It’s a synth called Synth!
In recent years, Polyend have become known for their sequencing and tracker products, namely Play and Tracker. In my recent review of the Tracker+, Polyend had added some new digital synthesizers to their tracker system. At the same time, they were busy developing several more algorithms and, in a move not rivalled since my mate Brian named his dog ‘Dog’, have packed them into ‘Synth’.
Synths, plural, might have been a better name choice because this is a three‑part multitimbral device, where each part uses one of eight different synth engines. Instead of a traditional keyboard, the Synth uses a 5x12 grid of silicone pads, which can be configured to play all three synth parts together in rather clever ways. The idea is that the three different sounds become one playable, interactive performance grid. Throw in effects, arpeggiation and sequencing into the mix, and you have a surprisingly configurable synthesis playground.
Synth Er Size
The Synth is a desktop unit measuring 282 x 207 x 35mm and largely follows the design philosophy of Polyend’s other desktop products like the Play and Tracker+. A small but informative colour LCD screen is used for editing along with touch‑sensitive encoders to change values and buttons to navigate. There are three dedicated encoders for master volume, tempo and pitch‑bend, three macro encoders, and nine soft encoders that follow whatever is shown on screen. Some dual‑use functions are accessed with a Shift key, but it is intuitive overall with some unavoidable menu‑diving.
The Synth is three‑part multitimbral and each part can be assigned one of eight synthesizers. These parts can then be mixed, panned and sent to three effects: chorus, delay and reverb. Let’s take a look at each of the synth engines.
The Synth is 100 percent digital, but the synthesis engines cover virtual analogue, wavetable, FM, phase distortion, granular, sample playback and physical modelling.
On the analogue side, there is ACD, which is inspired by 101s and 303s based around sawtooth and square oscillators, a sub‑oscillator, noise, pulse‑width modulation and a choice of low‑pass filters. FAT is more Minimoog‑inspired, with three oscillators, noise and ladder filters. VAP is a Prophet‑style polysynth with dual oscillators, soft‑sync and multi‑mode filters.
On the more digital side, we have WAVS, a wavetable synth with dual wavetables, morphing, warping and multi‑mode filters. WTFM is a 2‑op FM synthesizer with multiple feedback paths and waveshapes. PMD is a physical modelling engine capable of strings, bells, plucks, drums, breathy sounds and more. PHZ is a modern phase‑distortion engine with some unique waveshaping options. And finally, GRAIN is a granular sample‑playback engine capable of tempo‑sync rhythmic textures and the usual cloud‑based atmospheres. All in all, there is a lot of synth to choose from and plenty of excellent presets to get you started.
The synthesis engines generally share some common features. Envelopes and LFOs are often the same, although some engines offer more than others. The filter sections are often the same, too. Some engines share the same low‑pass designs, and some share the same multi‑mode designs. Each part also has an optional 64‑step sequencer or arpeggiator.
Most (although not all) of the engines also have a modulation matrix with six slots and varying source and destination lists, depending on which synth you have loaded. Furthermore, each preset can assign three macros with dedicated front‑panel encoders to change up to six parameters simultaneously. All the factory presets have macros assigned and sensibly named. Needless to say, there are plenty of opportunities to automate sounds.
On the rear, we have a single stereo output and MIDI in and out (Type B) on 3.5mm jacks, a microSD card slot, an emergency reset switch, USB‑C for power and MIDI, and an on/off button.
The Scenic Route
Your choice of three synth parts is packaged together in a Scene. Scenes are global presets that save the entire state of the Synth. In addition to the synth sounds, sequencer, mixer and effects settings, they also save the grid setup and voice allocation settings.
Eight voices isn’t a huge number for a multitimbral device like this, and I would have preferred 16 or even 32.
Voice allocation allows you to spread eight available voices across all three synth parts. Eight voices isn’t a huge number for a multitimbral device like this, and I would have preferred 16 or even 32. But in general, eight is manageable. You might have one for a bass sound, five for a polysynth, and two for a special effect. It does preclude you from layering up three ambient pad sounds with long releases, but that’s a limitation we must live with. One exception is that the GRAIN (granular) engine is paraphonic, allowing you to play theoretically unlimited ‘voices’.
My favourite aspect of the Synth, however, is the grid. This innocuous grid of pads hides some neat tricks. Firstly, you choose one of a dozen grid layouts. These change the ‘split’ of the grid so that each of the three synth parts occupies a different area. The backlit pads light up blue, yellow and purple to show you which area each sound is assigned to.
In addition, you can set a scale and root note by which all areas abide. The grid will show this root note as a different LED brightness. Individual areas can also be assigned a root octave number to ensure they play the correct range.
It gets really interesting when you assign one area to Chord mode. You can assign a single chord that will be transposed (in or out of scale) or a ‘chord pack’ — a curated set of up to a dozen chords. The Synth ships with around 50 chord packs, but you can also create your own using the onboard chord pack editor.
With one part playing chords, either of the remaining parts can be assigned to Follow mode. Whenever you play a chord, these areas will reconfigure themselves so that you can play notes only from that chord. If a part has a sequence or arpeggiator assigned, it will also follow the current chord. This keeps performances dynamic and often inspires new and interesting melodies. The pads are velocity and poly‑pressure sensitive too, which opens up the performance possibilities.
Another nice aspect of the grid is that it will output MIDI on three separate channels on either USB or mini‑jack so that you can play external synthesizers and benefit from the sequencer, arpeggiator and smart‑chord features.
In Use
The Synth comes with plenty of Scene and Engine presets, but if you want to create your own Scenes (and you will) the general workflow goes like this....
Firstly, choose a layout for the grid. I suspect many people will settle on a favourite that they reuse often. Sometimes, you’ll want to play a single sound across the entire grid, which also involves choosing a grid layout. It would be nice if there were a quick shortcut to put the grid into Blue, Yellow or Purple mode instead of having to menu‑dive, as it’s something I found myself wanting to do often during sound design sessions, then reverting to one of the split modes afterwards.
Then, it’s a case of populating the grid with three sounds and choosing the playback mode for each grid section. Choosing sounds might be selecting a preset or choosing an engine, initialising the patch, and then using the navigation buttons and 3x3 grid of encoders to create a sound.
The experience of sound design is OK but not amazing. That’s not the fault of the Synth, but rather that there is little muscle memory that can develop when using it. Because there are eight different synth engines, and the knobs are generic controllers rather than having fixed functions, you have to constantly look at the screen whilst sound designing. I’m not sure Polyend could do anything about this, but it’s worth bearing in mind if you’re more of a ‘one knob per function’ person.
Once you’ve got sounds for each part, assign modulation in the modulation matrix, assign macros, then mix and send to the three effects busses.
The effects are nice. The chorus is rich, the reverb has a nice ‘bloom’ character that suits synths well, and the delay is more than functional. It’s a shame there’s only a single stereo output on the rear of the unit, as it would be nice to externally process each part separately.
It is a nice side‑effect of the multitimbral setup that effects are part of the Scene and not part of the individual synth preset because you can browse for new sounds without changing the effect send settings. Say you want a sound that delays or has some reverb to push it back in the mix, that will remain constant while you browse for a new preset.
Once your sound design is done, it’s time to play. It is particularly fun to have one part playing a chord pack whilst other parts ‘follow’. Throw in a little arpeggiation or sequence, and new song ideas tumble forth. You can even set parts to hold so a sequence plays constantly and follows your chord changes.
Conclusion
In terms of sound and scope, the Synth is impressive. The eight different synth engines, whilst not class‑leading, are feature‑rich and distinct enough to allow the Synth to create a larger scope of sounds than your average synth. In that way, the Synth is like a Waldorf Iridium, with many synthesis types.
The sound itself is good. I did detect a certain harshness to the high frequencies on all the engines. I cannot say why; perhaps it’s the digital‑to‑analogue converters or some CPU optimisations, but it’s not something you find on all digital synths. My ancient (and cheap) Yamaha TX81z is both digital and can alias terribly, but it doesn’t sound harsh in those higher frequencies. Another problem that I had too often was internal clipping. Even with the master output reduced, I often had to reduce the gain at the synth level to eliminate some internal clipping.
These are minor complaints, however, and the overriding experience the Synth delivers is fun. It encourages you to be playful in a completely different way from a traditional piano keyboard. I would love to see future updates to the grid performance feature because, as good as the synthesis engines are, the grid is often the source of the most fun. Even if you bought a Synth purely to use as a MIDI controller for other synthesizers, it would still be a great product. Creating a custom chord pack of all the chords I was working on for a particular song and then using this as the basis for a new Scene was incredibly rewarding.
Polyend continue to make affordable products that offer something unique, and the Synth is no exception.
Already, the Polyend Synth is a hit. I see a lot of positive feedback online, and it’s well deserved. Polyend continue to make affordable products that offer something unique, and the Synth is no exception. It’s fun, musical, and can generate more sounds than it has any right to do at this price. Highly recommended.
SD Card Contents
The Synth comes with a 16GB microSD card. It stores various data the Synth uses, including settings, synth patches, Scene presets and chord packs. It also comes with a library of WAV files used for the granular engine, and you can easily add your own, although they must be 16‑bit mono (any sample rate). Lastly, there is a folder for wavetables. These are also in WAV format, and you can add your own using almost any window size, as long as it’s written in the filename (eg. Harmonic Sweep‑2048.wav) so importing from your favourite wavetable synthesizer should be a breeze.
Pros
- Three synths in one.
- Virtual analogue, FM, phase modulation, physical modelling and granular synthesis all under one roof.
- The chord follow system is a great way to generate song ideas.
Cons
- Three synths but why only one stereo audio output?
- Only eight voices to be shared.
Summary
The Polyend Synth is a fun performance‑orientated device combining multiple synthesis methods with a unique pad grid that allows for some inspiring ways to play three synth sounds at once.
Information
£479 including VAT.
$549
When you purchase via links on our site, SOS may earn an affiliate commission. More info...
When you purchase via links on our site, SOS may earn an affiliate commission. More info...
