synrise polivoks

by SonicBrat

The Polivoks was designed by a team, lead by Vladimir Kuzmin, at the Urals Vector Company and built by Formanta Radio Plant. Commonly known as the "Polyvoks" or "Polyvox", it is generally translated into "Polivoks" -SYNRISE

A GENERAL OVERVIEW:

Other than fact based references, this review is generally subjective. Having used the Polivoks, I can only provide a first hand impression of this simple yet powerful synthesizer of yesteryear. I would suggest taking my opinions with a pinch of salt rather than gospel truths.

The Polivoks is a light weight four octaves (48 keys) duo-phonic analogue (subtractive) synthesizer made in Russia in the early 1980s. It consists of two oscillators and a noise generator (for creating non musical sounds such as surf, wind, rings, bleeps, etc) per voice. The control panel consists of a modulation section, generator 1, generator 2, mixer and amplifier.

This analogue monster is best used to do bass, lead and strange noises; though I have to warn that it's not your usual predictable analogue synthesizers even with the easy interface. It is capable of producing unusual raw sounds. Everything is labeled in cyrillic, so takes a bit of cross references before you know what each knob does. But once you get the hang of it, it's actually an easy synthesizer to use because of the direct ergonomics of the design interface.

The Polivoks has a switchable filter (low-pass/band-pass) and a loop-able ADSR envelope for filter and amplifier. Its unique filters circuitry has no capacitors. The filter is self oscillating (which can be a hassle at times) but sounds amazing. The "screaming" filter in the synthesizer with cut-off frequency and resonance controls to change the timbre of audible signal over a wide range. It comes with a dedicated pedal using USSR standard 5-Din (midi) connector that does filter modulations rather wickedly. One of the crudest analogue filters on synthesizers I've come across so far.

Its "dirty" synth voices are capable of destroying your speakers or headphones with sharp filtering and resonating humming drones. It's also possible to connect an external audio signal through the auxiliary in, which is combined and controlled separately in the mixer in any ratio.

The two oscillators produce triangle, saw and rectangular waves with different width. With two of them, you have a nice duo-pallette to design some very nice raw analogue tones even without touching the filtering section. Plus the noise generator, you can create percussive sounds to ambient drones depending on the ADSR setting. Oscillators can be detuned and cross-modulated. One LFO with triangle, square, noise and random waves can be used to modulate the oscillators, filters and VCA. It also has two ADSR with auto-trigger mode for VCA and VCF.

Getting on:

Now that we have gotten the more technical aspect of this review done, we can move on to the more intimate avenue. Being a duo-phonic synthesizer, the Polivoks works charmingly in its own right.

With two voices available and a mixer control for individual oscillations, the Polivoks is no where short from sounding warm. The noise generator can be considered a third layer of sound that can be added. And with modulations, you can create some interesting sounds simply by twiddling the knobs, or if you like a more colloquial term, "noodling" the knobs. Its two VCOs is duo-phonic in the sense that it is possible to play two-voice performances, i.e. when pressing 2 keys, 1 VCO will be assigned to the upper key, while the second VCO will be assigned to the lower key.

I like old vintage analogue synthesizers because they can be temperamental and the controls take a lot more sensitivity than newer analogue synthesizers or digital ones. The modulation and filter can create large ranges of modulations and ear piercing resonating noises. The filter takes a bit of accustoming to. It is an extremely sensitive filter and may permanently destroy your speakers if you do not take extra care fiddling with it.

Being labelled as a "Moog-like" synthesizer, I must say that the filter is one of the highlights in this light weight monster. With the 5-Din midi foot controller, one can really create a flowing synth line with moving timbres. With audio in, the filter can process external audio signals, which means you can plug in your guitar or a drum machine and let the old analogue filter take the sounds the land of warmth.

As a sound designer dabbling into synthesis, this raw and dirty sounding machine can create some interesting hums, drones and aleatoric sounds that are pleasing to the experimental ears. The ADSR envelope sections works as per normal analogue synthesizers. This allows you to "design" the type of sounds you want.

As a synth performer however, it's difficult to recreate the sounds you want exactly as you have planned, because it does not allow you to store pre-sets and can be unpredictable. As usual for most analogue synthesizers, you'll need to turn it on for awhile to let it warm up and it can be affected by the humidity and temperature of the room or venue and the stage lighting as well. However, if "random" and "chance" is your philosophy in performance and music making, then there are no big issues. Like all old analogue synthesizers, the charm of hearing warm and imperfect tones can be alluring.

With the good points being said, there are definitely flaws that one can notice in this vintage synthesizer.First of all, there are no MIDI or CV connections for synchronizations and external synth control. Hence, it is not possible to have an arpeggiator going. This also adds to the point that it does not have a built-in arpeggiator. This limits this synth to be a bass or lead keyboardist gear or, simply, a stand-alone synthesizer.

The envelope section is weak in my opinion. Compared to other analogue synthesizers, for example Roland SH101, the ADSR seemed prudent on the Polivoks. If you are thinking about creating analogue percussive sounds, you can forget about using the Polivoks. There are also no modulation wheel or pitch bending wheel on the Polivoks.

For modulation or pitch, one has to turn the assigned knobs. Switching between wave forms will lead to unexpected increase in perceived loudness due to the nature of each wave forms. This can prove unstable in performances. Furthermore, switches between selectable ranges, oscillation types and modulation patterns can be noisy. To go from selection to selection, you'll have to switch the big knobs that give a loud "THUD". Finally, the Polivoks does not allow storing of presets.

In conclusion:

The Polivoks was one of Russia's prided invention. I can see why from the construction, the harsh, raw and almost overwhelming oscillations and filtering power. One can use it for bass lines, lead lines, or even sound-scaping using drones and noises that ranges from hums and buzzes to bleeps and rings.

For its size, it definitely weighs surprisingly light compared to other synthesizers of its era. If you are looking for some analogue warmth in your music or you are looking for some lead or bass synth line to cut through your tracks, the Polivoks is worth checking out. It is a fun and charming piece to have but if you are unfamiliar with analogue synth-modelling, you might find yourself ending up with a lot of noises and a pair of broken speakers.

For sound samples, please visit: http://www.ruskeys.net/eng/base/polivoks.php.

References:

Museum of Soviet Synthesizers: http://www.ruskeys.net/eng/base/polivoks.php Papareil Synth Lab: http://m.bareille.free.fr/modular1/vcf_polivoks/vcf_polivoks.htm Synrise: http://www.synrise.de/history/interviews/polivoks/polivoks_e.htm