Korg’s Mono/Poly - 20th Century schizoid synth

Coming from the great success of the PolySix, Korg's next synth was an odd duck dubbed the Mono/ Poly. Roughly the same size as a monosynth, it seemed unable to make up its mind as to just what sort of instrument it actually was.

The Mono/Poly was a four-voice synth… sort of. It offered four (almost) individually adjustable oscillators that could be played polyphonically or stacked together, then spat through the resonant low-pass filter. Pulse width modulation was shared by all oscillators, but independent waveform selection was possible. Unlike the PolySix, the Mono/ Poly offered two independent four-stage envelopes for filter and VCA respectively. Dual LFOs could also be called into play.

As a four-note polysynth, the Mono/Poly didn't amount to much, but as a monosynth its independent oscillators could churn up a mighty timbral maelstrom. Add to that the included arpeggiator's ability to cycle through each oscillator in turn and you've got the basis for some very cool rhythmic patches that sound more modular synth than monosynth.