30 Years | Feature
KORG MICROKORG
WHAT IS IT?: THE BEST-SELLING PORTABLE SYNTH EVER | LAUNCH YEAR: 2003 | LAUNCH PRICE: £399
CRAMMED THE BEST BITS OF THE MS2000 INTO A MINI KEYBOARD POWERED BY SIX BATTERIES
It has tiny keys, not enough controls for its virtual analogue engine, is quite difficult to use, and suffered pretty middling reviews on release. It even has the wrong name if you think about it (microSynth anyone?). Yet Korg’s microKorg is quite possibly one of the best – and certainly longest – selling synthesisers ever made.
At the start of the century we were surrounded by virtual analogue synths, and Korg jumped on board with the MS2000 synth and rack. This was a great entry for Korg, sold well and truly opened the ‘hands-on control’ door the Prophecy unlocked. But back in 2002, someone at Korg must have been thinking about a portable version and the result was the Korg microKorg, a synth that effectively crammed the best bits of the MS2000 into a mini keyboard powered by six batteries. It would be the start of a micro and mini explosion for the Japanese company that has led to countless products over the course of this century.