This is probably old news to some of you, but I was just reading about the Korg PS-3100 analog synth and it is interesting how they did the polyphony. They just had twelve fixed oscillators, one for each note on the scale, and then frequency dividers to go down in octaves. Then each of the 48 keys controlled a separate gate with its own envelope, VCA, and VCF. The oscillators just hummed along with no voltage control besides uniform pitch bend via a wheel. That is quite different from how analog synthesis is usually done these days, and seems to use a lot of machinery to get it done-- i.e. 48 independent VCAs. However this same kind of idea might be useful in a big modular rack with sequencers and all. Imagine a module consisting in twelve oscillators, each with only a pot for its frequency, no voltage control. There may be switches for waveform. Then with a bunch of frequency dividers, VCAs, VCFs etc, one could replicate the Korg architecture. It's a different way of doing things, and it is probably less efficient and less flexible, but it may be useful once in a while. If we scaled it down to say 4 oscillators and used some of Doepfer's current and forthcoming quad modules, this may actually save space and money-- given a simple non-VC quad osc module. Something to think about at least, to expand the patch-possibilities in your mind. Monroe
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implementation of polyphony in korg ps-3100
2010-02-19 by Monroe Eskew
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