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

Comments · 28

• LO

  @lostsignal1 · 2 years ago

  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!

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• PA

  @paulgrooveside2803 · 2 years ago

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

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• SA

  @Sam_Utah · 2 years ago

  Had both back in the day (my day). Kept &nbsp;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. &nbsp;Most feature rich synth of its day at that price point. &nbsp;It had great ring modulation for metalic plucks. Was my main synth with the Melloton 400 and VP330 until the Korg O1W came out. &nbsp;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.

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• DO

  @dooglehead · 2 years ago

  Following up on my comment about calibrating volume offset, it looks like it can&apos;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&apos;t be that noticeable. I think it is most likely just due to a difference in envelope shape.

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• MR

  @mrdali67 · 2 years ago

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

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• DA

  @danalexpiano · 2 years ago

  Prophet 5 rev to had SSMs, not CEMs. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24M4NmHxrHU&amp;t=255">4:15</a>

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• RO

  @roguedev33 · 2 years ago (edited)

  I have a Polaris and i just can&apos;t part with it because of the tuning capabilities and the PWM and shape of the pulse wave as well as the amp staging. &nbsp;It just sounds so fat and powerful. &nbsp;I also find it&apos;s filter sound sooo good. &nbsp;It&apos;s got the ARP dna.

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• CA

  @calyx93 · 7 months ago (edited)

  While I will never part with my P600 w/Gligli OS and upgraded keybed, the Polaris sounds much more open and crisp despite that filter. The gain staging and oscillators sound quite different. My P600 has a much more extreme resonance - screaming. Perhaps some calibration would bring out more. To me, the Polaris sounds a lot like a polyphonic Odssey might - definitely gonna grab one some day! Just sounds much more tough and tight.

  1

• RD

  @RD-wg7kx · 2 years ago

  Hi. Thanks for posting this. Am a fan of BOTH of these underrated synths. <br>Could you Please fill in some details about what you mentioned, &apos;the great Norwegian synth deflation&apos;? That&apos;s the first I&apos;ve heard of that. (Any links? A quick Web search hasn&apos;t netted much, yet....)

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• DJ

  @djkanyon · 9 months ago

  Sorry bro i&apos;m late to the party, but just my two cents: to me P600 is little bit spongy, unstable and digital-ish sounding, Chroma is way more stable sound wise(not tuning wise ) - especially on pulsewave. Even before walking into modulation neighbourhood! Both have CPU &nbsp;stuff but Chroma handled it way better. The difference is not that big but my biggest pet peeve in analog synthesizers is spongy sound (like Minilogue etc). I always prefer more stable stuff and to me Chroma beats even Prophet 5.

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• DA

  @davlippo7 · 1 year ago

  Briefly watching what&apos;s the global outcome? I could not tell enough difference in the moments I watched to prefer either one enough to purchase one.

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• DA

  @danalexpiano · 2 years ago

  This reverb sucks, turn it off forever

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