 6 people. Let's assume we are dealing with super-vocalists who can cover the whole
tonal range of bass to soprano. This choir could sing in several different 'modes'. They could sing six separate
parts. Or they could all sing the same part. Or they could sing a three-part song, with two choir members singing
each part. Or they could...
As long as they limit themselves to the physical limit of six notes at once, they could sing anything in any
combination.
The Polysix operates in much the same manner. We can play at the most six notes at once since we have six
voices in the machine. How these voices are handled is selected by the key assign mode.
The key assign mode describes how the synthesizer will react to the keys played. Are all notes to be heard
individually (POLY), or should only one be heard but with all six voices at once (UNISON), or...
Even in the POLY mode there area few variants. What happens, for instance, if more than 6 keys are
depressed? Should the last keys pressed be ignored so that none of the first notes heard will be lost, should the last
6 keys to be pressed always be heard so as not to 'lose' any notes?
In many cases this is set by the manufacturer of the instrument and cannot be changed. The Polysix M however
offers the possibility of adjusting the key assign mode to suit the style of music and playing.
This is done in the following manner:
When pressing POLY, UNISON, or CHORD MEMORY hold it down, which will allow the key assign mode to be
adjusted by pressing A..D and 1..6.
The following functionality is available:
(*) indicates that this is a power-up default setting. These are the same as the key assign modes in the original
Polysix.
A) POLY MODE:
Button
A When a new key is pressed the next voice in turn is
assigned (cyclic mode). (*)
B No voice memory. (*)
C If more than six keys are depressed, only the oldest
are heard.
D The MG delay is retriggered only when all keys
have been released (and a new one depressed). (*)
These functions can be enabled/disabled by pressing the corresponding button (while POLY is depressed).
In addition to this LEDs 1..3 show how many voices are played for each key depressed:
1: SINGLE - only one voice per key (*)
2: DUAL - two voices per key.
3: TRIPLE - three voices per key.
These are selected by pressing 1, 2, or 3 (while POLY is depressed).
Note that the polyphony of the instrument decreases in the DUAL and TRIPLE modes (three-note polyphony in
DUAL and two-note polyphony in TRIPLE).
6
LED off LED on
The synthesizer always selects the lowest-
numbered non-sounding voice (reset-to-zero).
If the same key is pressed several times, the
same voice is used (memory).
If more than six keys are depressed, only the last
are heard. (*)
The MG delay is retriggered as soon as a new key
is depressed.