Dual Boss RC-505 Loop Stations

I am testing a dual Boss RC-505 Loop station setup in this video. I have a Roland TR-8 as Master connected to a Yamaha MJC8 Midi Patch Bay. Everything is on Midi Channel 1. Two outputs are connected one each to a Boss RC-505 Loop machine. No external effects are used in the video other than a Boss DM-2 Analog Delay on a couple of the Polysix tracks. One RC-505 is connected to the Korg Polysix Analog Synth. The other RC-505 is connected to a Yamaha V50 Synthesizer.

I created the loops right before recording the video and forgot to record that part….laugh. I’ll do something again shortly showing the recording process. Both RC-505 Loop Stations are in sync controlled by the TR-8. You CANNOT sync this by chaining them as the RC-505 is not capable of sending the appropriate midi start command. In the video you see me toggling various loops on an off to add dynamics to the song which is completely improvised and done on the first take. Patches for the Korg Polysix and Yamaha V-50 are custom made.

One Boss RC-505 is sitting on the Yamaha V50 which you can see. The other is under the Korg Polysix sitting on my Roland Fantom X6. The mix is running through a Roland M-12E 12 Channel mixer which is awesome. I just bought a second one here in Japan. It makes my life so much easier running all my synth gear through them. The mix is going direct into my iPhone via a Fostex ios recording device.

I am playing a fun patch I created on the Korg Polysix. I love the modulation that the Korg Polysix can do.

Oh yeah, I’m sporting a pink Midi Designer T-shirt under my jacket there.

Yamaha V50 Distorted Sync Patch

I was repairing a copper trace that went flaky on my Korg Polysix this morning. I managed to get it working again and while warming up the Polysix, I recorded this jam using a custom “Distorted Sync” patch for the Yamaha V50. The arp in the back ground is from the Korg Polysix. I have the arp set to octave chord memory with a touch of VCA modulation. Video was recorded live. I just jumped in and started playing off the top of my head.

Someone asked me about effects recently. I usually use a Boss DM-2 Analog Delay on most everything when I do quick videos. I also currently have a Sony DPS-V55 Mult-effects processor adding for reverb or slight modulation. I try to run dry as much as possible though because on stage, too much effect processing really doesn’t sound great at the places I play. I only add when needed you might say. I love the Boss DM-2 though. I also tend to shift effects around quite a bit simply because I have too many and am trying to properly check each one out. I recently picked up an old Boss GT-5 which has analog distortion in it which I really like. I can’t stand the digital distortion “Fizz” in the newer GT units such as the GT-10. I don’t know how people cope with that annoying “Fizz”. Presto! It’s gone on the GT-5!

Enjoy the video and a glimpse into my music room…laugh! Yes, I do have all the gear I say I do on my blog.

Give it 100 Korg Polysix Synth Patch Programming

Give it 100 – Jim in Japan

Today I stumbled upon this pretty cool website called “Give it 100” when I was doing my daily news browsing on Yahoo. The idea of the site is to pick something you want to improve on or learn and to post a short 10 second video showing your adventure for 100 days. I chose to create a custom synth patch for the Korg Polysix each day in the morning and upload it to the site. I could have chosen a number of synths to do this with, but lately I’ve been using the Korg Polysix quite regularly and also thought it was a synth I could keep up with. You can only record 10 seconds worth of video for the site, but I find that is ample for getting the idea of the patch across. I think it will be fun.

Here is the link to my profile on the website “Give it 100”.

https://giveit100.com/@JimAtwood/7tsanx

I think this is a very good idea to encourage people to showcase their progress and to work towards a goal in their hobby, life, or profession. Ten seconds might seem too short at first, but I think it’s a pretty good amount of time to create, practice, record, and post each day.

I’m looking forward to hearing what kind of sounds I can come up with for the Korg Polysix and as a bonus I’ll likely have a couple of solid banks for the synth when I’m done plus some videos to showcase the incredible synth the Korg Polysix has become.

Note I’ll also have to take a snapshot of my settings as well so I don’t forget how I programmed each patch…laugh!

Enjoy!

Korg Polysix Synthesizer

Korg Polysix Synthesizer

Well I finally managed to score a Korg Polysix, albight it’s not in fully working order just yet. I have one voice chip that’s dead and a replacement is on the way. Other than that everything works 100% on it near as I can tell. It’s a wonderful synth and likely will become one of my favorites if not already. I found it on Ebay here in Japan from a good friend whom I purchase from quite frequently. I’m so glad I bought it from him because I know the Korg Polysix can have it’s share of problems and I didn’t want to spend a whole lot time dinging around with it. The Korg Polysix is one synth you want to get working right away so you can enjoy playing it.

Cosmetically, the Korg Polysix looks fantastic. There are some slightly torn corners on the wooden panels which seems to be common, but other than that, this thing sure looks pretty…laugh.

The two chips that are being replaced are the SSM2044 and SSM2056 IC chips. I also have a Korg Poly-61 which uses the SSM2056. It looks pretty easy to just pull the chips and add new ones. Likely some calibration will be needed after that, but it looks pretty straight forward. With testing I’ve determined the chips ( or one of them ) are the problem, so I’m anxious to get the new/used ones in there. I have a couple of 80’s retro shows coming up in August here in Japan and would love to add the old Korg Polysix to the mix.

I was on the fence for a little while with the Korg Polysix because while owning the Korg Poly-61, I wasn’t quite sure if I needed the Polysix. However, after watching a few videos I found I really liked the rather unique sound of the Korg Polysix. It has a real gritty sound to it that I really like. It really slides in nicely with my Roland Juno-60.

UPDATE: I replaced the SSM2044 chip and now it works fantastic! I had every 4th note skipping when played, so I just took out the 4th SSM2044 chip from the left. It started working great from there!

Here is a great video showing you some of the sounds and capabilities of the Korg Polysix synthesizer.