What's the point of a polysynth?

Tips and techniques for Minimoog Analog Synthesizers
anoteoftruth
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Post by anoteoftruth » Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:54 am

The biggest thing that stops me from doing something like that is,

1. I don't want to have to carry and setup 5 RME's and a Voyager or LP to gigs.

2. Have you ever played polychained Moog's? I've done the duophony setup with my RME and LP, and let me tell you.. there is some improvement to be done there in playing. It's really fidgety with the note order. If you try and play 2 notes at the same time like a chord, your taking your chances as to wether or not it happens or not. It's more like you have to do the first note slightly before the second note for it to compute and go together. Try learning how to play this way with 6 notes let alone 2.

3. The price. For a 6 voice poly setup, your looking at over 15000$ when going by retail prices. Nobody's saying the poly will be cheap, but we are certainly expecting it to be cheaper than 15k$


Having said all that. Those are *my* reasons for wanting it.

I completely agree with you, even tho I am one of the wanters and beggars, that we don't need every post in the moog forum to be consumed by poly talk.

And your right.. they have gotten incredibly silly at times, and way off topic.
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Voltor07
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Post by Voltor07 » Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:24 am

analoghaze wrote: I am trying my hardest to avoid these threads about the Moog poly, but they are everywhere lately. (and to be honest.... I liked the forum better without it popping up everywhere)
I agree that the forum was better before EVERY SINGLE THREAD contained the words "Polysynth" "Polymoog" "Polybeast" and "poly". But, like Chuck Norris, it has taken over the forum, as has panamabirthcanal with his crazy anti-Moog, anti-Western talk. Am I the only one who sees him as a troll which the moderator has so kindly ignored? :roll:
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anoteoftruth
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Post by anoteoftruth » Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:30 am

Voltor07 wrote: But, like Chuck Norris, it has taken over the forum, as has panamabirthcanal with his crazy anti-Moog, anti-Western talk. Am I the only one who sees him as a troll which the moderator has so kindly ignored? :roll:

Your not alone.

Plus as much as I am pro-poly... I'd like to get back to talkin about Voyagers and LP's too...
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CZ Rider
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Post by CZ Rider » Mon Mar 08, 2010 6:26 am

anoteoftruth wrote: 2. Have you ever played polychained Moog's? I've done the duophony setup with my RME and LP, and let me tell you.. there is some improvement to be done there in playing. It's really fidgety with the note order. If you try and play 2 notes at the same time like a chord, your taking your chances as to wether or not it happens or not. It's more like you have to do the first note slightly before the second note for it to compute and go together. Try learning how to play this way with 6 notes let alone 2.
I play a polychained Moog everyday! Your setup sounds like something is wrong though. Might want to double check all the menu settings are correct on your LP and RME. In the LP addendum it states how to setup the LP with an RME as the second voice. The condition you describe sounds similar to the problem I was having with my poly-voyager. The fix on the Voyager was to turn local off, and loop the MIDI out back into MIDI in, and chain from the thru. But the LP manual says you can do it with a LP and RME with only one MIDI cable? Sorry I don't have an LP to try it, but there should be no problem with the note order.

Here is a little clip with the Voyager playing a lead sound, then playing 3 note chords with the same lead patch. It doesn't really get to be too much. I was actually trying out the Taurus 2 pedals, to see if I could emulate that T1 sound? So the bass is the T2 pedals with poly Voyager over top.
Poly Voyager with T2 pedals MP3

The Ployphonic 3 voice Voyager! Available at Moog now!
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Post by Subtronik » Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:23 am

anot has a good point:
anoteoftruth wrote:I don't want to have to carry and setup 5 RME's and a Voyager or LP to gigs.
Regardless if Moog makes one or not I will be shopping for a self contained analog polysynth by next year. I'd really like my money to goto Moog though because I love their sound.
[url=http://www.myspace.com/subtronik]My Music[/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/39599873@N07/show/]Voyager Photos[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/subtronik]Voyager Videos[/url]

panamabirthcanal

Post by panamabirthcanal » Mon Mar 08, 2010 3:18 pm

I agree that the forum was better before EVERY SINGLE THREAD contained the words "Polysynth" "Polymoog" "Polybeast" and "poly". But, like Chuck Norris, it has taken over the forum, as has panamabirthcanal with his crazy anti-Moog, anti-Western talk. Am I the only one who sees him as a troll which the moderator has so kindly ignored? :roll:[/quote]

yeah, I'm anti- moog. That's why I have 4 moogerfoogers, a model d and a voyager, 2 moog shirts, and a moog banner. Youre right. Just because I think a poly would not benefit moog, and I respect the work of Dr. Moog I am persecuted. That's why i love internet forums, so much class and respect for one's fellow man. Anti- Western? Just because I put forward a view of another culture's music I'm anti-western. So no one even considers that there might be another form of music that might be beneficial to learn? As "inflammatory" as my comments may have been, i never attacked anyone personally, and that's when a educational discussion turns into an emotional outburst.

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Post by Subtronik » Mon Mar 08, 2010 3:25 pm

Hey now, you're the one that suggested that if you want a polymoog you're a small d*cked ego driven capitalist sheep collecting Moogs for show.

Let's be real here.
Last edited by Subtronik on Mon Mar 08, 2010 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
[url=http://www.myspace.com/subtronik]My Music[/url]
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[url=http://www.youtube.com/subtronik]Voyager Videos[/url]

panamabirthcanal

Post by panamabirthcanal » Mon Mar 08, 2010 3:29 pm

you again? yes! don't buy any polyphonc instruments, or even consider playing more than one note at a time, or you might as well be eating steroids, taking estrogen, and running Wal-Mart.

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Post by Subtronik » Mon Mar 08, 2010 3:33 pm

Image
[url=http://www.myspace.com/subtronik]My Music[/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/39599873@N07/show/]Voyager Photos[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/subtronik]Voyager Videos[/url]

anoteoftruth
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Post by anoteoftruth » Mon Mar 08, 2010 3:35 pm

CZ Rider,

Seriously love your setup. I wish I could afford to do that right now, I think my girlfriend would kill me tho. I had a near death experience when I bought my Voyager lol. J/k.

I will definately be checking out to see if that solves the problem.. I did'nt think to route it back through into the LP... just a question, since I am using a RME whats the point to turning local off?

I listened to the Sample you made... first off, sounds great! Gave me chills hearing that many moogs together at once. But it did'nt really solve my problem... I noticed for the first part it was mainly you doing a bass line, and a lead simultaneousy... which is cool, and I am able to replicate that with the polychaining... then the 3 note chords, I noticed your started them by playing the 3 notes seperately before it came together as one chord... like a trill before holding it...

The thing I've been looking to do is kind of like a short stab. Like hitting/stabbing the 3 notes all at once to get those short chord stabs etc... I've yet to been able to do that... I'm guessing because it goes by note order, so unless you stab them slightly off the same time in sequence, it won't register the note order if you hit all 3 keys at the same time? That's just my guess...

Do you think the re-midi routing will help me w this?
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Post by Voltor07 » Mon Mar 08, 2010 4:57 pm

panamabirthcanal wrote:That's why i love internet forums, so much class and respect for one's fellow man. Anti- Western? Just because I put forward a view of another culture's music I'm anti-western. So no one even considers that there might be another form of music that might be beneficial to learn? As "inflammatory" as my comments may have been, i never attacked anyone personally, and that's when a educational discussion turns into an emotional outburst.
You're the LAST person who should be accusing US of being disrespectful. You have done nothing except cut almost every regular forum visitor down in one way or another. You pick apart our posts, especially mine, have generally been unpleasant, then, when someone retorts back publicly, you send them a private message basically telling them to learn a different musical style. Sure, I listen to some Indian music...Ravi Shankar for example...and I like the Polysics, who are Japanese, so I am familiar with Eastern music. Do I have an interest in playing it? Not really. But that makes me a narrow-minded Westerner who is a Capitalist small di*ked loser for wanting Moog to build a polyphonic synthesizer. :roll: Who's the asshole here? And before you answer, consider that 90% of a forum can't be wrong. :wink:
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CZ Rider
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Post by CZ Rider » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:22 pm

anoteoftruth wrote: I will definately be checking out to see if that solves the problem.. I did'nt think to route it back through into the LP... just a question, since I am using a RME whats the point to turning local off?

Do you think the re-midi routing will help me w this?
Not with the LP. It would seem from the manual, the LP handles poly different from the Voyager. The MIDI routing with local off on the Voyager, is the way that system works. But in the LP manual, the example given, uses just one MIDI cable with local on, but requires settings of "POLY 1 of 2".(in your case) My guess is that doing the local off on the LP, would also disable the RAC smoothness. The RME would be set to "MIDI in key oder-- Maximum Keys 2-----Active key 2nd"

The best way to trouble shoot, is to listen to each one individually and observe the keying order. With the settings above and the RME off, play and hold the middle C down on the LP. You should be able to play a second note above or below the held C with out the LP changing notes.
And with the LP audio disconnected and RME on, holding the middle C down should get no note from the RME. The RME should sound only with a second note above or below the held C.

In my case with the Voyager PE as the controller, it would not pass the above test, even though all the MIDI key order settings were correct. The Voyager PE played like any other mono synth, and holding down a C and playing any note above or below it, would follow the last, highest, or lowest note, depending on the patch. The local off forced the Voyager to sort notes by "MIDI in key order". Problem solved, but it took some thinking to figure out. And it acted much like you describe, sometimes I would get a dead note, other times both sounded on the same note.

Now it works the way it should. Stabs work great, and it has key memory. So even if I play a fourth note that is silent, when I release one of the other three sounding notes, it will snap up to that note. Very predictable. Not the best solution, but very playable.
Another sample:
3 Voice Voyager with Moog bass

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Post by HB3 » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:26 pm

panamabirthcanal wrote: yeah, I'm anti- moog. That's why I have 4 moogerfoogers, a model d and a voyager, 2 moog shirts, and a moog banner. Youre right. Just because I think a poly would not benefit moog, and I respect the work of Dr. Moog I am persecuted. That's why i love internet forums, so much class and respect for one's fellow man. Anti- Western? Just because I put forward a view of another culture's music I'm anti-western. So no one even considers that there might be another form of music that might be beneficial to learn? As "inflammatory" as my comments may have been, i never attacked anyone personally, and that's when a educational discussion turns into an emotional outburst.
Dude! Caaaaalm down....

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Post by HB3 » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:29 pm

and I like the Polysics, who are Japanese, so I am familiar with Eastern music.
Um...I don't think that really qualifies....

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Post by HB3 » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:32 pm

HB3 performing "Darjeeling Express," influenced by Indian tonalities, though I'm sure this wouldn't be taken very seriously by purists...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WDmPF4gBx0

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