Calling All Polivoks !! The Beautiful Russian Analog Synth....
Friday, May 2, 2008 at 06:52AM Here's a mighty fine demo of the stunning Russian analog synth, the Formanta Polivoks via chicotilo on YouTube! Entitled "Polivoks Live in The Kitchen" - all we need is a great cupcake recipe to go with our tweaking.
Wanna learn more? Here's a must-read tidbit from analogik.com about the Polivoks:
"...For many years Russian Federation has been an isolated economy. Ministry of Culture, for example, wouldn't allow import of foreign instruments and Soviet musicians at the time didn't have a musical instrument that would offer capabilities and sounds of the equipment available to the rest of the world. This had triggered creation of a completely new and unique instrument."
Read more about these revolutionary synthesizers here on analogik.com!
As the lovely Polivoks made a dazzling appearance on Goldfrapp's 2003 gem, Black Cherry, I couldn't resist including this sweet shot taken a few years back in Goldfrapp's studio...who knows what Will Gregory has amassed since then, but here's to some lovely gearspotting! Is that our Polivoks in the right hand corner?
Here are some extra special sprinkles at the mere mention of Goldfrapp:
Speaking of the godlike Will Gregory, here he is with some advice on AD/DA converters - are you in the market for one? Watch & learn, myself included...via sonicstate on Youtube.
More Goldfrapp here on AnalogSuicide.
Reader Comments (2)
There are a bunch of not-quite-accuracies in the "For many years..." quote. The Polivoks was built in the era of the Soviet Union, the Rusian Federation came afterwards. It's true that trade restrictions prevented sales of U.S. and Japanese instruments though Vermona and other Eastern European gear were okay. As a generalization, it was important the Soviet Union could manufacture whatever technological gear that was useful. Generally they either designed something with the capabilities thought important or outright copied something from the West using available components. (Check out the copied Buran Space Shuttle)
The Polivoks was by no means the first or only Soviet analog synth. What makes it special was it had deeper features and a more original design than most if not all Soviet Synths being manufactured.
Very interesting, nick - can you send in more examples of Soviet synths? We'd love it!