Korg Poly-800 eight page fold-out poster/brochure, 1984

Korg Poly-800 eight page fold-out poster/brochure from 1984.

I totally forgot I had this piece. But, after my last blog post on the Poly-800 introductory ad, I was flipping through my Korg sales brochures and came across this. I unfolded it, and, as usual, immediately looked for a print date. 1984. As soon as I saw that date on the poster, I was quickly reminded of that last bit of ad-copy from the ad:

"Or send $3.00 (check or money order) to Unicord, 89 Frost St., Westbury, New York 11590 for a Poly 800 demo record, color brochure and poster."

Could this be that color brochure and poster? Both in one printed piece? It would make sense. Now I just had to find a way to scan it.

Its real size is a rather large 16 x 21.5 inches. Too big for my home scanner and the local UPS store scanner/printer. So, I actually scanned it in four chucks to a side, and, unlike most of my scans, combined the pieces together in Photoshop. Gah!

Once created, I uploaded through Blogger, but because they were over 1600x1600 pixels, Picasa shrunk 'em down. Boo. So, in the end I uploaded them to Live.com. You have to do an extra click to view the larger version, but its worth it. :D I also dumped both of the hi-res images into a PDF.

What an awesome piece this brochure/poster is. So much reference information, all clearly laid out with some great design. So detailed are the step-by-step instructions, that in many cases, the text in this poster replaces the need for a manual.

And where readers don't find step-by-step instructions, Korg provides other detailed information about the keyboard. For example, just look at the info under the "6 Parameter Digital Envelope Generators" section. Korg provides lots of info for their "Newly Developed ADBSSR System". Nice! Another example - the big photo of the Poly-800 with the alpha-numeric references that lead readers to more detailed info below. Excellent.

The front of the poster/brochure is just as cool. The front image of the Poly-800 in space reminds me of the classic "cat on a synth in space" Web page (there might be pop-ups on that Web page - click at your own risk). And the other side of that section contains all the reference specs for the keyboard, as well as a great list of all the accessories that were available from Korg in 1984. AND another photo of the back of the synth.

Flip that side of the poster upside down and you get some more great photos of Chuck Leavell and the Poly 800 in a few not-as-awkward-as-the-ad photos.

But for me, one of the most interesting features of the poster is the photo of the reverse keyboard displayed next to the computer. I find this particularly fascinating because if this poster/brochure was actually the one promoted in the introductory Poly-800 ad, then that means that the reverse keyboard version was actually available early on, or even at the same time as the launch of the original version. Or at least a prototype was. Which means Korg had the forethought to produce a cool alternative version right from the start.

Just one more observation before I go. In the introductory ad, Korg refers to the synth as the Poly 800 (no hyphen). But, on the poster, as well as on the piece of gear itself - its listed as the Poly-800 (with hyphen). Okay. No point really. Or, if there is one, I guess it is that I prefer consistency. :D

Anyways, I love Korg. Seriously.