The Korg M1 is a synthesizer and music workstation manufactured by the Japanese company Korg from 1988 to 1995. It is one of the bestselling synthesizers in history, selling an estimated 250,000 units, and was widely used in popular music and stock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The piano and organ presets were used in 1990s house music, such as the Madonna single "Vogue" and the Robin S single "Show Me Love".

Development

Korg's chief engineer, Junichi Ikeuchi, led the hardware engineering design of the M1. Whereas many previous synthesizers had shipped with sounds chosen for different markets, the Korg chairman, Tsutomu Kato, and his son, Seiki, decided that their synthesizers should use the same sounds internationally. Korg assembled an international team to develop the sounds. To create a deep blown bottle sound, the team played a pan flute over a large sake bottle.

Features

The M1 features a 61-note velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive keyboard, 16-note polyphony, a joystick for pitch-bend and modulation control, an eight-track MIDI sequencer, separate LFOs for vibrato and filter modulation, and ADSR envelopes. Data can be stored on RAM and PCM cards.

The M1 also features effects, including reverb, delay, chorus, tremolo, EQ, distortion, and Leslie simulation, an innovative inclusion at the time. According to Sound on Sound, none of the M1's features was unique, but each was implemented and combined in a new way. It was widely used in popular music and stock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In 2005, Korg released a software version of the M1 as part of the Korg Legacy Collection. This digital version features 8-part multitimbrality, 256-note polyphony and presets from all 19 optional ROM cards. In December 2010, another software version, Korg M01, was released for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It was developed by AQ Interactive and featured 8-part multitimbrality, 12-note polyphony, and the 300 original M1 PCM sounds.

See also

  • Korg

References

Bibliography

  • Korg M1 video demo and review in Japanese