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I´m a keen user of both Korg´s PE-1000 Polyphonic Ensemble and the PE-2000, its fellow Polyphonic Ensemble "Orchestra". I wonder why Korg sold two totally different instruments under the same name, causing more than just a bit of confusion among synth collectors and users worldwide. First of all, the PE-1000 aka Polyphonic Ensemble P, Poly-Ensemble 1 etc. is more or less aiming at imitating electric piano types of sound. It has presets for various harpsichord/piano/clavichord settings plus Brass (which sounds truly biting, at least on my example), Pipe Organ (another truly beautiful sound generated from a heavily modulated pulsewave) and String (okay, let´s forget about this one, although Michel Huygen of NEURONIUM used it a lot as a solo voice on early NEURONIUM albums up until about DIGITAL DREAM). Finally, the 1000 has a "Control" section that allows you to create simple polyphonic synth sounds from scratch, using various types of square and ramp waves plus the richly modulated "chorus" waveform. Both the presets and the "control" section can be controlled by means of Korg´s unique "Traveller" filter, two sliders for controlling high- and lowpass filtering at the same time (each with controllable resonance and envelope modulation). The Synth section is quite as basic as an ARP Omni, but not half as boring IMO. This is easily the strongest point of the 1000, even though it´s not able to play sustained notes (that´s where the 2000 jumps in). The 2000 had less controls and less keys and cost a lot more... and you got a hell of an instrument for your money back then. Imagine a preset version of Korg´s PS-3300 and you´re quite there. It has four groups of sounds with two presets each (pipe organ -- on earlier models named reed/wind --, chorus, brass, and strings), two of which can be combined with each other. The sound can further be modified by a simple built-in eq, a simple A/R envelope and -- applause, please -- a built-in phase shifter which adds greatly to the instrument´s unique character. Listen to Tim Blake´s "New Jerusalem" track (his 2000 was stolen from him when he was still playing with HAWKWIND, btw), J-M Jarre´s "Equinoxe 8" or Tangerine Dream´s "Pergamon -- Quichotte Pt. 1" and you won´t have any more questions. In my opinion, the PE-2000 is the most characterful string ensemble ever made, even more characterful than, say, a Solina/ARP because it´s never been half as popular as its Dutch/American ancestor (possibly because it came to late to woo die-hard Solina users). The sound of it has more of a polyphonic synthesizer than of a string ensemble. Some people wonder in how far it can be regarded as the predecessor of the Lambda: Forget it. The difference between the 2000 and the Lambda is about as big as the difference between a PPG Wavecomputer 360 and a Wave 2. The first one is incredibly powerful and rude-sounding while the latter is more tamed and less dirty. I should add that it apparently has never been popular in Germany (there were just two or three users apart from TD) so I had to get my 2000s from France (where it had been heavily promoted by Jarre) and Norway (!). To me, it´s absolutely indispensable, and I´ll never forget Tim Blake going apeshit about mine when we played at the same festival :"Oh mon dieu, regardez, regardez, une Korg Ensemble Polyphonique, c´est merveilleux, c´est incredible...". ´nuff said. If you have anymore questions I couldn´t answer right here, please feel free to contact me. Kind regards, thanks for your attention, Stephen Parsick/RAMP.
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