Korg M1

The Korg M1 is a 16 voice, 8 part multitimbral, music workstation, manufactured by Korg, from 1988 to 1995. The M1 featured a MIDI sequencer and a wide palette of available sounds, which allowed for the production of complete musical arrangements. Outselling the Yamaha DX7 and Roland D-50, the M1 became the top-selling digital synthesizer of its time.

Overview

In its six-year production period, an estimated 250,000 Korg M1 synthesizers were sold, making the M1 Korg's most successful synthesizer until the release of the Korg Triton. The volume of M1's sales allowed Korg executives to buy back Yamaha's share of the company, a deal which had originated in the mid-1980s (though Yamaha kept making keyboard assemblies for Korg, the entire keybed is the same in M1, DX7 and several other Korg and Yamaha synths). The M1 was so popular that it was produced until the end of 1995, long after its successor T-series (the more advanced T1/T2/T3 workstations) was discontinued.

The huge success of the M1 lies primarily in the quality of its sounds. Korg expanded on the Sample & Synthesis idea, formally implemented on Korg DSS-1 in 1986: instead of classic analog subtractive synthesis where simple analog waveforms (square, triangle, saw, etc.) are produced by tone generators (oscillators) it uses overtone-rich complex digital samples of actual acoustic instruments and classic synths of the past, and applies full subtractive synthesis processing: filters, LFOs, envelope generators, digital effects, etc. The resulting sounds were rich, colorful and natural. The ability to layer up to 8 different tones (sounds) on top of each other, split them over the keyboard in any combination, and instant realtime access to crucial parameters such as attack, release, filter cutoff, LFO timing, etc., made the M1 easy to use.

Korg

Korg Inc. (株式会社コルグ, Kabushiki-gaisha Korugu) (originally founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories) is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, they also manufacture guitar amplifiers and electric guitars.

History

Founded in 1962 in Japan by Tsutomu Katoh and Tadashi Osanai, Korg was originally known as Keio Gijutsu Kenkyujo Ltd. and later Keio Electronic Laboratories (京王技術研究所) because its fledgling offices were located near the Keio train line in Tokyo and Keio can be formed by combining the first letters of Katoh and Osanai. Before founding the company, Katoh ran a nightclub. Osanai, a Tokyo University graduate and noted accordionist, regularly performed at Katoh's club accompanied by a Wurlitzer Sideman rhythm machine. Unsatisfied with the rhythm machine, Osanai convinced Katoh to finance his efforts to build a better one.

The company's first product, released in 1963, was an electro-mechanical rhythm device called the Disc Rotary Electric Auto Rhythm machine Donca matic DA-20. The name "Donca" was an onomatopoeic reference to the sound the rhythm machine made. Buoyed by the success of the DA-20, Keio released a solid-state version of the Rhythm machine, the Donca matic DE-20, in 1966.

Korg (comics)

Korg is a character in the Marvel Comics universe and is first seen in The Incredible Hulk #93 during the Planet Hulk storyline.

Publication history

Created by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan, Korg was inspired by Thor's origin story and was later retconned in The Incredible Hulk #94 into one of the stone creatures that fought Thor in Journey into Mystery #83 released in 1963.

Fictional character biography

Korg is part of the Kronan race seen in Journey into Mystery #83. After his defeat at the hands of Thor when the Stone men tried to invade Earth, Korg became a prisoner of the Red King on the alien planet of Sakaar. He was forced into slavery by an obedience disk and made to fight for his life in the gladitorial arenas. Korg was made to kill his brother Margus against his will. This fact still haunts Korg to this day.

When the Hulk was exiled to the Red King's planet, Korg became the Hulk's ally after he and five others were victorious during one of the gladiator games that rule on the planet as a form of entertainment. Korg was the first to let the group talk to each other, and after more victories in the game, Korg became a gladiator. Still fighting alongside the Hulk, Korg was part of the group that rebelled against the Red King after the Silver Surfer used his Power Cosmic to destroy the disks that controlled the slaves. The Surfer had also been made a slave by such a disk, but it was destroyed by the Hulk when they were forced to battle (in the film adaptation, it was Beta Ray Bill, not the Silver Surfer, using the lightning powers of his hammer, Stormbreaker, to perform this feat).

Korg (disambiguation)

Korg or KORG may refer to: