The Korg M1 is a

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 ...

and music workstation manufactured by Korg from 1988 to 1995. The M1 was advertised as a 'workstation' rather than a synthesizer, integrating composition and performance features into a single device. It features 16-voice polyphony, high-quality digital samples (including drum sounds), an integrated 8-track sequencer and digital effects processing. The M1 is one of the bestselling synthesizers in history, selling an estimated 250,000 units.

Development

Korg's chief engineer, Junichi Ikeuchi, led the hardware engineering design of the M1. Whereas 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 for the M1. To create a deep

blown bottle A blown bottle is a musical instrument that produces sound when the musician blows air over the bottle opening. Blown bottles generate sound by utilizing a vibrating column of air. The bottles may be tuned by adding water or sand to the vessel. ...

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 A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

for pitch-bend and modulation control, an eight-track MIDI

sequencer Sequencer may refer to: Technology * Drum sequencer (controller), an electromechanical system for controlling a sequence of events automatically * DNA sequencer, a machine used to automatically produce a sequence readout from a biological DNA sam ...

, separate LFOs for vibrato and filter

modulation In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...

, and

ADSR envelopes ADSR may refer to: * ADSR envelope (attack decay sustain release), a common type of music envelope * Accelerator-driven sub-critical reactor, a nuclear reactor using a particle accelerator to generate a fission reaction in a sub-critical assembly ...

. Data can be stored on RAM and PCM cards. The M1 has a

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * R ...

with four megabytes of 16-bit

PCM Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amp ...

tones — a large amount at the time — including instruments that had not been used extensively in mainstream music. The sounds include sampled attack

transients Transience or transient may refer to: Music * ''Transient'' (album), a 2004 album by Gaelle * ''Transience'' (Steven Wilson album), 2015 * Transience (Wreckless Eric album) Science and engineering * Transient state, when a process variable or ...

, loops, sustained waveforms and percussive samples. The timbres include piano, strings, acoustic guitar, woodwinds, sitar, kalimba, wind chimes and drums. ''

Fact A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

'' described the sounds as "wonderfully, endearingly wonky ... each one managed to sound simultaneously realistic and synthetic all at once". The M1 also features effects, including reverb,

delay Delay (from Latin: dilatio) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Delay 1968'', a 1981 album by German experimental rock band Can * ''The Delay'', a 2012 Uruguayan film People * B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and acto ...

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo. The first is a rapid reiteration: * Of a single Musical note, note, particularly used on String instrument#Bowing, bowed string instrument ...

, EQ, distortion, and

Leslie Leslie may refer to: * Leslie (name), a name and list of people with the given name or surname, including fictional characters Families * Clan Leslie, a Scottish clan with the motto "grip fast" * Leslie (Russian nobility), a Russian noble family ...

simulation, an innovative inclusion at the time. According to '' Sound on Sound'', none of the M1's features were unique, but were implemented and combined in a new way.

Reception

The M1 was released in 1988 and was manufactured until 1995, selling an estimated 250,000 units. Reviewing it for ''Sound on Sound'' in 1988, Tony Hastings wrote that it was "destined to be big, very big", with "sensational" sounds and extensive features that outperformed its competitors. It was widely used in popular music and

stock music Production music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded music that can be licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libraries. Background ...

in the late 80s and early 90s. The piano and organ presets were used in 1990s

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

, beginning with

Madonna's Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

1990 single " Vogue". In 2002, the ''Sound on Sound'' journalist Mark Vail wrote that the M1 was the bestselling synthesizer in history, though he noted that Korg had not verified the sales figures. Both ''Sound and Sound'' and ''Fact'' described it as the most popular synthesizer of all time. ''Fact'' attributed the success to its sampling and sequencer features, which allowed musicians to produce entire tracks without a studio before the rise of

digital audio workstations A digital audio workstation (DAW) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pro ...

Variants

Following the success of the M1, Korg expanded its lineup with several series of new workstations, including the T-series in 1989, the 01-series in 1991, the X-series in 1993, and the N-series in 1996. The 01/W built upon the M1’s AI synthesis with the enhanced AI2 system, which introduced additional effects and digital

waveshaping In electronic music, waveshaping is a type of distortion synthesis in which complex spectra are produced from simple tones by altering the shape of the waveforms. Uses Waveshapers are used mainly by electronic musicians to achieve an extra-ab ...

. Rack-mountable versions of the M1 include the M1R and the more affordable M3R. Additionally, Korg released the M1EX and the M1REX rackmount, both featuring sounds from the T-series. Korg released a software version of the M1 in 2006 as part of the

Korg Legacy Collection The Korg Collection 4 (Formerly Known as the Korg Legacy Collection and then simply the Korg Collection with Numbers denoting major updates) is the one of the largest collections of VST instruments from Korg and was released in 2004 with updates a ...

. This digital version features 8-part multitimbrality, 256-note polyphony and presets from all 19 optional ROM cards. A free update added the entire preset collection from the T-series workstations to the M1 plugin.

References

External links

Korg M1 video demo and review
in Japanese {{Authority control Music workstations M Digital synthesizers Polyphonic synthesizers Musical instruments invented in the 1980s