Korg M1
The classic Korg M1 workstation. I bought mine way back in 1990. It’s one of the best selling synthesizers of all time and was very influential on music at the time it was released. Its characteristic sounds are easily recognizable in many songs from that era. It’s still considered a classic and is very popular even today.
As a workstation its functions are completely outdated, but back then it was a great tool for making music. The samples of acoustic instruments aren’t holding up to today’s standard if you’re expecting perfect replication, but they are good in their own right. I also think the synthetic waveform samples are quite useful. While the filter is fairly warm for a digital synth, it has no resonance, thus limiting the sonic possibilities a bit.
The M1 has a nice slick minimalistic design, but unfortunately as a result hands-on control is sacrificed. Buttons and sliders are replaced by tedious menu editing. This was the general tendency with synths in the late eighties. So programming it isn’t much fun I’m afraid.
The famous presets have been overused in music over the years, and are only useful today for nostalgic reasons I guess. I tend to tend to stay away from the signature sounds and program new sounds that aren’t instantly recognizable as the M1. With a mix of acoustic and synthetic samples, I find it very suitable for soft ethereal sounds.
Audio samples to come…