If you are in the Vegas recording studio music industry, then Korg will be a widespread name. The company has been in the market for over 40 years. They have provided their consumers with state-of-the-art music gear—synths, electronic percussion, guitar tuners, recording studios, and more. So, let us dive right in and see how this legacy first started.
The starting point of Korg was back in 1962 in the city of Tokyo. Tadashi Osanai and Tsutomu Kato founded the company, and it was named Keio Gijutsu Kenkyjo Limited. But things started way before the establishment of the company.
Tsutomu Kato was the proud owner of a Japanese Nightclub backing in the days. And Tadashi Osanai was a regular performer in the club. Osanai used a rhythm machine in the club, which was not up to the best standards. So later one day, he confronted the club owner, Kato, and convinced him to finance his project of making a better rhythm machine. And this was how everything started.
The company’s first production line device was a mechatronic rhythm machine named the Donca Matic DA-20 in 1963. The DA-20 quickly rose in popularity in recording studios in las vegas and around the world. The company did not want to miss this chance and followed this popular trend by inventing a solid-state version of the DE 20 three years later.
Korg
The company later ran in the name of Korg in 1972. The Korg name was from the initials of the two founders Kato and Osanai.
Kato got confronted by a student of the Berkeley school of music in 1972. The student stated that he found a massive similarity of sounds between the Moog instrument he saw back in the states with the media’s organs.
Kato saw this as an opportunity and made their first mono synth named the Korg 700 in 1973. also used it in many recording studios. Back in that time, there was no other Japanese company that built synthesizers. So he quickly rose to the top with this product. The great thing about the Korg 700 was the stability, ease of use, and of course, the affordable price. The Keio Electronic began their venture all around the world with mass production of the Korg 700. With the overwhelming success of the 700 series, they released an improved Korg 700s in the following year.
In 1975 they created one of the most incredible mono synthesizers ever built named Korg 800DV. This device utilized the two Korg 700s in its core. It took the recording studio industry by surprise and allowed users to play more realistic and expressive sounds. And to this day, 800DV stands as one of the best mono synths ever built. As a result, it can create two unique sounds that could play independently of each other.
