, founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures

electronic musical instrument An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into ...

s, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, they also manufacture guitar amplifiers and electric guitars.

History

Korg was founded in 1962 in Tokyo by Tsutomu Kato and Tadashi Osanai as ''Keio Gijutsu Kenkyujo Ltd.''. It later became because its offices were located near the Keio train line in Tokyo and Keio can be formed by combining the first letters of Kato and Osanai. Before founding the company, Kato ran a nightclub. Osanai, a Tokyo University graduate and noted accordionist, regularly performed at Kato's club accompanied by a Wurlitzer Sideman rhythm machine. Dissatisfied with the rhythm machine, Osanai convinced Kato to finance his efforts to build a better one.Julian Colbeck, Keyfax Omnibus Edition, MixBooks, 1996, p. 52. The company's first product was an electro-mechanical rhythm device, the Disc Rotary Electric Auto Rhythm machine, Donca Matic DA-20, released in 1963. 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. In 1967, Kato was approached by

Fumio Mieda Fumio (written: , , , , , , , or in katakana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese illustrator * Fumio Abe (1922–2006), Japanese politician * Fumio Asaki, Japanese ski jumping sports official *, ...

, an engineer seeking to build

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

. Impressed with Mieda's enthusiasm, Kato asked him to build a prototype, and 18 months later Mieda returned with a programmable

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

. Keio sold the organ under the name ''KORG'', created by using the first letter of each founder's name plus "RG" from their planned emphasis on products targeted for the

market (emphasizing the letters R and G in the word "organ"). In 1970 the firm name changed again to Keio Giken Kogyo Inc. (京王技研工業株式会社). Keio's organ products were successful throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. Concerned about competition from other organ manufacturers, Kato decided to use the organ technology to build a keyboard for the then-niche

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

market. Keio's first synthesizer, the Korg miniKORG, was released in 1973. During the 1970s, Korg's synthesizer line was divided into instruments for the hobbyist, and large expensive patchable instruments such as the PS series. In the early '80s, Korg branched into digital pianos. Korg is credited with a number of innovations. The "key transpose" function was Kato's idea after a singer at his club needed her accompaniment played in a lower key, which the accompanist wasn't able to do. Korg was the first company to feature effects on a synthesizer, and the first to use a "sample + synthesis" sound design. The M1 workstation, released in 1988, sold over 250,000 units, making it the bestselling synthesizer ever at that time. The M1 is still to this day regarded as the perfect workstation.

Relationship with Yamaha

Yamaha Corporation has always been a major partner of Korg, supplying them with circuitry and mechanical parts. In 1987, shortly before the release of the M1 Music Workstation, Yamaha acquired a controlling interest in Korg. The takeover of the company was amicable, with Kato drawing up the terms, and the two companies continued to independently develop their product lines and compete in the marketplace. In 1989, Korg recruited the design team from

Sequential Circuits Sequential is an American synthesizer company founded in 1974 as Sequential Circuits by Dave Smith. In 1978, Sequential released the Prophet-5, the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer; it became a market leader and industry standard, use ...

as they were relieved of their duties by then-Sequential owner Yamaha. In 1993, after 5 successful years under Yamaha's control, Kato had sufficient funds to repurchase most of the Yamaha shares.

Recent history

Korg has since diversified into digital effects, tuners, recording equipment, electronic hand percussion, and software instruments. In 1992, Korg acquired Vox, then primarily a manufacturer of guitar amplifiers. Korg was the exclusive distributor of

Marshall Amplification Marshall is a British company that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, speaker cabinets, brands personal headphones and earphones, drums and bongos. The company also owns a record label called Marshall Records. It was founded in London ...

product in the US for decades. This arrangement ended in 2010. Kato died of cancer on March 15, 2011.Korg Mourns the Passing of Chairman Tsutomu Katoh
", Keyboard Magazine, March 15, 2011

Products

References

External links