Korg DL-50 "Delta Dawn" ad, Keyboard, 1980

Korg DL-50 "Delta Dawn" synthesizer 1-page advertisement from page 49 in  Keyboard Magazine February 1981.

It's Thursday November 10 as I begin writing this - the start of my extra-long weekend here in Canada since tomorrow (Friday) is the Remembrance Day holiday for most of the country. I took off the Thursday hoping to get a four-day holiday out of it and spend some time watching some quality movies I've been PVR-ing. But work keeps catching up to me, so instead of keeping this blog post short so I can hide out in bed watching some gratuitous violence, I'm keeping it short because I'm doing work stuff. Boo me.

This Korg Delta advertisement looks to have made its first appearance on the back-inside cover of the  December 1980 issue of Keyboard. It then appeared three more times in 1981 exactly four months apart starting in February, then June and finally October.

Why so much time between ad runs? Probably because Korg was on year three of their multi-advertisement blitz that started ramping up back in late 1978 with promotions for the MS-10 and MS-20 synthesizers and VC-10 vocoder. When this ad came into the rotation, Korg was also promoting the CX-3, ES-50 Lambda synthesizer and KR-55 drum machine. Korg was playing musical chairs with their ads - there were only so many they could have in one issue.

Besides the really clean layout of the front panel, one of the things I love most about the Delta is the name. I think the Delta was the third keyboard from Korg to use a cool symbol-like title - there was also the Sigma from back in 1979, and the Lambda that began its advertising in early 1980. I really dig cool names for synthesizers rather than just boring model numbers. Sure, some synths speak for themselves. But really... MS-10 - boring. KR-55 - blah. But Delta and Trident have a lot more pop to 'em. And if you look at today's synths, names like Virus, Mopho or Revolution are what catch my eye. Hee hee... especially Mopho.   :)

I have had no experience with the Delta. None. So, of course to learn a little bit more I turned to YouTube. One of the most watched demo videos is by YouTube user Abertronic, and it does a pretty good job at showing off the best of the Delta.

Another video that came up in a YouTube search was from Brainstormer2302. Looks like it was made as part of an eBay auction and not surprisingly has a bit more of a sell-job associated with it. But it is still an okay demo. There is a Part 2 as well.

But even in today's connected world of YouTube synth demos, I still find original synth reviews helpful to dig up and read through. The problem is that even when you considering the vast amounts of advertising Korg did in Keyboard during this time period, reviews of Korg instruments were quite rare. Luckily, a review of the Korg Delta was published in the December 1980 issue and looks to be only the second or third Korg review *ever*.

Domonic Milano introduced the two-page review by immediately setting expectations. He points out the low price and the Delta's limitations. I like my reviews honest and to the point.

"This month we'll be looking at the Korg Delta, a relatively low-cost keyboard ($1,160.00 list price) that offers both string machine and polyphonic synthesizer sounds. The Delta has some limitations - it's not one of those it'll-do-everything-and-the-laundry-too instruments - but it's not designed to compete in that market. It's designed to provide the player on a limited budget with a reasonably good string sound and some polyphonic synthesizer effects."

He then describes each of the sections separately - keyboard, joystick controller, tuning controls, synthesizer section, string section, output section and back panel - before ending on a high note by calling the machine versatile and useful, and he found that "you could get quite a few different effects and some real nice sounds out of the instrument". Domonic never let's ya down!

Before I end this post, I just have to point one thing out. I don't know about you but this ad really reminds me of an1980s action movies. I tried using Google Images to pin down some movie in particular, but just couldn't find anything similar to it. In fact, most of the action movies that even remotely look like this ad came out later in the 80s, so a connection with action movies was obviously not the designer's intent.

For example, Chuck Norris' 1986 movie Delta Force didn't look anything like it. And movies like Rambo II (go Rambo!) had orange cloud/smoke theme, but it came out in 1985.  The only movie I could find that came out before this ad appeared and that triggered any connection in my head was Dawn of the Dead - and that was really just the movie title that looks similar.

[Update: Friend of the blog Micke found an Apocalyse Now movie poster that includes a similar image. That must have been where my mind was... I've included the image Micke found below. See his comment below the blog post for more information about the movie]

Oh well, it was a hoot looking through old action movies, and gave me an opportunity to discover some cinematic gratuitous violence I hadn't seen yet.

Work is done, so time to make popcorn and tuck myself in. Go Rambo!

Korg General Catalog, Electronic Musical Instruments, Volume 1982

Korg General Catalog, Electronic Musical Instruments, Volume 1, 1982.

This was a total surprise.

I had already pretty much finished my blog post for the Korg "...we put it all together" family of products ad from the January 1982 issue of Keyboard Magazine, when I went back to re-check something. I pulled a different copy of that January issue off the shelf, and wouldn't you know it, stapled into the centrefold of that ad was this miniature Korg catalog.

We are talking 10 juicy pages of Korg products (well, 8 pages, plus a cover and mailing label), folded down to just under 7 x 10 inches. And, unlike in the two-page ad where Korg was a little more limited by space, this catalog contains not only three pages of photos of all their current product line-up, but another three pages of all the reference info for those products - over 25 of 'em! An historical reference gold mine.

I've scanned and posted the front side of the catalog as single pages, but merged the back pages into two larger scans due to the way text and images flowed between the pages.

That front cover of the catalog is very intriguing to me. I'm always trying to figure out what the designer was thinking at the time they were creating ads and brochures - especially those with staged photos. In this case, someone decided that the front cover theme should be a humid terrarium of some sort, with the reader wiping away the droplets of water to see in to... the... er... plants and synthesizers. But wait! If the reader wiped the glass of the terrarium, that would mean it was really humid outside the terrarium. Or, maybe it was just raining outside. And the wet observer is creeping around someone's window...

Gah. Whatever. The effect is still nice. And it's always nice to stick something organic like a plant into a synthesizer ad. A nice touch.

The centrefold ad that accompanied this magazine mentions that you could send away for a full colour catalog. And since this catalog includes a mailing address page, I'm betting this was, in fact, the catalog being referred to in the ad - and included in the January issue of Keyboard as an extra. Excellent work, Korg!

Where it gets really interesting is comparing this 1982 catalog to the one Korg put out in 1984. In particular, it is interesting to see just how many products were still available. Only two new polyphonics became available in those two years - the Poly-800 and Poly-61. But in Korg's defense, they did update the Trident, as well as expand other areas of the business as can be seen in the piano/organs and rhythm/sound effects sections of that '84 catalog. Also interesting is how Korg was definitely increasing the plastic-to-wood ratio.

But the absolutely crazy-coolest thing about this catalog is the "Possible Connections" section located underneath all those lovely Korg accessories. I love diagrams, and I guess Korg was making their point: "We put it all together". And now I know my MS-20 will work with an MS-02.

And that I can plug a trumpet into an X-911. :D

Korg "...we put it all together" Family of Products ad, Keyboard 1982

Korg Family of Products advertisement including the ES-50, Delta, Sigma, M500 Micro Preset, MS-10, MS-20, MS-50 and Trident synthesizers, CX-3 and BX-3 organs, LP-10 electric piano, KR-55 and KR-33 drum machines, SE-300 and SE-500 Stage Echo effects units, and X-911 guitar synthesizer from page 42 and 43 in Keyboard Magazine January 1982. Also included some tuners - meh.

And so the Korg love continues!

It had been quite a while since Korg had summarized their keyboard and drum machine offerings in a single ad. Oh yeah... Um... Never.

They had previously smooshed a couple of different instruments together in smaller ads, but I can't recall anything like this. Readers had the relatively rare privilege of viewing this ad in the January, February and June 1982 issues.

And it was about time it showed up. Competitor ARP had turned the "product family" photo ad into an art form back in 1976. Oberheim had also featured a family photo ad back in 1976, and Roland in 1978. And Sequential Circuits Inc. was about to join the family photo party with their ad starting in February of the same year this ad showed up.

It was also about time because for the previous few years, Korg and been pushing a lot of different products in Keyboard, sometimes three or four ads in an issue. A reader could easily get overwhelmed by it all. So, by putting "it all together" into a single ad, Korg helped readers wrap their heads around everything available in a nicely laid out 2-page package, while at the same time pounding their chests a little at some of their competitors. Korg big! Korg smash!

The collection of synthesizers Korg brought together for this ad is nothing but spectacular. It's definitely not every piece of gear Korg had on offer. But it's a good summary. And including products like the MS-20 or Sigma, gear that hadn't been advertised for over a year or two, were nice gentle reminders to readers that these instruments were indeed still available in 1982. For readers today, it provides a perfect summary snapshot in time. A great historical resource.

The design of the ad is a little chaotic. "Korg" in bright neon-red may almost be too big, and to me, looks like it is pushing what was once a nicely lined-up set of instruments into the column of text. Maybe that was the intent, but it makes reading the ad-copy a little more difficult than it should be. And that poor MS-10 in the upper-middle of the ad facing the wrong direction. What's going on there? It's like it never got the memo.

But those small small criticisms aside (from the guy, almost 30 years later, with 20/20 hindsight) just makes me love this ad even more.

The most interesting reference from this ad is right at the bottom: Get a full color catalog and 20" x 28" Keith Emerson color poster for three bucks. Good to see Korg take a page out of ARP's playbook and throwing a bit of name-dropping into their ads.

Korg, I'm still crushing on you. <3