inc. formerly called keio electronic laboratories industry electronics musical instruments founded 1962 ; 54 years ago 1962 founder tsutomu katoh and tadashi osanai headquarters inagi tokyo japan products keyboards electronic organ subsidiaries vox website www.korg.com korg inc. kabushiki gaisha korugu originally founded as keio electronic laboratories is a japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments audio processors and guitar pedals recording equipment and electronic tuners . under the vox brand name they also manufacture guitar amplifiers and electric guitars . contents 1 history 2 products 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit donca matic da 20 1963 founded in 1962 in japan by tsutomu katoh and tadashi osanai korg was originally known as keio gijutsu kenkyujo ltd. and later keio electronic laboratories because its fledgling offices were located near the keio train line in tokyo and keio can be formed by combining the first letters of katoh and osanai . before founding the company katoh ran a nightclub . osanai a tokyo university graduate and noted accordionist regularly performed at katoh s club accompanied by a wurlitzer sideman rhythm machine . unsatisfied with the rhythm machine osanai convinced katoh to finance his efforts to build a better one . 1 the company s first product released in 1963 was an electro mechanical rhythm device called the disc rotary electric auto rhythm machine donca matic da 20 . 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 katoh was approached by fumio mieda an engineer who wanted to build keyboards . impressed with mieda s enthusiasm katoh asked him to build a prototype and 18 months later mieda returned with a programmable organ . 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 organ market emphasizing the letters r and g in the word organ . 1 prototype no. 1 1970 korgue 1972 minikorg 700 1973 ps 3300 1977 keio s organ products were successful throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s but concerned about the competition from other big organ manufacturers katoh decided to use the organ technology to build a keyboard for the then niche synthesizer market . keio s first synthesizer the minikorg was thus 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 out into the digital piano category . m1 1988 triton 1999 2004 oasys 2005 kronos x 2012 korg is credited with a number of innovations and landmark products . the key transpose function was katoh s idea after a singer at his club needed her accompaniment played in a lower key which the accompanist wasn t accomplished enough 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 . 1 in 1989 korg recruited the design team from sequential circuits just as they were relieved of their duties by then sequential owner 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 s stock . the takeover of the company was amicable with katoh drawing up the terms and the two companies continued to independently develop their product lines and compete in the marketplace . after 5 very successful years katoh had enough money to rebuy most of the yamaha share back in 1993 . 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 . 2 korg was also the exclusive distributor of marshall amplification product in the united states for decades with this distribution arrangement ending in 2010 . 3 tsutomo katoh died of cancer on march 15 2011 . 4 maxi korg 800dv 1974 900ps 1975 pe 1000 1976 ms 20 1978 vc 10 1978 korg polysix and trident products edit main article list of korg products see also edit category korg synthesizers electronic tuner references edit korg museum . sound make up in japanese . korg . a b c julian colbeck keyfax omnibus edition mixbooks 1996 p. 52 . isbn 978 0 918371 08 9 dave hunter 50 years of vox vintage guitar june 2010 gordon reid 40 years of korg gear sound on sound oct 2002 korg mourns the passing of chairman tsutomu katoh keyboard magazine march 15 2011 external links edit korg home page us uk australia japan korg middle east home page korg arrangers home page korg page at synthmuseum.com korg kornucopia korg analogue synthesizer information manuals and resources information on korg s analogue vintage instruments korg museum korgaseries.org a decade old online resource hosting photos product info effects mailing list and manuals for korg s a1 a2 and a3 effects processors . audio interview with mitch colby evp cmo of korg usa korg review namm oral history interview tsutomu katoh discusses his favorite of his many musical products the tuner . october 16 2006 . v t e korg synthesizers ps 3300 ms 10 ms 20 mono poly polysix poly 61 poly 800 dw 6000 dw 8000 dss 1 ds 8 wavestation prophecy z1 ms2000 microkorg radias minilogue workstations korg m1 01 w x3 i3 trinity n364 264 triton karma oasys m3 kronos x 2 other vc 10 cx 3 oasys pci kaoss pad electribe padkontrol kaossilator ds 10 v t e electronics industry in japan companies current alaxala networks alinco alps alpine anritsu aor audio technica brother canon casio citizen watch cosina d & m holdings denon marantz daikin dainippon screen denso dnp eiki eizo elpida esp guitars fanuc fostex fuji electric fujifilm fuji xerox fujitsu fujitsu ten funai furuno futaba hamamatsu photonics hirose electric hitachi clarion hitachi maxell hoya ibanez icom ikegami tsushinki i o data iwatsu japan display jeol jrc jr propo jvc kenwood jvc kenwood kawai keyence kiramek konica minolta ko propo korg kyocera luxman mabuchi motor mamiya maspro melco minebea mitsubishi electric mitsumi electric murata manufacturing mutoh nakamichi nec nec casio mobile communications nichia nichicon nidec nidec copal corporation nikon nintendo nitto denko oki olympus omron onkyo orion electric panasonic pioneer pixela renesas electronics ricoh pentax rohm roland rubycon sansui sanwa electronic sega sammy sega seiko group pulsar seiko seiko epson seiko instruments sharp shimadzu sigma sony sony interactive entertainment snk playmore star micronics stax sumitomo electric taiyo yuden tamron tdk teac tiger tokyo electron topcon toshiba uniden wacom yaesu yagi uda yamaha yaskawa zojirushi zoom zuken defunct aiwa akai bronica chinon contax konica minolta national norita okaya optical sanyo other electronic industries association of japan incj japan electronic industries development association japan electronics and information technology industries association category electronics portal japan portal music portal retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title korg & oldid 733838222 categories manufacturing companies of japancompanies based in tokyocompanies established in 1962synthesizer manufacturing companiesguitar manufacturing companiesmusical instrument manufacturing companiesguitar effects manufacturing companiesjapanese brandshidden categories articles containing japanese language textcs1 japanese language sources ja navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view 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