Polysix

The PolySix is perhaps the most overlooked synth in the Korg Legacy Collection. Although it has a relatively limited feature set compared to some VA plug-ins, it is still capable of producing some very useful results.

The PolySix is, of course, a virtual analogue recreation of Korg's hardware synth of the same name. Having never played with the original, I'm reviewing the plug-in on its own terms.

The first, and most important, thing to consider is how it sounds. To me words like rich, organic, warm and fat would give a good indication what you can expect, but within the context of classic analogue sounds. Within the legacy collection it make a fine contrast to the MS20 which speacilises in harder, grittier sounds.

You won't be getting any realistic cellos from the PolySix. And you won't be able to prgramme up any complex multilayered evolving pads (not without some crafty use of the legacy cell anyway). But this isn't what this instrument is about. Baic straightforward analogue synth noises is exactly what the PolySix IS about.

For such a warm synth, it's perhaps surprising that it only has a single oscillator, with three 'standard' analogue waveforms; saw, pulse, and PWM.

A lot of the warmth comes from the really nice filter (low pass only, fixed slope), together with the onboard chorus/ensemble FX, which are also very good. Being a VA, it is also straightforward to dial in some unison for extra fatness.

There's not a huge amount to programming this synth. Apart from your usual controls for the oscillator/filter/fx, there's a single ADSR envelope, one LFO and basic arppegiator controls.

While not offering the flexibilty of something like z3ta, the small number of controls makes it very quick and easy to programme and tweak. No getting lost in subpages and menus here.

For bread and butter analogue synth noises, the PolySix has much to offer. Sometimes less is more when it comes to getting sounds together quickly.

Put it in the legacy cell with another PolySix or an MS20, and well, sometimes more is more!

The closest competetitor is probably NI's Pro-53. Although the Pro-53 is more flexible, I actually much prefer the sound of the PolySix.

I have other synths for 'pushing the sonic envelope'. But for bread and butter VA sounds, I return to the PolySix time after time.Read Review