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{{Short description|Japanese musical instrument company}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}

{{Infobox company
| name = KORG Inc.
| native_name = {{Nobold|{{Nihongo2|株式会社コルグ}}}}
| native_name_lang = ja
| former_name = Keio Electronic Laboratories
| logo        = Korg logo.svg
| type        = Private
| foundation  = {{Start date and age|1962|df=yes}} (as Keio Electronic Laboratories)
| founders    = {{Unbulleted list
  | Tsutomu Kato
  | Tadashi Osanai
}}
| location    = [[Inagi]], Tokyo<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->, Japan
| industry    = [[Electronics industry|Electronics]]
| products    = [[Electronic musical instrument]]s
| subsid      = {{Unbulleted list
  | [[Vox (musical equipment)|Vox]]
  | [[ARP Instruments]]
}}
| homepage    = {{Official URL}}
}}

{{Nihongo|'''KORG Inc.'''|株式会社コルグ|Kabushiki-gaisha Korugu|lead=yes}}, founded as '''Keio Electronic Laboratories''', is a Japanese [[multinational corporation]] that manufactures [[electronic musical instrument]]s, audio processors and [[guitar pedals]], recording equipment, and [[electronic tuner]]s. Under the [[Vox (musical equipment)|Vox]] brand name, they also manufacture [[guitar amplifier]]s and electric guitars.

==History==
[[File:KORG Donca Matic DA-20 (1963).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Donca-Matic DA-20 (1963)]]
[[File:ErardHarpTuning.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Tuning of a [[Sébastien Érard]] harp using the KORG OT-120 Wide 8 Octave Orchestral Digital Tuner]]

KORG was founded in 1962 in Tokyo by Tsutomu Kato and [[Tadashi Osanai]] as ''Keio Gijutsu Kenkyujo Ltd.''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.musicarius.com/blog/le-guide-dachat/les-claviers/lhistoire-de-korg |title=L'Histoire de Korg |lang=fr |website=Musicarius [le blog]}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/music-business/history-korg-part-1 |title=The History Of Korg: Part 1 |website=Sound on Sound |access-date=4 July 2019}}</ref> It later became {{nihongo|''Keio Electronic Laboratories''|京王技術研究所|}} because its offices were located near the [[Keio Corporation|Keio]] train line in Tokyo and Keio can be formed by combining the first letters of Kato and Osanai. Before founding the company, Kato ran a nightclub. Osanai, a [[Tokyo University]] graduate and noted accordionist, regularly performed at Kato's club accompanied by a [[Wurlitzer]] Sideman rhythm machine. Dissatisfied with the rhythm machine, Osanai convinced Kato to finance his efforts to build a better one.<ref name="autogenerated52">Julian Colbeck, Keyfax Omnibus Edition, MixBooks, 1996, p.&nbsp;52. {{ISBN|978-0-918371-08-9}}.</ref><ref>[[:File:MiniKORG700S (1974).jpg]]</ref>

The company's first product was an electro-mechanical rhythm device, the Disc Rotary Electric Auto Rhythm machine, Donca Matic DA-20, released in 1963.<ref name=":0" /> The name "Donca" was an onomatopoeic reference to the sound the rhythm machine made. Buoyed by the success of the DA-20, Keio released a solid-state version of the Rhythm machine, the Donca matic DE-20, in 1966.

In 1967, Kato was approached by [[Fumio Mieda]], an engineer seeking to build keyboards. Impressed with Mieda's enthusiasm, Kato asked him to build a prototype, and 18 months later Mieda returned with a programmable organ. Keio introduced the organ under the name KORG; the ''KO'' being a phonetic reading of "Keio", combined with ''ORG'' from "organ".<ref name="autogenerated52"/> In 1970 the firm name changed again to Keio Giken Kogyo Inc. (京王技研工業株式会社).
{{multiple image |total_width=220 |perrow=2
|image1   = KORG Prototype No.1 (1970).jpg
|caption1 = Prototype&nbsp;No.1 (1970)
|image2   = KORGUE (1972).jpg
|caption2 = KORGUE (1972)
|image3   = MiniKORG700S (1974).jpg
|caption3 = miniKORG&nbsp;700S (1974)
|image4   = Korg PS-3300 - reduced light spot.JPG
|caption4 = PS-3300 (1977)
}}
Keio's organ products were successful throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. Concerned about competition from other organ manufacturers, Kato decided to use the organ technology to build a keyboard for the then-niche synthesizer market. Keio's first synthesizer, the [[KORG miniKORG]], was released in 1973.

During the 1970s, KORG's synthesizer line was divided into instruments for the hobbyist, and large expensive patchable instruments such as the PS series. In the early 1980s, KORG branched into digital pianos. KORG co-founder Tadashi Osanai died in 1977 and Kato continued running the company.

{{multiple image |total_width=220 |direction=vertical
|image1   = Korg M1.jpg 
|caption1 = M1 (1988)
|image2   = TRITON.jpg
|caption2 = Triton (1999~2004)
|image3   = KORG OASYS (expand top panel).jpg
|caption3 = OASYS (2005)
|image4   = Korg Kronos X 88.jpg
|caption4 = Kronos X (2012)
}}
KORG is credited with a number of innovations. The ''key [[transposition (music)|transpose]]'' function was Kato's idea after a singer at his club needed her accompaniment played in a lower key, which the accompanist wasn't able to do. KORG was the first company to feature effects on a synthesizer, and the first to use a ''sample + synthesis'' sound design. The [[Korg M1|M1]] workstation, released in 1988, sold over 250,000 units, making it the bestselling synthesizer ever at that time.<ref name="autogenerated52"/>

===Relationship with Yamaha===
{{multiple image |total_width=220 |direction=vertical
|image1   = Korg digital piano.jpg
|caption1 = Korg Kronos
}}

[[Yamaha Corporation]] has always been a major partner of KORG, supplying them with circuitry and mechanical parts.

In 1987, shortly before the release of the M1 Music Workstation, Yamaha acquired a controlling interest in KORG. The takeover of the company was amicable, with Kato drawing up the terms, and the two companies continued to independently develop their product lines and compete in the marketplace.

In 1989, KORG recruited the design team from [[Sequential Circuits]] as they were relieved of their duties by then-Sequential owner Yamaha. 

In 1993, after 5 successful years under Yamaha's control, Kato had sufficient funds to repurchase most of the Yamaha shares.

===Recent history===

KORG has since diversified into digital effects, tuners, recording equipment, electronic hand percussion, and software instruments.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/music-business/history-korg-part-2 |title=The History Of Korg: Part 2 |website=Sound on Sound |access-date=4 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/music-business/history-korg-part-3 |title=The History Of Korg: Part 3 |website=Sound on Sound |access-date=4 July 2019}}</ref>

In 1992, KORG acquired [[Vox (musical equipment)|Vox]], then primarily a manufacturer of guitar amplifiers.<ref>Dave Hunter, "[http://vintageguitar.com/features/brands/details.asp?AID+3084 50 Years of Vox]",{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Vintage Guitar, June 2010.</ref>

KORG was the exclusive distributor of [[Marshall Amplification]] products in the US for decades. This arrangement ended in 2010.<ref>Gordon Reid, "[http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct02/articles/korg40th.asp 40 Years of Korg Gear]", ''Sound on Sound'', Oct 2002.</ref>

Kato died of cancer on 15 March 2011.<ref>"[http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/korg-mourns-passing/March-2011/129081 Korg Mourns the Passing of Chairman Tsutomu Katoh]" ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110909075909/http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/Korg-Mourns-the-Passing-of-Chairman-Tsutomu-Katoh/4395 |date=2011-09-09 }}), Keyboard Magazine, 15 March 2011.</ref>

The new line of more accessible digital synthesizers, including the wavestate, modwave and opsix, are featuring a [[Raspberry Pi]] Compute Module 3.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.raspberrypi.com/success-stories/korg-synthesizers/ |title=Success – Stories Korg synthesizers |publisher=Raspberry Pi Foundation |access-date=6 October 2023}}</ref>

In September 2022, Korg bought [[Darkglass]] Electronics.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Matt Parker |date=2022-05-20 |title=Korg buys Darkglass Electronics in bid to become "a leader" in the bass gear market |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/news/korg-buys-darkglass-electronics |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=guitarworld |language=en}}</ref>

==Products==
{{Main|List of Korg products}}
<!-- not added here -->

==See also==
* {{Category link|Korg synthesizers}}
* [[Electronic tuner]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}

* {{Official website}}
* {{cite web |title=Korg Sound Make Up Museum |url=http://www.korg.co.jp/SoundMakeup/Museum/ |publisher=KORG |language=ja |access-date=9 February 2011 |archive-date=12 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112120524/http://www.korg.co.jp/SoundMakeup/Museum/ |url-status=dead }}
* {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130203094808/http://www.synthmuseum.com/korg/ Korg Page at Synthmuseum.com]}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140812203530/http://www.korganalogue.net/ Korg Kornucopia – Korg analogue synthesizer information, manuals and resources]
* [http://www.wikizic.org/Korg/ Korg museum]
* [http://www.korgaseries.org/ korgaseries.org] – A decade-old online resource hosting photos, product info, effects, mailing list and manuals for Korg's A1, A2 and A3 effects processors.
* [https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/tsutomu-katoh Tsutomu Katoh Interview] at [[NAMM Oral History Program|NAMM Oral History Collection]] 16 October 2006.
* [https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/fumio-mieda Fumio Mieda Interview] at NAMM Oral History Collection (2022)

{{Korg}}
{{Electronics industry in Japan}}
{{Electrophones}}

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[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1962]]
[[Category:Synthesizer manufacturing companies of Japan]]
[[Category:Guitar manufacturing companies]]
[[Category:Musical instrument manufacturing companies based in Tokyo]]
[[Category:Privately held companies of Japan]]
[[Category:Guitar effects manufacturing companies]]
[[Category:Japanese brands]]
[[Category:1962 establishments in Japan]]
[[Category:Korg]]