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"Have
you experienced Vox Humana blasting out over a PA system with
nothing more than an MXR phaser pedal in tow?" If you
attended a Gary Numan show between 1979 and 1981 your answer
would be a resounding yes! The bass rumble you can get by
holding down the bottom E, tweaking the bass control and adjusting
the oscillator tuning (beat) is phenomenal. Nothing else sounds
like one and certainly nothing else looks like it either!
If
I had to put my hand on my heart and categorise its sound
I would describe it as a kind of string machine with a haunting
almost spooky vocal quality which, with a bit of tweaking,
(especially the sample and hold) can produce some very surprising
results. Overall, the Polymoog is a sadly maligned instrument
that doesn't deserve the opprobrium that has become attached
to its name. Perhaps it is simply nostalgia that makes me
so obsessed with it but it's definitely one of those instantly
identifiable sounds from the seventies like a Solina String
Ensemble, a Mellotron or a thump hiss beat box. In an age
of digital sterility, I find myself grinning each time I hear
it, probably because of its limitations than in spite of them.
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An incredibly rare event. A Polymoog 203a and Polypedal that were found
in a warehouse in the USA that was being demolished. The
units had been there for 24 years, still in their original
packaging, unsold and unplayed.
The items were auctioned on Ebay and went to a Japanese collector for
$ 3,400 (£ 1,880) - the highest price ever seen for a "second-hand"
Polymoog to date.
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