The Polymoog is a hybrid

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...

analog synthesizer An analog synthesizer () is a synthesizer that uses Analogue electronics, analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a var ...

that was manufactured by

Moog Music Moog Music Inc. ( ) is an American synthesizer company based in Asheville, North Carolina. It was founded in 1953 as R. A. Moog Co. by Robert Moog and his father and was renamed Moog Music in 1972. Its early instruments included the Moog sy ...

from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to

electronic organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the pump organ, harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has si ...

s and

string synthesizer A string synthesizer or string machine is a synthesizer designed to make sounds similar to those of a string section. Dedicated string synthesizers occupied a specific musical instrument niche between electronic organs and general-purpose synthes ...

s of the time.

History

The name Polymoog can refer either to the original Polymoog Synthesizer (model 203a) released in 1975, or the largely preset Polymoog Keyboard (model 280a) released in 1978. Polymoog Voice Cards

The Polymoog has a 71-note weighted Pratt & Read touch-sensitive keyboard divided into three sections with a volume slider for each. It also has a three-band resonant graphic equalizer section, which can be changed to a low/bandpass/high-pass filter. The Moog-designed 24 dB/octave filter section allows

modulation Signal modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform in electronics and telecommunication for the purpose of transmitting information. The process encodes information in form of the modulation or message ...

modulated from its own envelopes, low frequency oscillation and sample and hold circuit. Ranks and waveforms of all notes are also adjustable combining waveforms, octaves, tunings, and their own independent LFO rates and amounts. The user can adjust the instrument's sounds, and it offers presets named " strings", "

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

", " organ", "

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

", "

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

", " clav", " vibes", and "

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

". Presets were factory created as physical circuit cards and may be modified for live performance using Var(iation) buttons, triggering a red dot next to the preset number in the display. The design of the Polymoog is a hybrid of the electronic organ and the synthesizer using divide-down technology, much like other string synthesizers of the time. Unlike later 1970s polyphonic synthesizers, such as the Yamaha CS-80 and Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, the Polymoog cannot create each voice from individual oscillators and filters, or store sounds programmed by the user. Although criticized for its limited programmability, high purchase price of $5295 and reliability issues, the Polymoog Synthesizer was popular with musicians of the period, and its unlimited polyphony was considered revolutionary upon its initial release.

Polymoog Keyboard (1978–80)

The Polymoog Keyboard 280a is a stripped-down version of the original 1975 Polymoog. The two are similar in appearance, sharing the same case and keyboard. The right-hand control panel is absent, while the left-hand panel has only a few sliders, giving the user less control over the sounds. The Polymoog Keyboard features more presets than its predecessor: " vox humana", "string 1", "string 2", " electric piano", "piano", " honky tonky", "clav", "harpsi", "brass", "chorus brass", "

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

", "rock organ", "vibes", and "funk". Control over these presets is limited to octave balance, envelope attack, and LFO modulation depth and rate. The lower two octaves may also be split off to play a separate bass tone, with some control over this tone allowed via a dedicated bass filter. Filter control of the main preset sounds is not user adjustable other than via an external controller. The Polymoog Keyboard was less expensive than its predecessor, being priced at $3995 in 1979. The best known of the presets on the Polymoog Keyboard is "Vox Humana", which was not present on the original Polymoog. This preset forms the basis of the electronic string sound in the work of Gary Numan.

Foot operated controller

An optional foot-operated controller known as the Polypedal (model 285a), with control voltage jacks, interfaces with the back panel. It allows the user to switch between single and multiple triggering of envelopes, and controls for pitch, filter, and sustain.

Notable users

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...

used the Polymoog on his 1977 album '' Izitso'', including the song "(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard".

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the New wave music, new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two st ...

was one of the Polymoog's most recognizable users. The electronic string sound featured prominently on the track " Cars" and most of the album '' The Pleasure Principle'' (1979) became his signature sound in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A Polymoog is shown in his

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Cars" as well as in live performances on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' and '' The Old Grey Whistle Test''. French duo Space Art used a Polymoog during the recording of their second album, ''Trip in the Centre Head''. Yellow Magic Orchestra used the Polymoog on their early albums and first world tour.

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

used a Polymoog at Sound 80 recording studio on demo tapes for his first album '' For You'' (1978), and the Polymoog became a notable sonic element of the Minneapolis sound. The Polymoog proved popular with various

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

musicians. Keith Emerson added an early prototype Polymoog (at the time, known as the Apollo) to his stage rig. Rick Wakeman used one during his second stint with Yes in the late 1970s and Tony Banks of Genesis used one between 1977 and 1981. Keith Godchaux used a Polymoog between 1976-1979 live with the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

Mike Oldfield Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English retired musician, songwriter and producer best known for his debut studio album ''Tubular Bells'' (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a gu ...

used a Polymoog on " Sheba" (from his 1980 album '' QE2'') in conjunction with a vocoder.

References

External links