CHROMA POLARIS vs PROPHET 600: Live Shoot-out of these Analog Synth Titans!

2 Voltage-controlled Oscillators per voice is expensive, especially in the vintage market! The two cheapest analog polysynths you can get from the 80's with 2 VCO's are the Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 and the rare Fender Chroma Polaris. In this livestream we'll compare the two and see which reigns supreme.
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[@lostsignal1]

Amazing stream as always! I love the direct comparison- at one point I had 3x Polaris (Polarii?), but only one worked, and the "working" unit I had only had half of the membrane working and no memory.. Thanks to the midi implementation, I was able to write a Logic environment to control it (sort of), but watching this I was clearly missing out.. I also remember that it's stupidly heavy!

[@Sam_Utah]

Had both back in the day (my day). Kept the Chroma, sold the 600. Chroma polaris was technically ahead of the competition, even the Juno 60 which I kept for a decade. But the ARP designed Polaris had Midi, Velocity keys, bi timbral, splits and real time sequencer. Most feature rich synth of its day at that price point. It had great ring modulation for metalic plucks. Was my main synth with the Melloton 400 and VP330 until the Korg O1W came out. Eventually, only 6 voices, and those bladder switches made me look elsewhere to a Fizmo as I remember. But I was still using it with the 01W sequencer up through 2004.

[@VultureCulture]

That is so awesome! I want to get my hands on a Fizmo someday!

[@Sam_Utah]

@@VultureCulture re: FIZMO - I had 3 of them over the years, I would sell them then miss them. The variable loop point transwaves could do interesting stuff. Did my Rainbow Rider EP with the Fizmo as main board in 2003. Out of print but made me a few bucks. Always enjoy your expertise and excellent speaking voice....I just have that crappy whiskey tenor....({-;)

[@paulgrooveside2803]

This was a really great livestream, and nicely in depth and thoroughly explored, thanks. I really enjoyed it. The P600 has some strengths but the video has confirmed my love of the Polaris. Thanks!

[@VultureCulture]

They're both really incredible, and I was surprised that in some cases I preferred the sound of the P600. But yeah, Polaris is unbeatable.

[@RD-wg7kx]

Hi. Thanks for posting this. Am a fan of BOTH of these underrated synths. Could you Please fill in some details about what you mentioned, 'the great Norwegian synth deflation'? That's the first I've heard of that. (Any links? A quick Web search hasn't netted much, yet....)

[@VultureCulture]

Oh it's a total stupid joke on my part. It's referring to this Espen Kraft video and the effect it's had on the synth market (ie prices have come down): kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKSaaJiNj7NloLcsi=3ageUj5A7Gq4zozK

[@dooglehead8]

Following up on my comment about calibrating volume offset, it looks like it can't be done on Prophet 600. On the Chroma Polaris, you can calibrate the voltage where you just barely start to be able to hear sound for each channel. It uses that calibration to determine the offset to add to the voltage controlling the volume so that the envelopes start and end right at the lowest possible volume with no dead zone . On the Prophet 600, the offset is hardcoded (I checked the GliGli source code to verify). Maybe the fact that this is calibrated on the Chroma Polaris is the reason why the envelopes sound better, but I would think that the hardcoded value in the Prophet 600 is close enough that the difference wouldn't be that noticeable. I think it is most likely just due to a difference in envelope shape.

[@VultureCulture]

Thank you for checking that out for me! I was going to go down a rabbithole trying to understand the envelopes of the synthesizer.

[@mrdali67]

Missed the live session .. Still think the Behringer Pro 800 should have a voice here too, amazing synth for the price

[@VultureCulture]

Would love to check out the Behringer Pro 800 vs the Prophet 600 - just don't have one or the cash to buy one at the moment.

[@danalexpiano]

Prophet 5 rev to had SSMs, not CEMs. 4:15

[@VultureCulture]

I misspoke - I meant the Rev 3, which does have CEMs.

[@33ordie]

I have a Polaris and i just can't part with it because of the tuning capabilities and the PWM and shape of the pulse wave as well as the amp staging. It just sounds so fat and powerful. I also find it's filter sound sooo good. It's got the ARP dna.

[@VultureCulture]

It really does feel like a polyphonic Odyssey!

[@33ordie]

@@VultureCulture I just got my Polaris back today from the repair. I had one of the 6 channels out of tune. Which is why I stumbled upon your nice stream comparing two great powerful poly synths :P Some people diss the Polaris thinking of how it "apparently" is limited, while I think it's just a grand synth.

[@VultureCulture]

@33ordie it's absolutely a never sell synth for me. Just captivating and always has an incredible sound!

[@danalexpiano]

This reverb sucks, turn it off forever