Korg M1
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| M1 by Korg | |||
| Synthesis type: | Sample Based Subtractive | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Polyphony: | 16 | ||
| Oscillators: | 16 | ||
| Keyboard: | 61-key Aftertouch + Velocity | ||
| Left hand control: | Spring-return Joystick (Pitch and Modulation) | ||
| External control: | MIDI | ||
| Produced: | 1988 - 1994 | ||
| Original price: | $2166 new, $475 used | ||
The Korg M1 was the world's first widely-known music workstation. Its onboard MIDI sequencer and palette of sounds allowed musicians to produce complete professional arrangements. Outselling the Yamaha DX7 and Roland D-50, the M1 became the best-selling digital keyboard of all time, which it remains today.
[edit] Overview
In many ways, the Korg M1 was a breakthrough. In its six-year production period, more than 200,000 units were sold, making it Korg's most successful synthesizer. And though it wasn't the first workstation (this honor belongs to the mid-1980s Ensoniq ESQ-1), it was among the first in its class and set new standards for other manufacturers. It even enabled Korg to regain total economic control of the company; the M1's unprecedented sales allowed Korg executives to buy Yamaha's share of the company, a deal which had originated in the mid-1980s.
Even for the late 1980s, the M1's synth engine was somewhat simplistic, comprising one or two digital oscillators per patch. A total of 16 oscillators were offered, leading to a maximum 16-note polyphony (using only single-oscillator patches). The oscillators played ROM and card multisamples, or 'multisounds' in Korg terminology. The basic sample sound was then processed by a simple digital low pass filter, and then fed into the digital amplifier. Envelopes and LFOs, along with keyboard tracking, were the main controllers for those blocks. Because no interaction between the oscillators was provided (unlike Roland's 'structures,' for example), dual-oscillator patches essentially ran the two oscillators in parallel.
The filter didn't offer resonance, but at the time this wasn't considered a major handicap; the need for a dramatic filter was diminished by the onboard sample library's wide variety of acoustic, synth, and exotic sounds. The M1's internal 4 MB waveform ROM contained famous sounds which are in use even today, especially the compressed acoustic piano (used on countless records of the time and later adopted by the dance crowd), pick and synth basses, strings, realistic vocal samples, brasses, and acceptable drum kits. For the first time, ethnic and exotic sounds from world locales (particularly Asian) were offered standard, which when combined with the synth sounds, offered a workstation that "blew people's minds."[citation needed]
The M1 offered the ability to combine up to eight programs (patches) to play simultaneously on various key and velocity zones. This arrangement is called a 'Combi,' and allowed more complex sounds to be assembled and played via keyboard or MIDI.
The integrated MIDI sequencer allowed up to eight polyphonic tracks to play internal or MIDI sounds simultaneously. The sequencer memory could be shared with the user sound area, allowing 100 user sounds with 4,700 sequencer notes or 50 user sounds with about 10,000 notes. The sequencer's pattern structure permitted memory saving by using patterns for repetitive regions. Though paltry by current standards, the M1's sequencer offered full track editing and quantization, making it possible to produce high-quality songs entirely on the machine. The combination of the patches with the sequencer functionality led to the M1's ubiquitous presence in 1988.
Another major advancement was in the area of onboard effects. The M1 offered 2 independent effects engines featuring reverb, flanger, chorus, delay, etc. Previously, most synthesizers offered fixed-function effects blocks, such as chorus or delay, and rarely reverb. Somewhat less spectactularly, when using multiple patches at the same time (in Combi or Sequencer modes), all patches share the same effects blocks. This problem also affected workstations from nearly all manufacturers until Korg implemented a massive effects engine on their mid-90's Trinity workstations.
The user interface featured a 40x2 character LCD and softkeys, along with data slider and data entry buttons. The workstation featured minimalist physical controls, employing only a joystick that combined two modulation sources (Left/Right on the joystick adjusts pitchbend down and up, respectively. Pushing up on the joystick emits MIDI controller 1 messages and pushing down emits MIDI controller 2 messages) and the pitch bend; aftertouch; and the data slider. No arpeggiator was offered (a common omission until mid-90's) and the synth enforced patch-based cumbersome programming instead of performance controls. No disk drive was integrated, so along with MIDI SysEx dumps, memory cards provided the only method to save sequences and programs outside the keyboard.
All M1 models include 2 slots for expansion - one for sample ROMs and the other for patch/combi ROMs or RAM cards for saving sounds or sequences. Korg offered the MCR-02 128k card and the MCR-03 256k card for around $80-$150 list, as well as the monster 4 bank MCR-04 MegaRam. These cards and the M1's internal memory all use 3V lithium cells like the CR2032 which lasts ~5 years without needing to be replaced. If the battery dies, your sounds and sequences will be lost.
Because of the success of the M1's sales, an entire market grew around supporting this synth. This included the production of 3rd party manuals, new sounds, training videos, and hardware modifications. One such modification was the Frontal Lobe, which added more memory for sequencing and a floppy disk drive. Another one was the M1 PlusOne, which added an additional 4mb of onboard sample memory.
[edit] Series
Rackmount versions of the M1 were available. The M1R was a 2U rack with the same ROM and patches and combis as the M1. The M1EX keyboard and M1R-EX (rack version) included an additional 4MB block of waveforms in ROM. The M3R was a cut-down model in 1U form factor that had similar sounds and its own line of ROM cards.
The M1's synth engine remained nearly unchanged until the Korg Trinity's breakthrough in 1995, with minor improvements concerning polyphony, more control sources, and more effects algorithms. The T series (1989: T1/T2/T3) built upon the M1's success, offering more keyboard alternatives (88, 76 and 61-key versions), a disk drive and more ROM samples, more sequencer capacity, and a better screen. However, the polyphony stalled at 16 notes and the effects blocks were untouched. A 1 MB sample RAM option allowed users to load a handful of samples for use with the synth sections. The T1 series is able to read memory cards (RAM and ROM) that work in the M1, and can also load M1 patches and Combi's from SysEx files.
The O series (1990: O1/W,O1/WFD,O1/W Pro,O1/W ProX) maintained the improvements of the T series (despite losing the sample RAM) but doubled the polyphony and offered several refinements over the previous machines, mainly effects and audio outputs routing. The Pro version had 76 keys and the ProX used the 88 weighted keys of the T1 and SG88 sampled grand piano. A non-linear waveshaping technology was also integrated in the synth section, but it didn't seem to cause a major impact. The O1/WFD, the 61-key version with disk drive, was also a bestseller, but did not surpass sales of the M1. Rackmount versions of the O series included the O1R/W which featured a sequencer, a rare feature not found on most such models. Also Korg produced the O3R/W (1U) and O5R/W (1/2 U) which had similar architectures but could not use the same sounds. The name for this line came from a Korg executive who showed his boss a paper upside-down -- it had been intended to be called the M10 in order to build from the success of the M1. As a result, sometimes these models are mistakenly referred to with a 0 (zero) instead of the letter "O".
The X series (1993: X2/X3, 1995: X5,X5D) was a cost-effective derivative of the O series, adding General MIDI compatibility and more samples to the internal ROM. However, the graphic LCD was replaced by a cheaper, smaller character-based one, the keyboard feel was downgraded, and the waveshaping removed. A welcome addition was the disk drive, now compatible with MS-DOS machines.
Throughout the series from T to X, the M1's digital filter remained unchanged, limiting the synthesis possibilities due to its non-resonant architecture, especially when attempting to recreate analog-style sounds such as sweeps. This shortcoming was shared by other manufacturers at the time such as Alesis and Ensoniq. Resonant digital filters were offered by Roland and Yamaha on most of their machines from early the 90's through today.
The M1 pioneered and established the baseline that any music workstation should offer: good synth and acoustic sounds, drum samples, sequencer and effects processing.
Following the M1 phenomenon, most manufacturers sought to offer competing products, and the age of the 'music workstation' began. Countless workstations were marketed up to mid-1990s, when the public had its fill of 'do-it-all-yourself' machines, and the 'virtual analog' age began. While some top-notch music workstations are still produced, the computer and software synthesizer market has slowly eroded the market, and most people today prefer simpler synth designs and good sequencing software packages, which integrate audio and MIDI sequencing seamlessly.
In 2006 Korg released the Legacy Collection Digital Edition, which includes software versions of the Korg Wavestation and Korg M1. The M1 software runs as a VST or AU plugin and includes all of the Korg-manufactured ROMs, which means it ships with a large palette of sounds. Additionally, this software can import System Exclusive files (.SYX) exported from the original hardware-based M1. This opens the door to 3rd party ROMs being available for the software version. And in response to user feedback, Korg has added a resonant filter to the software version, which means that it has added flexibility with sound design that the original model did not.
