Korg Poly-800 (1983–1987)

Little about the Poly-800 is complicated, and that was the point. Korg put an eight-voice programmable polysynth on the market in 1983 for a $795 list price. The record describes it as the first fully programmable analog polysynth to break the $1,000 barrier. It was a paraphonic design - eight voices sharing a single voltage-controlled filter - and the third of its three ADBSSR envelope generators is the one that drives that shared filter. Each voice gets two digitally controlled oscillators. The manual notes the DCOs work on a principle of additive squarewave synthesis, building waveforms by summing squarewave harmonics at octave intervals from 16′ to 2′. The engine is monotimbral, with 64 patch memory slots and up to 50 editable parameters. Parameter resolution is roughly 5-bit, which explains both why the Poly-800 sounds the way it does and why some people never forgave it.

Programming is done through membrane buttons and a small six-digit LED display, not a knob per function. Korg calls it Digital Access Control. The manual is explicit that this buys "accurate sound recall, excellent repeatability, and a minimum of front panel clutter," which is a generous way of describing menu diving. The build is a lightweight ABS plastic chassis with strap pins, no wood end cheeks, and no metal paneling. The manual even warns that the case can build up static discharge and recommends grounding the unit through an amplifier before powering up. It runs on six C-cell batteries or a 9V adapter, and the manual rates battery life at about four hours of continuous use, a little less with headphones. There's a 14-second cassette tape interface for saving and loading programs and sequencer data, plus a built-in step-time sequencer. The rear panel has MIDI in/out alongside output (R, L/mono), phones, and tape jacks.

Reception was warm but not worshipful. Modern Recording (February 1984, p.75) described it as a professional digitally programmable 8-voice polyphonic synth in a compact 13-pound package. It praised the layering mode for thicker textures and noted that all 64 programs are instantly accessible through the Digital Access Control System.

Practical notes for anyone buying one: the most common failure point is acid damage from old batteries, so check the compartment before anything else. Serviced units command higher prices, with reports of up to 2.5 hours of skilled labor for cleaning and testing. A filter control knob modification is a known and desirable aftermarket tweak. The rack-mount sibling is the EX-800, which carries the same engine in a space-saving format.

Market Value

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ KORG POLY 800                                                   Nov 2026 │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ High      $429                                    Latest            $390 │
│ Median    $374                                    Trend                — │
│ Low       $174                                    Volume           ~1/mo │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│   $500 ┤                                                                 │
│        │                                                                 │
│        │                                  .               .             .│
│   $329 ┤.                                                                │
│        │                                               .   .             │
│        │                                                                 │
│        │                                       .                         │
│   $100 ┤                                                                 │
│        ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│
│    vol │█                                 █    █       █  ██            █│
│        └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│
│         2025-12                      2026-03                      2026-07│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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