Chroma Polaris

Everything is easy to use - its right there in front of you. You have to check the manual for some non intuitive functions but each sound is easy to tweak and save.

I like the fact that it doesn't really have built in FX. You can hear it in the raw in all its glory. Often crazy onboard effects mask sh@te sounds. I have used this as a master keyboard and feels really great as well.

The sounds are truly inspiring. I was re-working a song - had a sound in my head and was able to create it with the Polaris. I use the board for electronica and downtempo and find that it has really great pad, bass, lead and fx type sounds. All the sounds are real class. I find the basses and leads not really super aggressive. You can't really make it sound like a howling moog. But the sounds sit really well in the mix. This is one of the best polyphonic boards.

So far, so good. Had it for over a year and haven't had a problem. It has a membrane type interface so who knows how long that will last. It can take some time for the oscillators to warm up and for it to come to tune. Not sure if there is a quicker way to do this but I just let it warm up and seems to be fine after a little while.

They're gone arn't they?

The best polyphonic board for little money. I bought mine for 550 CDN. Saw one a year later for 695 CD??. I don't see them come up very often. I love mine. It has really added a nice dimension to my music. I also own a Oddy Mk11, Wavestation EX, AKAI s1000, Nord lead, Yamaha CS1X and a Fender Rhodes 88 and this board compliments the others nicely. I have tried almost every softsynth out there and I really want to like them but none of that smart programming has come close to real analog with this board.

Patch editing is easy, sounds are very diverse. Ease of use suffers slightly in that many functions are 'hidden' as alternate button commands, must have manual for getting full feature use.

Good polyphony for 6 voice synth, seems to 'rob' the right notes to play new ones that minimizes dropped notes being obvious.
Midi capabilities are excellent for it's vintage, multi-channel, multi-timbral. Able to sync Midi to pulse clock timing for older drum machines, etc. and able to interface different clock w/different rates together all internally.
Individual key pitch bending was way ahead of it's time, a very useful and expressive feature for steel guitar and other type patches.

Semi-weighted keyboard was good for it's day, better than 'spring only' keys on some synths. Velocity response feels natural when VCA's are properly adjusted.

Seemed to perform reliably, I have had mine since it was new - I was a dealer for them in the early 80's. Have always wanted to keep this in my collection.

I've had my Chroma Polaris for for 17 years and I still use it. I gigged in an 80's cover band (1996-1999), and it was on the road from Montana to Rhode Island and I had no problems. It now suffers from age related membrane switch death, but I can still access most parameters via MIDI. I've since multi-sampled
it's raw waveforms since I find it more pleasing than the virtual analog breed such as the ES2 and Pro52, although they're pretty damn good. However, my samples will never be as good as the Polaris authentic VCO's and analog tape! If it were only 1988 again.

Great! Lots of sliders. Easy to fool with envelopes, filter resonance and cutoff in real time. The MIDI features are below the surface and more finicky.

I hate to contradict a fellow reviewer, but I think it was a 6 voice. It is a digitally controlled analog synth with 2 oscillators per voice. It has six filters for those polyphonic filter sweeps that produce huge sounds. It is not feature heavy by modern standards but it did have splits, doubles and MIDI connectivity as well as velocity sensing semi-weighted keys. The pulse width modification on a sawtooth wave was unique and usefull. It has an incredibly small on-board sequencer good for sound checks.

Fat! Huge! Ballsy! Impossible to make transparent. It's an analog synth, great for making analog synth sounds. The oscillators refuse to stay in precise tune which gives that analog fatness, it's very musical but just don't even try to make it sound thin or transparent.

I don't remember any mechanical problems, the electronics would wig out occasionally. I remember using the auto tune feature regularly. I know I lost all my patches once.

N/A

I have fond memories of the Polaris. It's a warm instrument and fun to play. Pretty heavy to lug and not super versatile, great ARP based syth. Sold it and bought a Roland JV-90 for versatility and reliability.

Software revision 9

Factory presets?...well, they are no indication of what the synth will do. Strange, since editing is very easy. Sliders are set up so two [or more] sliders at a time can be grabbed. Making new sounds could not possibly be easier. A patch editor would probably slow down the creation of new sounds. Manual is OK

Polyphony: 6 notes with dynamic voice allocation.

Most people like the feel of the keyboard. It's a partially wieghted, spring type action, but a better feel than some unwieghted actions. It's comfortable. Has a one-of-a-kind type of keyboard feel.

Expansion capabilities: sequencer RAM expansion.

MIDI- Along with great analog sound, the MIDI on this thing is amazing for an analog synth. It will do layers and splits, internally and over MIDI as a slave or as a master. On it's own, it will do a layer or split, and play a sequence, all at the same time and with 3 seperate patches, plus the ability to edit all 3 sounds in real time. Plus it's 8 channel multitimbrel!
So you figure, what good is 8 channel MIDI with only 6 voice polyphony? Well, a little musical judgment here will go a long way. Obviously, massive 12 note chords are not the order of the day. But try an external sequencer programmed for a bass line, melody line, and chord stabs, all analog, and from one synth.

A great feature as a MIDI synth: set up a keyboard split on the Polaris with two patches, and "steal" a 3rd Polaris sound over MIDI to layer with a digital synth. Or better yet, steal a 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th sound from the Polaris, split 6 ways across an external external MIDI controller keyboard for real sound creation possibilities.

One overlooked feature is the selective pitch bend option. Play a 5 note chord. Then press the sustain pedal and let go of the bottom 4 notes, holding down only the top note. Pitch bend will affect only the top note. Further more, the player can choose to bend any note or combination of notes he wants, simply by holding whatever note or notes he wants and letting go of whatever note or notes he wants. Selective pitch bend to the max.

The sequencer is easy to use. Unfortunately, it's only a one track sequencer. Sequences can be easily looped to themselves or any other of the 11 sequences.

While recording a sequence, parameter changes can be made from the front panel sliders, and the sequencer will record those. Better yet, while playing back a sequence, the parameters can be changed in real time for wild effects.

The "tempo tap" feature is a great way to set any tempo with a footswitch for record or playback.

As mentioned above, RAM expansion is available for greatly increasing the number of notes the sequencer can record.

Realistic sounds? This is an analog synth, not sample playback. It does things only an analog synth can do. For those unfamiliar with analog sound, the statement means nothing. Any one who knows analog sound knows that no digital or modelling synth can sound like this.

The saw tooth wave is different. The variable "pulse width" parameter has a pronounced effect on the saw tooth wave. Using this creates types of sound that are very unusual for an analog synth.

Bass sounds have a real bottom end if programmed correctly.
The Polaris can be made to sound unusually fat and warm, even for an analog synth. It can also be made to sound very metalic and nasal. A lot of the factory sounds are thin and anemic, but who cares about those? There's no reason to use them.

What types of music does it work well for? Dunno. Works on everything I've tried it on. Expressivenes? For whatever music it's used for, if the player is adventuresome and is willing to "jam" with the parameters in real time, this synth is a natural. For those less inclined to go out on a limb, there is a a programable pedal assignable to parameters like filter cutoff and vibrato speed and depth.

No effects

Velocity parameters on the filter and envelope. Filter envelope parameter has a big effect on filter velocity. No after touch, but programable pedal works well in place. Responds to aftertouch over MIDI.

Never had a problem with mine.

NA Chroma brand no longer in business.

For an older analog synth, it does things analog synths won't usually do, like 8 channel multitimbrel for starters. For that reason alone it would be hard to replace. As for the sound, few analog synths can sound this fat, although there are certainly a lot of great sounding analog instruments out there, each different, and each special.

One individual I know who programs for a living has said the Polaris is one of the best sounding analog synths ever made! [exclamation his]. He especially likes it for pungent, edgy sounds. I'm not going to argue. Other people have said the Polaris oscillators are a lot like those on the ARP 2600 modular synth [no suprise since ARP and Chroma were once the same company].

Would I buy it again if it was lost or stolen? I've played mine for 5 years, and would like to try two of them MIDIed together. With MIDI like this, dynamic voice alocation, and a great analog sound, it's something I'd like to try.

Please note; I am not an analog freak. My other gear is all digital. There just is no denying analog sound.

Comparison to other analog instruments is hard, and at the same time easy. The easy part is that analog instruments from this era or any other era don't usually have MIDI like this, or multitimbrel capability. The hard part is that the best analog instruments all have a uniquenes to their sound.
A good comparison would be between the Polaris and the Roland JX8P. Apparently, both were similarly priced when new. The JX8P is a bit thinner, but still warm. Subjectively, it has a bit more of a swishy sound compared to the Polaris.
The JX has a great way of applying dynamic control from the envelopes and velocity to a lot of it's parameters, but I think the Polaris oscilators can create more kinds of sounds and colours than the JX oscilators.
The Polaris can sound aggresive and punchy where the JX can sound a bit brissly trying to do the same thing. The JX can sound transparent and wispy where the Polaris sound usually comes out more solid in texture. Some would say fat to a fault.
The JX uses only a single slider compared to the many sliders and switches laid out over the front panel of the Polaris. The single slider makes sound creating a bit tedious, so JX owners who really like to program will need to find an external programmer unit built by Roland. Also, to my knowledge, the JX8P doesn't do splits or layers, and the MIDI is stone age. It's certainly not multi timbrel.
It takes a bit of experimenting, really just getting used to programming the Polaris, to break it out of it's generic shell. At that point, finding unique sounds that kick ass is a breeze. The JX might take less experimentation to get to that equivalent point, but I'm not certain if ultimately the JX sounds are as distinctive. I've heard reports from some quarters that the Polaris is "generic sounding". Apparently these programmers have not gotten to the point where the Polaris has started to sing. Considering the accesibility of all the parameters, it's hard to understand how they havn't gotten there.
Bottom Line? They both sound so different, cost no object, a complete studio might want both.

Anything I wish it had? More polyphony. More audio outputs. More parameters. More routings. Built in effects. More resolution on the highest resonance settings. But hey, the Alesis Andromeda is only $3500.