Unfortunately, many of the Polymorph's functions and parameters cannot be accessed directly from the front panel you often need to use a combination of menus and knobs. A small 2 x 16 character screen, two larger ratcheted knobs, and a headphone socket sensibly placed on the top panel complete the ensemble. How very German! The switches - of which there are no fewer than 42 - are positive, and the 44 knobs (though a bit wobbly) are reassuringly smooth in action. Indeed, with functional grey knobs and dark blue switches that glow a deep purple when selected, it flies in the face of the current trend for all things multi-coloured and splotchy. The Polymorph is laid out like a desktop unit, but, in contrast to the Access Virus (with which it will inevitably be compared) its slate-grey control surface lacks nice friendly colours, and its military steel case lacks 'retro' wooden end-pieces. The jury may need some more time to reconsider. But then there's the case for the defence: Quasimidi themselves, who vigorously protest that their latest product is "the first not specifically aimed at dance" and the synth itself, which has waveforms called 'strings' and 'Mellotron'. Couple this to Quasimidi's dance-biased history so far (just the names of some of their products speak volumes: Technox, Raven, the utterly unequivocal Rave‑O‑Lution 309), and you have what seems like an open-and-shut case, m'lud: the Polymorph is a dance module. On first impressions, it looks like many of the other dance-oriented modules that have hit the market in the last couple of years, with lots of real-time modulation knobs, a grungy sound, and an analogue-style sequencer. But should the electronic instruments themselves be categorised in this way? What would have happened if Moog and ARP had declared that the Minimoog and Odyssey were only to be used for widdly lead lines played by knife‑wielding keyboard wizards? Ooh. You're unlikely to find many TB303s on prog‑rock revival CDs, nor many classical orchestrations for synth on the latest deep trance garage techno old school progressive hardbag (or whatever) releases. His side of it went something like this: "Gordon, would you like to review the new Polymorph for us? I know Quasimidi's background is in the dance market, so we weren't sure whether you'd be interested, but there's more to the Polymorph than just that, so perhaps.?" Do you find this as thought-provoking as I do? It suggests that the electronic music industry is divided into two: music for young people (for which read deep trance garage techno old school progressive hardbag - oh, pick an adjective) and music for older people (for which read widdly synthy stuff for boring old farts). I had an interesting conversation with Matt Bell, SOS's Senior Assistant Editor, a few weeks ago. The Polymorph does offer plenty to interest the dance fraternity - real-time modulation knobs, and an analogue-style sequencer and user interface - but behind the façade lurks a powerful synth.
With several successful dance-oriented synth successes to their name, Quasimidi attempt to buck the trend with their latest offering.
0 kommentar(er)
