Gear Hunter

Korg-M1

Description

This Korg M1 EX is available for purchase and pickup only at the White Rock, BC location. Inter-store transfers and shipping are not available for this product.

Package includes: Korg M1 EX keyboard, folding stand, carrying bag, power cable, MPC-OEX card, MRC-03 Memory Card (blank), MSC-05 Piano PCM Card, Manual flip-book, original warranty card, original M1EX info sheet, original M1 brochure.

The M1 EX internal battery has just been replaced and the factory programs, combinations and sequences have been restored.

From Wikipedia:
The Korg M1 is a synthesizer and music workstation manufactured by Korg from 1988 to 1995. The M1 was advertised as a 'workstation' rather than a synthesizer, integrating composition and performance features into a single device. It features 16-voice polyphony, high-quality digital samples (including drum sounds), an integrated 8-track sequencer and digital effects processing. It is one of the bestselling synthesizers in history, selling an estimated 250,000 units.

Development
Korg's chief engineer, Junichi Ikeuchi, led the hardware engineering design of the M1. Whereas previous synthesizers had shipped with sounds chosen for different markets, the Korg chairman, Tsutomu Kato, and his son Seiki decided that their synthesizers should use the same sounds internationally. Korg assembled an international team to develop the sounds for the M1. To create a deep blown bottle sound, the team played a pan flute over a large sake bottle.

Features
The M1 features a 61-note velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive keyboard, 16-note polyphony, a joystick for pitch-bend and modulation control, an eight-track MIDI sequencer, separate LFOs for vibrato and filter modulation, and ADSR envelopes. Data can be stored on RAM and PCM cards.

The M1 has a ROM with four megabytes of 16-bit PCM tones — a large amount at the time — including instruments that had not been used extensively in mainstream music. The sounds include sampled attack transients, loops, sustained waveforms and percussive samples. The timbres include piano, strings, acoustic guitar, woodwinds, sitar, kalimba, wind chimes and drums. Fact described the sounds as "wonderfully, endearingly wonky ... each one managed to sound simultaneously realistic and synthetic all at once".

The M1 also features effects, including reverb, delay, chorus, tremolo, EQ, distortion, and Leslie simulation, an innovative inclusion at the time. According to Sound on Sound, none of the M1's features were unique, but were implemented and combined in a new way.

Reception
The M1 was released in 1988 and was manufactured until 1995, selling an estimated 250,000 units. Reviewing it for Sound on Sound in 1988, Tony Hastings wrote that it was "destined to be big, very big", with "sensational" sounds and extensive features that outperformed its competitors. It was widely used in popular music and stock music in the late 80s and early 90s. The piano and organ presets were used in 1990s house music, beginning with Madonna's 1990 single "Vogue".

The Korg M1EX Expansion
The Korg M1EX is an expanded version of the M1, which adds the PCM ROM data from the famous Korg T1 Music Workstation. This ROM set is accessed via the included MPC-OEX program / combination card and adds 100 programs and 100 combinations to the Korg factory soundset.

Specifications
*Polyphony- 16 voices
*Oscillators- 8MB PCM waveforms (184 multisampled sounds)
*Effects- Digital multi-effects: reverb, delay, overdrive, EQ, chorus, rotary speaker, and more.
*Filter- VDF: Variable Digital Lowpass Filter, velocity sensitive (non-resonant)
*VCA- VDA: Variable Digital Amplifier; 3 independent 4-stage ADSR envelope generators
*Keyboard- 61 keys with Velocity, Aftertouch
*Memory- 100 Programs, 100 Combinations (factory) + 100 Programs, 100 Combinations (MPC-0EX card)
*Sequencer - 8 Tracks, 10 Songs, 100 patterns, 7700 notes or 5500 notes (depending upon memory configuration)
*Multitimbral - 8 parts
*Connectors - Headphone out, Line Out L/R,3,4, Sustain, Expression and footswitch, MIDI In/Out/Thru (5-pin DIN)
*Power - 110V via IEC C14 (built-in power supply) IEC C13 cable included.

*** THIS UNIT DOES NOT COME WITH PCM CARD!***