 | |
Native name | 株式会社コルグ |
|---|---|
| Formerly | Keio Electronic Laboratories |
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Electronics |
| Founded | 1962; 64 years ago (1962) (as Keio Electronic Laboratories) |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Inagi, Tokyo, Japan |
| Products | Electronic musical instruments |
| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | www |
KORG Inc. (Japanese:株式会社コルグ,Hepburn:Kabushiki-gaisha Korugu), founded asKeio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanesemultinational corporation that manufactureselectronic musical instruments, audio processors andguitar pedals, recording equipment, andelectronic tuners. Under theVox brand name, it also manufacturesguitar amplifiers and electric guitars.
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KORG was founded in 1962 in Tokyo by Tsutomu Kato andTadashi Osanai asKeio Gijutsu Kenkyujo Ltd..[1][2] It later becameKeio Electronic Laboratories (京王技術研究所) because its offices were located near theKeio train line in Tokyo and Keio can be formed by combining the first letters of Kato and Osanai. Before founding the company, Kato ran a nightclub. Osanai, aTokyo University graduate and noted accordionist, regularly performed at Kato's club accompanied by aWurlitzer Sideman rhythm machine. Dissatisfied with the rhythm machine, Osanai convinced Kato to finance his efforts to build a better one.[3][4]
The company's first product was an electro-mechanical rhythm device, the Disc Rotary Electric Auto Rhythm machine, Donca Matic DA-20, released in 1963.[2] 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, Kato was approached byFumio Mieda, an engineer seeking to build keyboards. Impressed with Mieda's enthusiasm, Kato asked him to build a prototype, and 18 months later Mieda returned with a programmable organ. Keio introduced the organ under the name KORG; theKO being a phonetic reading of "Keio", combined withORG from "organ".[3] In 1970 the firm name changed again to Keio Giken Kogyo Inc. (京王技研工業株式会社).
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Keio's organ products were successful throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. Concerned about competition from other organ manufacturers, Kato decided to use the organ technology to build a keyboard for the then-niche synthesizer market. Keio's first synthesizer, theKORG miniKORG, was 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 1980s, KORG branched into digital pianos. KORG co-founder Tadashi Osanai died in 1977 and Kato continued running the company.
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KORG is credited with a number of innovations. Thekeytranspose function was Kato's idea after a singer at his club needed her accompaniment played in a lower key, which the accompanist wasn't able to do. KORG was the first company to feature effects on a synthesizer, and the first to use asample + synthesis sound design. TheM1 workstation, released in 1988, sold over 250,000 units, making it the bestselling synthesizer ever at that time.[3]
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. The takeover of the company was amicable, with Kato drawing up the terms, and the two companies continued to independently develop their product lines and compete in the marketplace.
In 1989, KORG recruited the design team fromSequential Circuits as they were relieved of their duties by then-Sequential owner Yamaha.
In 1993, after 5 successful years under Yamaha's control, Kato had sufficient funds to repurchase most of the Yamaha shares.
KORG has since diversified into digital effects, tuners, recording equipment, electronic hand percussion, and software instruments.[5][6]
In 1992, KORG acquiredVox, then primarily a manufacturer of guitar amplifiers.[7]
KORG was the exclusive distributor ofMarshall Amplification products in the US for decades. This arrangement ended in 2010.[8]
Kato died of cancer on 15 March 2011.[9]
The new line of more accessible digital synthesizers, including the wavestate, modwave and opsix, are featuring aRaspberry Pi Compute Module 3.[10]
In September 2022, Korg boughtDarkglass Electronics.[11]
| Synthesizers |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Workstations | ||
| Drum machines | ||
| Samplers | ||
| Vocoder | ||
| Organs | ||
| Soundcards | ||
| Grooveboxes | ||
| MIDI controllers | ||
| Software | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
