Ten Of The Best: Synth Mods

Korg Polysex

At a glance, you’d be forgiven for missing the fact that a Korg Polysix had been upgraded with Tubbutec’s Polysex mod. The additional controls are so neatly added to the front panel that – as long as you can find three original knobs to slip onto the new rotary pots – you have to look closely to realise it’s a custom addition.

Berliner Tobias Münzer produces a small range of MIDI-based mod kits for synths including Korg’s Poly61 and Mono/Poly and Roland’s Juno-6 and -60, but his analogue upgrade for the PolySix is our favourite. Released in 1981, around the same time as the Juno-6, the Polysix was a much more affordable synth than anything Korg had made before. With a single VCO per voice, each with sub-oscillator, great filters and built-in modulation effects, the Polysix is good in standard form, but Tubbutec’s simple but effective Polysex mods lift it to new heights. The pitch mod feature routes the envelope generator to oscillator pitch, while the voice spread feature detunes the oscillators for thick unison sounds or wobbly polyphonic patches.

Taking a cheaper polysynth like the PolySix and bringing it up to date with a few simple mods is a great approach. At €149 plus shipping for the full PolySex kit, it’s the perfect way to get yourself a really powerful analogue polysynth at a relatively affordable price. Combine it with Tubbutec’s ModyPoly MIDI upgrade or Kiwi Technics’ KiwiSix to create the ultimate PolySix.