Korg "We put it all together" catalog, Vol.3, 1982

 Korg "We put it all together" four page catalog - Volume 3, 1982.

I love Korg catalogs.

This one from 1979.

This one from 1984.

There are others on the blog too!

Every one of them packs so much gear into such a little package. And the legends are all there - Korg Trident, Polysix, PS-3200, Mono/Poly, MS-10/20/50, VC-10... the list goes on and on. It all makes me so happy.

But out of all the gear spread across the three pages, one rather unassuming section of this catalog gets my full attention every time.

THIS:

I can hear you say it... "What? Bags? SOFT BAGS...?!?!?"

But if you look closer, they just aren't just bags. Some of them aren't even just Korg-branded bags. Three of them are PRODUCT BRANDED. 

The funky blue bag proudly exclaims in bright yellow that it was specifically made for the LP10 electric piano. It kinda reminds me of my 80's blue and yellow Adidas gym bag I used to lug around. Or maybe that was the colour of my pants? Or shirt? Maybe both.

Anyways... back to those bags. That fire-engine red one? You can see it clearly written that it was designed to hold an X-911 guitar synthesizer.

And, although its hard to make out in the photo, the grey writing underneath the logo on that smaller brown bag at the back says "RHYTHM" - clearly made to carry their KR-55 and/or KR-33 Rhythm drum machine. You can see a photo of a KR55 snuggled right in on Polynomial's KR-55 Web page. 

photo from MATRIXSYNTH!

The larger brown bag doesn't say what it was destined to carry in its belly, but I have seen it on MATRIXSYNTH - its made to fit the MS-10 perfectly. Drool.

For me, these bags are right up there with Roland's black and silver TB-303/606 vinyl carry bags.  But unlike those bags, I've yet to trip over one of these Korg product bags IRL. In fact, I've only ever seen the red and blue bag in Korg catalogs. 

So, if you have one of these bags, I'd love to see a better photo - preferably with an X-911 or LP-10 sitting it 'em. 

Korg Mono/Poly and Polysix "Sounds to shape the future" brochure, 1981

Korg Mono/Poly and Polysix synthesizers "Sounds to shape the future" brochure from December 1981.

"Sounds to shape the future"... how f*%king awesomely futuristic is this?!?!?  

Tell me what is better than synthesizers in transparent pill capsules! No. Really. Tell me. I'm waiting.

Okay, maybe adorable kittens on synthesizers. Maybe. But besides that.

You can't. I knew it.

And that is exactly why I'm posting this brochure on Christmas Eve. 'Cause that front cover is one of my favorites. And, I'll admit, to help deflect any suggestion that I may not be blogging that much this week or next. I'm enjoying my rum and eggnogs just a little too much to be typing too much right now.  :)

Almost as cool as that front cover photo -  this brochure was printed in December 1981 - exactly 31 years ago. And that front cover photo would probably fit into many of today's synthesizer marketing campaigns (and various electronic music cultures) just as well it fits into the early 80's fascination with the future. Spectacular!

And... it... just... gets... better... Truly.

Just flip open the brochure and not only are you greeted by the front panels of both the Korg Mono/Poly and Polysix, but also with really well done "panel function by section" images with reference numbers. And it doesn't end there, for the Korg Polysix, the designer included a little "Sound Sampler" reference chart on the bottom right side, that gives readers a good preview of the programming and sound capabilities. It provides a nice little window back to 1981 and what was probably the most popular sounds of the day - electronic piano, organ, string and sound effects.

The back page also provides a nice close-up of the back of each machine, along with two really

That front photo is so great I immediately saw a "Keep calm..." image of some sort in my mind. Too good to pass up:

Now time to pour myself another 'nog. 

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone!

Korg Polysix, Keyboard 1982

Korg Polysix synthesizer advertisement from back inside cover page in Keyboard Magazine April 1982.

There's just no stopping the Korg-love that's been happening around here. Well... in my head anyways. And to help me wrap my head around all the Korg posts lately, I had to go back and read a few past ones.

When I did that, I realized just how much I had been jumping back and forth in the space-time continuum. First with the KPR-77 ad from '84, and then jumping back to '81 with the KR-55 ad. Then back to '84 with that Poly-800 2-pager and poster/brochure, and finally back to '82 again with the Family of Products ad and accompanying poster.

I don't write this all out to try and generate page views, but to get an idea of where the gaps are. Believe me, Korg was pumping out ads, and my jumping around created more than a few gaps. I thought I would start with this Polysix ad since it has so much in common with other recent Korg ads I've posted.

The ad began appearing in Keyboard in April 1982, and continued to run pretty much monthly until January 1983. It follows the same basic design style introduced in January's Family of Products ad that included a dark background, neon glows (this time appearing around the central Polysix photo) and a column of text traveling down the right side of the ad.

It also appears to be the first ad to include that odd hey-lets-draw-some-lines-directly-through-the-main-photo design element. This design trend continued through to 1984, including in that KPR-77 ad. In that post, I commented:

"I'm not sure I like the fact that there is a solid white line running vertically through it [the photo in the ad]. It doesn't really get in the way of any detail in the photo, but whoever the designer was had some big balls to try and get away with it."

And if I thought the designer had big balls for drawing a single line through that photo, then the person who approved the 16 lines going through this Polysix photo is the Ron Jeremy of art directors.

The ad-copy is quite interesting. I'd use the word "strategic" - but I would just be guessing ( like - when am I NOT just guessing :D ) As mentioned, this ad started running in April, two month before Roland's Juno-6 ad appeared. And although the Polysix was quite a bit cheaper than previous polyphonics, it was still quite a bit more expensive than the Juno-6. But it also offered a lot more features than the Juno-6 - and Korg had the foresight to make sure they didn't skimp on the ad-copy to explain all the features that the Polysix had: Six voices, 32 program memories, arpeggiator, and on-board effects. In fact, as I mentioned in a previous post for the Roland Juno-60, there was just so much packed into the Polysix that Roland had to replace the Juno-6 with the Juno-60 just to keep up with Korg.

The Wikipedia page for the Polysix is quite well done with a lot of good reference information, links to other Polysix pages including Vintage Synth Explorer (with a relatively good comments section!) , Synthmuseum.com, and even a link to the manual (PDF). A Wikipedia page doesn't get much better than that.

One of the most interesting sites I found through Google was "Old Crow's Synth Shop: Korg Polysix Upgrade and Repair Overview". It contains some great step-by-step instructions for keeping your Polysix in top notch shape. Nice photos too.

I also found a great YouTube video that really gives viewers a good indication of what the machine is capable of:

What a versatile machine. Yummy.

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