Need a simple help with poly~

I don't know what Mutable Instruments Elements are, and this may not solve all your issues, but at least :
1. try sending (note $1) messages from outside poly~ to [in 1].
2. [r elements] should be either inside poly~ if you want to send the parameters to all voices at the same time, or targeted to specific voices from outside, with a target message through [in 2/3/... n] otherwise.

See poly~ help to understand how it works.