Korg M3 is a

music workstation A music workstation is an electronic musical instrument providing the facilities of: *a sound module, *a music sequencer and *(usually) a musical keyboard. It enables a musician to compose electronic music using just one piece of equipment. Origi ...

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 ...

manufactured by Korg Corporation and introduced at the Winter

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show during January, 2007, being released four months later. The M3 is the successor of the famous

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series. The name is based on the former M1, which was considered a revolutionary synth at the time. The hardware synthesizer chip was designed around the HD-1, one of the various engines in the

Korg OASYS The Korg OASYS is a workstation synthesizer released in early 2005, 1 year after the successful Korg Triton Extreme. Unlike the Triton series, the OASYS uses a custom Linux operating system that was designed to be arbitrarily expandable via s ...

. The M3 was named keyboard of the year at the

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Awards in Germany on early 2007.

Firmware

At the end of Q3 2008, Korg released a major update to the M3's operating system, which changes the unit to the 'M3 XPanded'. This update refines many of the functions of the M3, makes minor changes to the

graphic user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

, adds four additional PCM sample libraries including a grand piano (EX-USB-PCM03) library, two brass and woodwind libraries (EX-USB-PCM01 & EX-USB-PCM02), a stereo grand piano (EX-USB-PCM04) library, and updates the KARMA to version 2.2 Kay Algorithmic Realtime Music Architecture developed by Stephen Kay (see: Korg KARMA).

Korg Komponent System

Korg Komponent System is a unique modular keyboard system devised by Korg that allows the keyboardist to configure their M3 in a multitude of ways. With three different keyboard options Korg explains the system like this:

The 61-key model lets you mount a RADIAS-R analog modeling synthesizer instead of the M3-M sound generator, the 73-key model lets you mount the M3-M together with a RADIAS-R analog modeling synthesizer, and the 88-key model supports the combination of M3-M and RADIAS-R or even mounting two M3-M units simultaneously. Of course you can detach the M3-M sound generator and use it as a sound module, giving you great flexibility for constructing the system you need whenever you want.

The largest criticisms of the Komponent system are: # Korg seems to have abandoned the idea as only 2 modules (M3 and Radias) were Komponent compatible. # Korg will not sell the keybeds separately. If you bought the M3 as a module, you cannot buy a 61, 73, or 88 key keybed except for on the used market. Korg has released keyboards since the M3 and none take advantage of the Komponent system.

Korg M50

In 2008, Korg unveiled a new, stripped-down version of the M3: the Korg M50. It runs on the same EDS sound system as the M3, but it has less polyphony, no support for expansion cards, and no sampling capabilities. The Korg M50 also lacks a Karma engine, but it can still be used if bought separately and installed on a computer. The 88-key version, which featured the RH3 graded hammer-action piano keys, is the lightest 88-key keyboard Korg has ever made.

Notable Users

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* Mike Banks *

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Ed Wynne Edward Wynne (born 3 June 1961) is an English guitarist and keyboardist best known as a founding member, principal composer and the only constant member of psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles. Biography Ed Wynne was born in Wandsworth, Lond ...

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...

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Chris Lowe Christopher Sean Lowe (born 4 October 1959) is an English musician, singer and songwriter, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Neil Tennant in 1981. Biography Lowe attended Arnold School, an independen ...

Spike Edney Philip "Spike" Edney (born 11 December 1951) is an English musician who, since the 1960s, has performed with a number of bands, most notably with Queen in their live concerts, where his participation started in 1984 during Queen's The Works t ...

Noah Lennox Noah Benjamin Lennox (born July 17, 1978), also known by his moniker Panda Bear, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and co-founding member of the band Animal Collective. In addition to his work with that group, Le ...

Vadim Pruzhanov DragonForce are a British power metal band from London, England. The band was formed in 1999 by guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman, and are known for their long and fast guitar solos, fantasy-themed lyrics and retro video game-influenced s ...

* Anthony Gonzalez of M83 *

Avey Tare David Michael Portner (born April 24, 1979), also known by his moniker Avey Tare, is a musician and songwriter who co-founded the American experimental pop band Animal Collective. He has released three solo albums, as well as three collaborative a ...

Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcoms '' Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and ''Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and the film series ''Johnny English'' (2003–201 ...

*Vangelis/

Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

References

*Korg Corporation, Accessed on 24 December 2008

External links