Almost every recording musician has been touched by a Korg product at sometime or another. it was always a pleasure to go into the music store and get a first-hand experience with the newest Korg keyboard. And Korg knocked one out of the park with the M1, which is still a revered synthesizer to this very day
Two days ago Korg announced the death of company Chairman Tsutomu Katoh who died after a long fight with cancer.
Korg President Seiki Kato released the following statement:
Since he founded Korg Inc. in 1963, Mr. Katoh has led our company with great talent, vision and leadership. He was loved and respected by all the employees and Korg family members, and he made a huge contribution to the lives of countless musicians around the world.
Katoh Invented the Modern Drum Machine
Love ‘em or hate ‘em the drum machine changed live and recorded music by providing a cheap and reliable beat in a wide variety of percussion instruments. Katoh was a night club owner by trade who experimented with a drum machine idea in the early 1960’s when he watched a popular musician on stage with a simple beat-box. Within a few months he and team of like-minded individual;s had created the first KORG product – the legendary Donca Matic.
More Korg Followed
Korg’s drum machines became the standard of the industry which made Katoh branch out into electronic keyboards and other devices. Korg developed the the first hand-held tuner – replacing the oscilloscope-based models – and integrated a keyboard and microphone for the amazing VC-10, Vocoder. The MS-20 was a great two-oscillator synth.
With Wavedrum Korg made its mark on the music workstation category, including with the M1, the best selling workstation/synthesizer ever created. The Korg piano samples were widely regarded as the best in the industry for many years making their stage pianos a regular on live stages and recording studios.