Fender Chroma Polaris

Caffeine_Vampire · December 2018

I have an opportunity to pick one of these up in exchange for some gear I don’t need anymore. I’m not especially knowledgeable about vintage synths but my admiration for 80’s synth pop is my (no longer) dirty secret! I’m interested in creating a mash up of old school synth and heavy blues guitar. Could anyone with experience of these models let me know its pros and cons?

Funkfingers · December 2018

http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/chroma.php

Money no object, I would prefer one of these http://www.vintagesynth.com/arp/quadra.php or something from the Sequential/Smith stable.

Caffeine_Vampire · December 2018

Funkfingers said:

http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/chroma.php

Money no object, I would prefer one of these http://www.vintagesynth.com/arp/quadra.php or something from the Sequential/Smith stable.

I know but crazy prices and hard to find.

Stuckfast · December 2018

Funkfingers said:

http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/chroma.php

No, that's a completely different instrument, confusingly!

A Rhodes Chroma is definitely a very desirable synth, albeit also one that's notoriously unreliable.

Chroma Polaris is later and has relatively little in common with it. Much less desirable though probably cool enough in its way. Unlikely to be in the same league as a modern analogue polysynth like say the Behringer Deepmind.

What sort of trade value are you being offered?

Caffeine_Vampire · December 2018

Stuckfast said:

Funkfingers said:

http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/chroma.php

No, that's a completely different instrument, confusingly!

A Rhodes Chroma is definitely a very desirable synth, albeit also one that's notoriously unreliable.

Chroma Polaris is later and has relatively little in common with it. Much less desirable though probably cool enough in its way. Unlikely to be in the same league as a modern analogue polysynth like say the Behringer Deepmind.

What sort of trade value are you being offered?

The trade is actually for a vintage motorcycle that I started as a project and never finished. I’ve researched the value of both and if I move the Polaris down the line I won’t lose out financially. I’m not hip to modern synths so any advice would be welcome.

Stuckfast · December 2018

I've not tried that one in particular, but IMO the prices that are being asked for vintage polysynths are crazy when the new ones are so much more powerful and reliable. The Juno 6/60/106 seem to go for the best part of a grand and they are really limited instruments. I'd much rather a Korg Prologue 8 or a Deepmind 12, or any of the Dave Smith synths. All of those have more hands-on control than something like the Polaris.

Or to put it another way, there's no way I'd want any vintage polysynth as my only synth, unless I could get my old Jupiter 8 back (sob). Something like the Polaris would be cool and fun as part of a larger setup where you weren't trying to get it to do all synth duties, but in this day and age it'd be a luxury not an essential.

Caffeine_Vampire · December 2018

Stuckfast said:

I've not tried that one in particular, but IMO the prices that are being asked for vintage polysynths are crazy when the new ones are so much more powerful and reliable. The Juno 6/60/106 seem to go for the best part of a grand and they are really limited instruments. I'd much rather a Korg Prologue 8 or a Deepmind 12, or any of the Dave Smith synths. All of those have more hands-on control than something like the Polaris.

Or to put it another way, there's no way I'd want any vintage polysynth as my only synth, unless I could get my old Jupiter 8 back (sob). Something like the Polaris would be cool and fun as part of a larger setup where you weren't trying to get it to do all synth duties, but in this day and age it'd be a luxury not an essential.

I like the Prologue... big time.

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Fender Chroma Polaris

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