Korg M1

This keyboard is very easy to use. The preset sounds are simple and quick to select. Modifying the sounds can be done without the manual but it's trial and error. The manual is pretty big and easy use.

Everything is already said below. This baby is over 10 years old now and I still gig with it. Of course the sounds aren't as good as some newer (and far more expensive) models. I gig in a pop/rock band and it covers all bases for me. It has midi but I don't use it.

Sounds are good for a 10 year old keyboard. The piano sound is pretty good but not as good a the new digital pianos. The brass is ok and the strings aren't too bad either. Its got 100 patches and 100 combos. I'd use probably 10 of the patches and maybe 5 of the combos. She no B3 clone but for a couple of hundred buck, what can you expect. Aftertouch on the piano and organ patches is great. Pushing harder on the keys when playing the organ sound builds up the Leslie effect.

I've gigged for 10 years with it, maybe average once a week or two. It's never ever let me down. You can be confident of it and not require a backup keyboard. The internal battery did go flat once. It's an easy replace job. Unfortunately, when you do this you loose your patch/combo library. I just downloaded it from the net and reloaded it into the keyboard. I had to buy a serial to midi port lead for about AU$20 but I can use this with any other keyboard. There are heaps of different libraries you can download from the net also. The only small issue I have is sometimes the patch number buttons don't work on first click. Sometimes the "0" button has to be click 2 or 3 times to work. No big deal though, it probably could do with a clean up under the button assembly.

Never needed it !!! Great work Korg

It a great keyboard. I'm looking at upgrading now to a good digital piano because I now only really need a good piano sound and a good organ sound. I'm looking at the Yamaha P200, P250 or maybe the Roland RD-700. If this was a brand new keyboard it wouldn't stand up against todays quality but it's 10 years old and can be bought now for about AU$500 or cheaper. So for that reason it's a beauty !!!

There is no KORG sofware for editing, but reading the user manual once or twice is long enough to start editing patches. I tried free software editors but the esaiest way is editin by the main panel.

Polyphony is good, unless u make combinations of lots of programs and play "ten finger" chords =).
Keyboard action is great... weighted keys, not like a real piano, but more than a standard synth.
There are Expansion Cards, RAM and Multisounds but nowadays are dificult to find...
It has full midi action. (exept General Midi compatible)
Built-in sequencer is not so much easy to use, and not so flexible... it has lots of limits.. only 8 tracks, you can only use 1 effect in the whole song.

Even thoug a synth would NEVER sound like a REAL piano, the M1 is well known becouse of it`s piano sound... the other sounds are quite intrestings. Strings are INCREDIBLE!!!
I used it to play Melodic Metal, and maybe 80s Rock/pop but i think it fits for much more styles...
Velcyty response is very good.... aftertouch... mmm... well....err....

you can surely use it on a gig without a backup.... but well... if i had the chance to have maybe an X5D helping, it would be great!!!!

They didn`t want to tell me approx whow much would cost some "general service" (cleaning the inside, etc).. so i took it to som "non-korg" support. (and finlaly i paid less than the half of what Korg support intended.)

I do not think if i`ll buy it again. I mean it was one of my first synts. at that time it was excellent, but now i would try to buy a new one which fits my needs. But i y had the money for it i`ll do it`s cheap for what it can do!!!
The only thing i hate is the it weights 15 Kg... too heavy for hand-carryng.

I can't say anything that's not been said before, I just wanted to pay homage to my beloved.

Nice action. All other non-weighted keyboards deel spongey and unresponsive in comparison.
I actually really like the effects too.
MIDI isn't as comprehensive as I'd like.

I think I've overwritten all the factory presets now. The beauty of this machine lies in the sounds you can create- I start off with layered basic waveforms, then let the filters (not resonant- boo) and FX do the rest; can't beat it for rich textures.
Orchestral instruments and electric guitars aren't so hot.

The poor thing is a little tired now. Numbers 2 and 5 haven't worked for 2 years now, and 1 and 6 are a bit dodgy. Plus the 4th octave Bb keeps sticking. But it's nothing you can't work around, and not bad for a 13-year old kb.

Never had to deal with Korg customer support, but I will be trying to get the buttons and sticky key fixed soon- I think it deserves that much!

So many of my bestest sounds are on my M1, so I'd have to replace it in some way- I'd probably get an M1R or M1R EX out of choice.

The presets sound pretty awesome, anyone who listened to the radio in the 1980s -- especially New Age stuff -- will recognize most of these patches. Some of them have fairly limited use as an occasional atmospheric drop-in and several sound a little similary, but very good quality sounds. From a programming standpoint, though, give me some buttons and knobs to turn. The design of the M1 looks sleek as hell, but toggling through a zillion programming options with a handful of the same buttons is tedious.

Decent 8-track sequencer, a little difficult to use, IMHO, because of the fact you have to click your way through menus, but you get the hang of it. The effects are top-notch. It accepts ROM cards, which I dont think anyone makes anymore, but you can find a lot of them out there in the secondary market, EBAY and such. Keys are not weighted, but the sounds are velocity sensitive.

The M1 doesn't do the best job of modeling other instruments like horns, saxophones, etc. They are passable, but aren't likely to fool anyone into thinking that they are listening to the real thing. That being said, some versions are better than others, it depends on the card you got it from, I suppose. It does pianos well enough. It's strength lies in its signature unique sounds, layered with some good stereo effects, two effects available per sound. It's decent for classical and good for rock, but really shines on new age and atmospheric stuff.

This board has been around for 15-20 years, and people are still buying and selling them secondhand. That says alot for the boards durability.

My version is the M1 EX, I've wanted an M1 or a T1 since they were knew and I was young and the two combined meant I couldn't afford it back then. I'm stoked to get one now. I'm still learning my way around it, but I could see it being someone's main board in a gigging setup, though you would want a couple other boards around for flexibility. If I was setting up a modern pro studio, obviously I'd want something newer as my central axe. At the current prices you can get out there, it's definitely worth the money just to get those signature M1 sounds.

I originally bought my Korg M1 in 1988, about a few months after they were launched. The factory presets were excellent with the Piano's at the time being the best you could get other than actual samples.
Programming new sounds and building sequence tracks is very easy, there is not loads of menu screens.

In its day the features were second to none, nowadays it is dated, 16 note polphony, 8 part multi timbral, dual effects processors. I still think this keyboard is still so versatile. I can still make complete songs from start to finish on just my M1. You have two ROM card slots, one for program patches and the other on the back of the keyboard for ROM samples which can be used in addition to the built in ROM sounds to make new patches. The sample ROM content is varied but not very big in size but was at the time very good. I'm giving it a 6 but would have got a 20 in its day...

I still use my M1 sounds all the time, used on their own or layered with other sound sources. They still sound fresh to me and making new sounds is a breeze.

Well I have had my M1 since they first came out, although after a good few years my brother was using it, he took great care of it and just recently got it back of him. The M1 is a bit heaveier than most 61 note keyboards due to its solid metal construction. I have gigged with it a couple of times. There are a couple of tiny scratches on it but it, no dents or bad bumps and has been bumped a couple of times.
For a 15 year old keyboard it is still more or less like new. I did give it a fairly extensive clean up after I got it back due to dust as my brother hardly used it, hence getting it back. I always regetted selling it to him but luckily, unlike most who get rid of their equipment, was able to get it back in near enough the same state I sold it.

Not had to deal with Korg for my M1, I am getting it serviced very soon due to the internal battery failing, it failed only a month ago which is brilliant seeing as its the same battery from new.

I am glad I got my M1 back. It was my first pro keyboard I ever bought and was so proud of it, I only sold it to my brother to finance a purchase for a korg wavestation and have had so much equipment since owning my M1. Its ironic that now, I have my M1 which is now my one and only physical keyboard, I use it as a sound source and my master controller. The action is still the best I have ever played on an unweighted synth keyboard, it feels semi-weighted to me and feels great for piano playing etc. The Joystick (especially on the M1) is the best ever pitch stick made IMHO and with a piano damper pedal and expression pedal I now use my M1 to control my virtual rig consisting of Emagic Logic 6, EXSP24, ES1 & EVP73 and will be getting the virtual korg wavestation & polysix instruments when they are released. I can't wait.

I am using an original honest-to-goodness unvarnished 1988 M1. The sounds still sound great, even though subsequent generations of Korg workstations sound glossier and have more features. But simplicity is good -- editing patches on the synthesizer is easy, and the manual is tolerably helpful (though not great literature)

Polyphony is 16-note (I think) and this is mainly OK though dropouts occur in complex patches. The effects are comprehensive and excellent, though FX routing takes a little while to get your head round; expansion is possible through cards (probably hard to get nowadays) and probably MIDI though there is no onboard disk drive or similar. The limitations of the onboard sequencer (less than 5000 notes, just 8 tracks) are easily overcome by artful use of pattern-based programming and it is possible to get really good, workable demo sequences, especially for bass and drums, if, like me, you are not too ambitious.

Of the sounds, the piano has become a dance classic, though several others -- brass, strings, some percussive noices -- deserve mention. Good workaday sounds that caused a stir at the time, though not as lush or detailed as subsequent generations of keyboards. The great thing is that the majority of the factory sounds are imemdiately useful in a mainstream setting. You can program some fairly analog-like noises though it must be borne in mind that it is a creature of its time. It is neither an analog synth nor a modelling synth, and will not satisfy those who like very experimental sounds or want dramatic filter sweeps and so on. It is very much a workhorse instrument. I've used the M1 in all styles though it is geared towards pop and funk. The keyboard is velocity and aftertouch sensitivity and with the joystick (which I prefer to mod wheels) it is very responsive and good for fluid lead synth work.

Virtually indestructible. My first M1 cost 1600 GB pounds new and I used it for years as my live master keyboard with no problems at all. I am now on my second M1 -- I sold the first, and missed it so much that I bought one secondhand for 400 GB pounds from a friend who had only ever used it at home. I think it had spent many years with piles of washing on it as some of the black keys have lost some of their spring, but mostly it's OK.

n/a

The M1 is an invaluable piece of kit for a home studio or gigging player. Yes, it has been superseded by other keyboards, but simplicity is a virtue and the M1 strikes a good balance between features and ease of use. I have used the M1 live as a master keyboard controlling racks of MIDI equipment. These days I use it mainly as a combined sound generator/sequencer, slaved to my Yamaha Clavinova CLP820, as a way of generating quick, easy song ideas for demoes.

the first wavetable synthesizer that started it all.

pros

when this came out in 1988 the effects section was ahead of its time. effect on this keyboard can still compete with newer models. about the only thing lacking is parametric equalization.

landmark samples. the m1 was the first instrument to use some perfectly recorded pcm samples that have not been bettered since. ie. pan flute, harpsichord. some samples have been improved upon like piano 8'.

Cons
programming the global drum assignments it both very difficult and buggy. it so bad you need an editor like sound diver or unisyn to do it.

aftertouch on the keyboard takes way to much force. forget this is you want to use this synth as a controller with aftertouch.

polyphony is too low. all the really good sounds it can make are two
oscillator programs in 2 program combination mode. this make 16/2/2=4note polyphony!

m1 a gm instrument?
you could download that gm patch set someguy made on the inet. but in order to do gm on the m1 you should use midimapper to route the drum samples on channel 10 to another device. 16note polyphony get reduced to 12 notes (some gm bank require dual oscillators) so you can see with only 12 note polyphone for eight channel of gm instrument you certainly don't want drums sound taking up more polyphony. considering that the m1 drum set is also weaker than newer instruments.

the keyboard is built like a hummer or fort knox. you can fall on the keyboard. drop 100 pound weights on the keyboard and it still works like new. (don't try this with the function buttons however)

t1,t3,M1ex,O/1w,X3 are all slighty better than the m1
x5d,x5(despite being released later) are worse than the m1(except drums)
anything released earlier than 1988(ie yamaha dx7) does not even come close to the sound quality of the m1.

Select an hammond sound and edit prog; now select on effect 1 :Rotary Sp;
now select effect 2: overdrive;
Now push a pedal switch in the 1 switch ass and after tell me...
I never read this in the manual

I'm using the very first version of the M1 along with two used racks (M1R's). Out of all the presets, I've kept maybe 50 and dumped the rest. I love the choir, symphonic and slap bass presets the best and they get the most use overall.
Editing the patches is a breeze and you'll be surprised (even now) at how much one can do with this instrument! The Manual is in greek however, and not the best it could be, but enough to get you up and running in no time.

The polyphony is a bit limiting considering the fact that I'm spoiled and used to 48 notes, but its enough to get you started. The effects rock! There is an upgrade that adds more presets that is really cool too. The M1 has 16 cardsets available (got mine through ebay) anywheres from $20 to $60 on average. The 8 track sequencer still kicks butt, and the bounce parameters allow you to get more tracks for the buck.

I enjoy the symphonic presets, drum kits, and choirs. A lot of the sound fx presets really are lacking of any punch. This board works great for Rock, Dance and classical work. I use it mostly for ambient work.

Only had to have a single button replaced on my main board, and that was expensive even for 1997. Getting the button to have it replaced was a real pain, but I did manage to get it done. The racks have yet to have a problem. Gigwise, the M1 has been truly a dream to work with. This baby is reliable!

Simply put: KORG customer service SUCKS! Read the other posts here and you'll see that I'm not just whistlin Dixie! As much as I truly LOVE the M1, I will NEVER buy another Korg product. If I can't get the technical assistance when I need it, or replace parts, then its simply not worth the effort to buy anything else from this company.

I would easily buy another M1 or M1R if I needed to. Ebay has em all the time and to me its worth the investment. I've found that the Kurzweil line of keyboards are the best overall, and their customer support really ROCKS! They stand behind ALL their gear, even the earliest keyboards they released years ago. The M1 has some unique sounds to it that no sampler can copy. Which is why I keep it onhand. Its a diehard board thats dependable, road worthy, and reaqdy to go at a moments notice!

It was great until the battery went dead without warning on me a week before xmas, and if I hadnt had a DX7 to use as back up..completely ruining my evening playing the pub in a four piece..

BECAUSE it lost memory a week before a xmas do and our guitarist knew of a Yamaha PSR at a local music shop, we went after it and I had to START LEARNING ALL OVER AGAIN...I STILL HAVE the M1 in a decent case, no one seemed to know for sure WHO could replace the battery OR provide the neccessary download to get it normal again.PLUS the number one button had long since broken..I went for the number nearest and adjusted TO IT? BUT THEN ANY new keyboard will hopefully be a step up from the previous? IF ANYONE would like to make me an offer..Herts.UK..