Doepfer

I'm lucky enough to have enough non-identical modules to create quite  
a few voices. So you could say I'm running polyphonically but I would  
characterize what I'm doing as multitimbral and monophonic. I'm  
certainly not playing changing chords like on my polysynths. (I'm not  
counting the use of several VCOs in an otherwise mono voice as a chord).

On the surface it seems like you could just get a bunch of Dark  
Energy modules or something similar and a multichannel MIDI to CV  
interface  with polyphonic assignment of voices and think you have a  
polyphonic modular... well to me at least one big aspect is totally  
missing in the polyphonic puzzle... how in the world do you change  
the sound in unison other than slowly manually going up to each voice  
and changing one parameter at a time.  What I at least feel is  
essential in a poly modular is the ability to control all the voices  
from a common set of controls..

With a fixed architecture voice there has been an answer since the  
1970s. If you build a voice where every parameter is voltage  
controlled you can use a set of common controls on them or even a  
microprocessor could store every parameter for later recall. The  
stumbling block in a poly modular is the patchability.

Florian mentions the SEM. They were built by adding extra hardware  
into the Oberheim Two, Four and Eight etc. voice polysynths. It's  
worth noting that they were not intended as modular synths. But an  
interesting aspect is the individual voices can be easily "patched  
out" modular style, as Tom Oberheim is offering this year as a  
configuration. One thing I and I'm sure others were thinking when he  
announced them was if he or a third party will make a a poly voice  
assigner (maybe the midi units are chainable? I'm not sure) and then  
what existed in the 70s but hasn't been reissued is the programmer  
which attempts to send parameter values to each voice module.  
Unfortunately it didn't deal with every parameter let alone the patch  
cords.

The Korg PS series took a very unique approach. It does not allocate  
voices like nearly all polysynths including the Obergheim polys do.  
You get a separate VCF and VCA for each key but there is a set of 12  
(24 or 36 for the 3200 and 3300) shared tunable oscillators with  
octave dividers and which is more an organ approach than a VCO style  
approach.  The 3200 had memory recall of knob position. The patch  
field that qualifies it as a semi modular is not polyphonic.

I believe polyfusion back in the 70s has a polyphonic CV keyboard but  
correct me if I'm wrong, nothing else supporting polyphony so it was  
change every parameter and patchord manually.

Emu had a poly keyboard and a programmer that could store a few  
values so I guess that was a start but incomplete. I see Cyndustries  
has a simple module with some small groups of CV values

In the early 80s you started to see polysynths with matrix  
modulation, which was steps toward a modular but not actually a  
modular. These synths added a lot more modulation options but the  
underlying architecture was still fixed and the matrix exists more or  
less within a CPU.

Considering the limitations and hybrid technology in the Korg PS I  
don't really think the approach is that similar to the Nord Modular.  
The Nord Modular is virtual. As long as there is computing power  
available you just add an instance of the whole thing. Nothing is  
physical.

It was funny to see the reproduction  of  smaller scale Korg Legacy  
MS-20  complete with patch cables, The hardware MS-20 was monophonic,  
The software simulation however is poly, similar to the Nord. The  
novelty twist with the Korg is the controller is a physical patch  
interface. No sound or voltage goes through the  mini MS-20 but it  
senses the patch cords. and adjusts the virtual patch to include them

I think the Buchla 200e changed things because the modules use  
encoders and most of the pots can have their settings stored and  
recalled. A few pots are just physical and are not stored as well as  
no oone has yet made a third party module that has knob recall. While  
there have been at least one matrix style storable patchbay out there  
that could be used in theory for some patch cord storage, I believe  
Buchla is the first to build one as part of a modular system. It's  
not perfect if you use many patch cords since it's a small matrix.  
You could buy a few of them though there would still be some  
compromise. It has up to 4 buses running for voices to more easily  
achieve polyphony direct from MIDI  if you have enough of the same  
modules (or different modules if you don't mind).

nick