Korg Poly 800 Battery replacement and factory reload.
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
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In this episode I take a look at this Korg Poly 800, clean it up, replace the battery on the logic board, and reload the factory sounds using the cassette interface.
Here's a vote for a two hour review featuring cheesy consumer level music on a fancy professional keyboard!
I will drive over to DFW with my Korg Kronos just to do this if he would do it.
up vote from me, no bias
David lives in DFW.
Make him review the MicroKORG
lol i can image him having the moog... that'd be awesome.
Ahh, memories! I’m a professional keyboardist, and this was my very first synth I got while in college. If you took the time to learn to program it, it could do amazing things. The quality of sounds you could squeeze out of it made it a great first synth for me. This was also one of the first affordable digital synths that just tipped the scale into “pro” use vs. consumer toy, given that you could load and save sounds, stereo output, and being able to program from scratch. If you knew how to program it, there weren’t many sounds from that era you couldn’t reproduce well enough for a cover band situation. I played lots of parties with this keyboard!
It's actually an analog synth.
@@dicey2988 yeah, with DCO’s. True story.
Just a quick note re: your comments at 13:42. I managed to get hold of a Poly 800 recently and, not only did it come with a flight case, it came with the original cassette _and_ the original printed manual. This manual contains a "pullout" detailing all of the pre-loaded/factory patches (including their parameters), which is possibly missing from PDF versions online. It's only three pages, so let me know if you're interested in a scanned copy.
This is also one of the earliest hybrid synths as the oscillators are generated via a sound chip originally made for arcade machines, though the filters are analog.
You are very brave. I wouldn't have that kind of courage to mess around with a classic like that! Very good, sir!!
dang it, now poly 800 prices will go up
poly 61 is better anyways.
Buy a DW-8000, it has the joystick and is waaaay better.
Corncob Johnson real That blows dude, I got mine on eBay for $350, they seem to go for anywhere from $250 to $500 so if you're patient you should be able to find a good deal on one. I have mine paired up with a Roland JX-3P, they make beautiful music!
@ Corncob Johnson real: They were expensive already before this video.
Corncob Johnson real I have a half dozen, maybe it's time to unload
Such a neat synth and still greatly unknown even to experts.
Thanks so much for letting us take part in your experience.
You've inspired me to dig this out of its case in the closet, clean it up and get a new battery! thank you!!
around 86 at the age of 16 I was working in a music shop selling among them poly800, I later became a keyboard player.
I got a Roland D-50 keyboard dusting
I like the new updated music for the intro.
Keep doing what you do ! I'm just beginning to start collecting these older units . Great video and yes your videos are very informative! Thanks .
Damn, I love the preset sounds, I feel like they still sound great. No wonder why Jordan Rudess uses Korg!
That's one gorgeous sounding synth!
The first patch you used reminded me of Van Halen’s “1984”. Super awesome!
Dani
Cool, glad to see you Made Korg Poly Great Again!
The Poly 800 is a wolf in sheep's clothing! A really good, fully programmable analogue / digital hybrid with a primitive but usable MIDI implementation that was one of the first MIDI capable synths on the market. I had the "limited edition" version with inverted key colours, and still have the original patch cassette that it came with somewhere.
I’ve always wanted a poly 800. I have a dw8000 which is somewhat related but I like the sound of the 800 a lot
these are good for the price. DCOs but analog filter. Apparently there's some control interfaces you can get that really unlock the possibilities.
Really digging these reviews and all the hard work you put into them. Stick with the cheap keyboards - there's more than enough pro-keyboard reviewers. These videos are a lot more fun than those too.
One thing that I have been let known of in the Automotive industry is something called a Battery Tender which helps keep the settings and the Data in the cars computer so that when you are going in to get the emissions and such done on the car, the thing will be able to give the good data to the equipment that they use on the car.
So, with that in mind, perhaps in the future on keyboards of this nature and such, is to get a Battery Tender and use that. Perhaps one should be manufactured and such.
I was making fat house chords with the chord memory function on one today.... amazing
every time you play reminds me on 80 movies an 16 bit games
vintage synthesizers are so cool
This is the second make of the Poly800, the first one doesn't have a battery compartment and I wonder about midi. I love this synth.
Nice video... Only suggestion: I have the Poly 800ii. You should be able to use a Sysex file through MIDI to get the factory patches. But the tape works too.
Do the First Legend of Zelda title music: the ghostly sound is perfect for it!
If you ever need to change a battery again, you could temporarily solder two wires to the circuit board and attach another battery in tandem - kind of like a heart-lung bypass machine!
I love your videos....such a good review
your musical skills are pretty dope though. I'd be very happy to have your skills
This song is amazing!
c7 cap is bulging on top!
7:23 he puts his middle finger on it but better view at 12:26 where u can see the buldge in the X
Hmm, slight variation in intro tune? Nice video!
For the 36th patch i have created a name!
I call it SynthMew, cuz it sounds like a mew or a mow. 10/10 xDDD
Hi great review and repair I just received mine in the mail and I think it needs repairs. Where can I get it fixed?
Hey, that synth has some pretty sweet sounds.
(Googles Korg Poly 800)
(Average price is $400)
:(
I guess I'll just have to stick to my Casio CTK-720 for now.
That rubix cube is unsolvable.
to what point this keyboard is not a computer? like this is a mix of a commodore c64 and an amiga or an ibm xt. somehow it is like a new workaround to me beyond my scope, like if were invisible or couldn't see it. great video.
just a question: what is the best way to record when you play a piano/keyboard/synth?
It looks like it has a 'to tape' function, so why didn't you record the settings before disassembly and just reloaded them back later?
1080P Yay! when will we have 4K? :-p
Why did not save the sounds by just plugging the tape out to a sound capture card and record it with audacity?
why didn'y you connect a battery in parallel while taking the old one? it would prevented the ram from erasing itself.
I know this is old, but why didn't you backup the old sounds before replacing the battery?
What if you had backed up the patches that were there already before you replaced the battery?
Who else likes the outro better than the intro
Hi guys, I have trouble after replacing battery ( 3,07 V) and I have on ram chip only 2,75 and my korg cannot keeep the sounds :( do you know what could be possibly wrong? There is only one strange sound, even if I have messsge "Good" it do nothing :(
could be damaged RAM chip?
Wow, that is a pretty sweet old Keyboard. Now, I want one too. Edit: I found a website that has all of the sounds and programming information for free : synthlib.com/brands/korg/instruments/korg-poly-800
10 years later: "I've changed my mind, I'm reinstalling the strap holders"
10 years and 1 day later: "I cannot find the strap holders."
@@ItsDoctorAmatic
So, is the total time 20 years and 1 day, or...
Strap on
@@oil1252 Good man.
Sometimes your best 8bitguy videos are actually the 8bitkeys ones!!
Hahaha thats what 20 years of Arizona garage storage will get you, glad to know you were able to clean it up.
Edit: nooo sound 32 the saucer sound that was my favorite!
Yeah, I thought the UFO sound was really neat myself...
Sounded like something out of classic Dr. Who.
WHY, oh WHY didn't he save the settings to tape???
@Arne I wondered that as well.
Can you explain the packing peanuts, too? I'm really just curious.
He might be able to re-program that saucers instrument back in?
EDIT: Now that I think about it, he could theoretically re-program it back in the same way he did with the factory defaults, just using the raw audio off of Audacity (which is what I think that program on his laptop is).
2 hours of 8bit Keys? Sign Me The Fuck Onto That!
*pulls down shades* is that 1080P I see?
By George, I believe it is!
BLASPHEMY!!!
...what heresy are you spewing?!
The Obsolete Geek When are you going to release new videos? I miss them :(
I see that you are not dead :3
Oh man! You should have saved the SRAM to your computer via the audio jack just like you loaded them before changing the battery...
True!!
If I ever buy one of those and it has custom sounds, that's exactly what I'd do.
I was just thinking that myself. If you can save and load, why not save it into a file on his Mac? That way he saves anything that wasn't Factory so he can reload either or whenever he wanted to.
@@CoolSteve08
its not hard to create the patches. those cheap synths really had a limited number of unique sounds. I would keep these type of boards for maybe a year then you get bored with them. They arent like true analog boards which are about three times as expensive.
¡PLOP!
“I tend to focus on the older amateur keyboards”
And that is why I watch your channel. Keep it up and more power to you!
I think you are underestimating your musical skills... 😃🎹
He definitely is. He's a thousand times better with a Casio than I am... Then again, he's got more experience than me, so...
@ Dark Winter: Just like women.... Fishing for compliments. I HATE that! Drawing artists do the same shit. Like "My stuff sucks and i need to practice a lot more" while their drawings already ARE fantastic >_
Wait...are you trying to be funny? Please try again without the sweeping generalizations. Ending on a compliment does not offset the insults.
@KRAFTWERK2K6
He could be fishing for compliments, but I *really* doubt it. Many artists are perfectionists (I should know), so if their work isn't "best thing since sliced bread" level it must suck. Also, 8bit is a decent keyboardist, but he's certainly no virtuoso. I feel that's where he was getting at. :)
I agree.
I realize it's too late for this now, but could you not have offloaded the existing non-factory sounds using the tape mechanism?
There was a way to transfer the information, there was some software I saw recently, but they're gone now from his.
@@helgenx It would have been too much of a quick fix.
I had a guy try to tell me that the knobs on the sides for straps were actually tuning knobs to adjust the sound. XD
There's something satisfying about him plugging the cables back into the circuit board.
Amy Carter exactly
I oddly feel the same satisfaction from the clicks of a well-used and well-maintained typewriter (this is why I really love the intro to 'Black Tambourine' as performed by Beck - actually the whole song is an ASMR thing with the simple bass line and technical but droppy drums not to mention the soft vocals).
Amy Carter Old technology is so satisfying.
this, exactly this. weirdly satisfying.
Interesting that it was Korg that in the past few years released both the MS-20Kit and MS-20MKit, full sized analog synths that you assemble yourself just down to plug level (no soldering required). I owned and built both, a fantastic synth nerd experience :)
Love that synthesizer. It's criminally underrated, People often think of it as a toy, but it's a powerfull synth. I have Poly 61, Polysix, and Poly 800, and the youngest P800 is as usefull, as his older brothers :)
I demand a 2 hours long video on DX7!!
I have a dx27 (shit little brother I think) I'd love to see what he can get out of a real synth. It needs his nerd flair ;)
dwarf365 Send it to him
dwarf365 send it to him
dwarf365 send him
Synthmania has done a series of videos showcasing all the factory banks of the DX7.
You can find both the original patches and user-created sounds right here on UA-cam! I have the original tape and owner's manual for mine but I love to see what others have done. Couple tips: the 1/8" input for programming may not work if you are using a stereo 1/8th in cable. I switched to an old mono cable and it worked perfectly. It may take you a few tries to get it to load just right. The key is to play with the output volume of your source (tape deck, computer, etc.) until you give the keyboard the level it is looking for. Try using the "low/hi" switch on the back if you can't get the level just right.
15:38 Hey! Patch N°18 was perfect for Van Halen's "Jump" intro. You missed that one.
That one capacitor at 12:29 looks like it is bulging at the top. If I am correct you may want to replace it.
Good eye. It might just be a trick of the lens but yeah, one of those looks ready to blow.
Yes, it does look like it's bulging.
Yes it definetly is bulging. He should put in a new one.
One of the last things you want going bad in any machine...
If it ain't broke don't fix it!
Ahh, that tune you were playing at 5:20 with patch 21 was reallly nice, would love a longer version :3
Honestly, Christmas for me would be you making a long-ass video just of you playing off-the-cuff tunes like that.
Ok, now it is sure, 8-bit guy is monitoring me.. I just last week, after it had been sitting for 15 years in the closet, opened my Poly-800 to see why it was not coming back to life.. At least battery was empty, of course but no life, lights come on, power is working and main processor receives clock (that is about where my skills end..). Could be that the eeprom is busted since none of the buttons work but i can't find anything else that is busted, all components seem to work, afaik.
so... maybe it just needs the factory patches reloaded?
did you ever fix it?
The patches you played in the beginning kinda sounded like AnalogAudio1's custom patches for the Poly-800
TIP! You don't need to spray paint plastic like this. You can use Black Shoe Polish and get a better result. It's also easier. Cheers! Keep up the great vids! :)
simontay1984 I'm not sure why, but I've been using this technique for years and the plastic is always dry to the touch the next day (nothing gets on the hands). Looks like new again, and lasts too.
@@DanDuskin if I had to guess, the polish fills the pits and holes that make a surface look dull.
Nice vid! Korg also released a module version: the EX-800 - which is the same synth in a box. I did a few videos on it including a microswitch repair. They have a very interesting voice structure (which I'm surprised you didn't mention): which is combining square waves together in a step to produce a faux sawtooth sound. So, the synth doesn't actually have a native sawtooth waveform - it has to use a style of additive synthesis to produce it. The envelopes are also something cool - with the extra two stages. People also heavily mod these synths - and there's some interesting projects out there which aren't terribly difficult to implement: check out Moog Slayer (a well needed filter mod) and HAWK 800 (MIDI) mods (not related to me in anyway).
15:12
Was expecting to hear "Someday, love will find you!"
That keyboard gives a 'Terminator soundtrack' vibe.
That synth is similar to the Juno and polysix in many ways. Both being the defacto sounds of many 80's movies.
Vangelis is known to have used one, not sure if it was in the Blade Runner OST or not though.
Blade Runner came out in 1982. So, no. Vangelis did not use a Poly800 for this soundtrack. It was the Yamaha CS80 that he used intensively.
KRAFTWERK2K6 The CS80 is my absolute favorite synth ever. Blade Runner, The Shining, Doctor Who, and about 100 others..
@@5roundsrapid263 _Shining_ was Polymoog and Moog Modular.
You're Dimebag Darrel's 2nd cousin. Don't underestimate your music skills especially when music is already in your bloodline.
Huh, it's weird that they would put the sound info. just in RAM, as if they were the annoying Capcom guys with their suicide battery! Why not just use ROM?
No, @@AnonymousGentooman, because they could have the sounds reside in ROM and then you could still customize them in RAM.
Please do more of these videos, maybe some teaching to play some classic 8bit/16bit era songs... I bought an PSR-6 after watching your videos! Cheers from Brazil! _0/
haha I bought a PSS-470 after watching the video on How video game music works :)
Most of the keyboards he shows here are hard to find in Brazil... I'm starting with the PSR-6 he listed on the soundblaster video description, and if I can play something, then invest more on finding an upper model, like these casio on his wall, or a rarer Yamaha like yours...
I bought a psr-32 after watching his video on it.
Greetings from Brazil! I'm gonna reply in English so everyone can understand it.
João, most of these keyboards aren't rare here in Brazil if you know where to look. In fact, I have the vast majority of the keyboards shown in this channel and only the Yamaha MK-100 caused me some headaches when I was searching for it, as that one is scarce around here. The others, not so much. Now, what IS a problem in Brazil are the prices: our sellers are charging at least three times the price of most of these toy instruments with arguments of "rarity" and "vintage instrument". Take the Casio SK-1, for instance: it is getting more popular between lo-fi/alternative artists out there because it is a cheap toy sampler capable of insteresting things in the right hands, but here in Brazil - HEY! - it suddenly is a "rare vintage sampler used by this and that artist" which costs like 3 or 4 times the price asked everywhere else. Same for the Casio VL-1, which is, like what, the most sold Casio keyboard ever? And let's not even start with this Korg Poly-800, which is a very nice 8-note polyphony analogue synth, but not worth the price of a huge, professional synth as they're charging in our country.
So: keep your eyes open, eventually you'll own most of the keyboards shown here. Just please know the value of your money - these are beautiful toy/home instruments, but not worth as much as most of the prices you'll find in Brazil! Good luck!
PS.: There were at least five or six PSS-470s (the keyboard mentioned by lilmattere) on OLX in the last six months. It's a common keyboard, and a very nice one. Once again: just be aware of how much you pay for it - there's a guy asking for R$650 or so on Mercado Livre for one, when it actually should cost R$250 or R$300 (or even less, to be honest). Not even a copy with the original box and manual should cost R$650. A guy sold a Yamaha DX-7 the other day for R$700, so why a toy/home keyboard should cost about the same is beyond me.
What a grateful surprise! I thought I was the only braziian who watch this channel.
I love the sound of these things! Thank you for creating and maintaining such a great channel. You should create some kind of multiple track full length compilation, I bet a lot of people would buy it! Myself included!
Out of curiosity, why did you not backup the non-factory patches that were on the keyboard using the tape interface before replacing the battery?
He didn't care
he's too rock n roll for that
Wow a C.G.I. ANIMATION IS HERE
How would you know, @@dizzydaisy909?
@@HelloKittyFanMan. lucky guess?
I really love it when you disassemble things and restore them, it's so satisfying to watch! :)
I just feel the same way and in the same time thinking about my old Yamaha DX-7 and Korg Vocoder VC-10 ;-) and knowing both of them will love very much this kind of soft treatment... and how satisfying it would be to repair my own stuff in this highly relaxing way.
Or just only for making my old synthesizers dust-free again... would already be very great!
Yes, indeed : it feels very comfortable to see someone doing this in a professional 'easy'-looking way. I appreciate this comment so much!!!
Omg 2hr episodes !!!! Let me get the popcorn first !!!
5:35 How do you know what a flying saucer even sounds like?
Because Hollywood! :)
c6amp do we know that saucers actually exist tbh?
Love that vintage keyboard sound 💖
The nostalgia always fills my heart when you do these videos.
You do not give yourself enough credit for being a good keyboardist. As always, excellent posting. Thanks.
Of all the synths you showed on this channel, this one is my favorite so far. This sounds lovely.
Love that Eargasmic new theme song, 8-bit Guy!
I own one of this uniquely underrated poly800. The first time I followed this channel is because of the portasound 470 and vl1 which I also own both of them. How I feel so glad to found and subscribe to this channel! Having you reviewing this poly was like a dream come true!
You don't need super musical skills, you can make cool stuff by only having ability to listen carefully.
If I had the money, I would buy you a DX7 or similar 80s vintage pro synth to do a huge video on! :D But I would also nitpick at every IC you misidentified, so it's a double edged sword :P
A friend of mine that lives in town has a DX7 that is available to me anytime I want to borrow it.. but I just don't feel like I could do it justice.
8-Bit Keys There are people that have had DX7's for 30 years and have yet to figure them out
Please do a DX-7, I have one and I l'd love to hear your perspective on it. I also recently sold my Poly-800, didn't like it very much - it was too "toyish" for my liking :(
Would love a DX7 review/ mini tutorial!
still want one 25 years later😁👍
dont sell yourself short by not reviewing professional keyboards/synths, its your style of reviewing/ teardown that makes it enjoyable to watch. their is a vast amount of old, out of date and obsolete pro/semipro equipment that would be great to watch you do your "fiddle" with.
Now, if you knew where to monitor the battery voltage, why not connect a backup battery across that to maintain the memory while replacing the original battery.
I wanted to reload the factory sounds anyway.
mzyan w wa3er
I love how 80's it sounds. Would love to play this keyboard
13:19 he didn't probably realize that he's playing a Javanese pentatonic scale
Couldn't you have saved the patches that were on the keyboard when you first got it by recording them into Audacity?
DAT NICE 1080P
FINALLY
HOW DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TOP !) COMMENT ON EVERY DAMN VIDEO?!?!
WHO TF ARE YOU!!??!
You know I couldn't tell the difference.
Laurin O. Becuz
Becuz
Even if the videos are "lite" versions compared to the typical 8 bit keys I'd still love to see some on all sorts of keyboards anyway! It's a nice intersection of my interests in both music and technology, and you have a great presentation style. The DX7 is one of a few keyboards that was HUGE in the 80s and even into the 90's, we've heard it used on so many hit songs I think there would be considerable interest in a piece of gear like that, even from people who aren't typically interested in this sort of thing.
Are you sure the battery wasn't a rechargeable type? might cause damage to the new battery if it was and the board tries to charge it.
@Mr T. Guru i guess it's the same as used on PC motherboards.
Ugh! I was freaking out when you removed the battery knowing everything was stored in RAM! I've had to replace those 2032s on a few instruments that had calibration parameters stored in RAM and went through hell hooking up an external power source WHILE desoldering one and quickly soldering another.
Then you mentioned you had the original tape programming recording and I freaked out slightly less, but I'm wondering why you didn't record what was on the instrument to tape before you removed the battery?
Boomer. That's why.
Man your music would fit so good in retro games
In 1986 I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of these. I did endless multi tape recordings with two cassette players, which ended up filling any silence with huge amounts of tape noise. But the little sequencer with 256 notes was a great help to go adding drums, base, guitar and voice. I loved this little synthesiser!
15:40 i thought that tune sounded familiar. it's "wonder who's crying now" by journey
12:56 --- that sight looked weird lol... the way your body shook lol :D
Wow! What a flashback it is to see and hear the Korg Poly 800 after so many years!
It was my first "real" synthesizer, apart from having smaller Casio keyboards which were still fun; especially the SK 1 & 5.
After writing and accompanying songs with the Poly 800 in my teenage years, I wound up selling it to a friend with the thoughts of an upgrade, but throughout writing and playing out with other instruments - being centered on the 12-string guitar (as I remain today) - it wasn't until years later when I bought a used Korg 01w/fd - which is fantastic to write and record through.
Thanks again for the video. I'm actually going to watch it again right now to listen to the sounds once more.
Guess you could call it a korgan