KORG really should be a giant robot.
Korg is an even stranger name than Roland. It comes from Katoh and Osanai’s Organ. Kind of like the Stalin Organ, but Japanese. Actually I think Donca was a better name they came up with for the range of Doncas they used to sell. Who doesn’t want a donca?
Although I started on a Kawai 100F and then Roland mono synths, the Korg MS20 soon became my (slightly nasal) signature sound. That was easy – no one else wanted them. I bought from hock shops until I had a complete MS orchestra.
That distinctive sound eventually became tedious and I cast them off, moving over to Yamaha’s FM synthesis. They now live with Garry Bradbury, who is in the picture. Nothing Korg made after that seemed very inspiring until eventually I stopped listening.
Long afterwards the MS20 mini was announced and I loved to tease the slavering hordes who thought it was a ticket to Authenticity Central. But I wondered what had happened since and was amazed to see a photo of the Radias – it looked like a Pokemon MS20 that had ‘evolved’. Pity I had missed out on that I thought – not knowing anything about eBay.
Eventually I bought a Radias, and then an MS2000 and finally worked my way backwards to the MS20. It’s been archaeology of ideas. A Foucault of filters.