Japanese firm of electronic instrument manufacturers. It was founded in Tokyo in 1963 by Tsutomu Katoh and the accordion player Tadashi Osanai as Keio Geijutsu Kenkyujo. From 1968 the firm became known as Keio Electronic Laboratories; although they used the brand-name Korg (‘Katoh-Osanai organ’) on the products, this became the company's official name only in the mid-1980s. Keio began by constructing rhythm units for Yamaha's Electone electronic organs, then produced its own separate units, the Doncamatic rhythm machine followed by the MiniPops series. Korg soon became one of the most successful Japanese manufacturers of electronic instruments, and produced the first Japanese synthesizer in 1968. In 1986 Yamaha bought a 40% stake in Korg.
The range of Korg instruments has included monophonic and polyphonic synthesizers (such as the Polysix), synthesizer modules, electronic organs and pianos (many digital models), string synthesizers, home keyboards, electronic percussion units, guitar synthesizers, samplers, electronic tuners and a vocoder. Its most successful product has been the M1 work station (1988), a sequencer-based synthesizer; some 250,000 were sold, rivalled only by Yamaha's DX7. Recent synthesizers have included the Wavestation, Trinity and Prophecy. Different organs and synthesizers include controls (drawbars, adjustable key-click control, joy-stick, pitch-bend and modulation wheels, and electronic simulation of rotary loudspeaker effects) that are more familiar from electronic instruments produced earlier by other companies; but Korg instruments are notable for the ingenious design of their electronic circuitry. Current models are based on sampled timbres.
P. Forrest: The A–Z of Analogue Synthesisers, i (Crediton, Devon, 1994, 2/1998)
J. Colbeck: Keyfax Omnibus Edition (Emeryville, CA, 1996), 50–69, 160–63
HUGH DAVIES