Korg Forums

I have a hunch that when I ask this question, one of three things is going to happen to me:--

1. I'll be invited into the 'synthesizer stone masons'; having given the correct secret password

2. I'll wake up tomorrow morning on a remote island strapped to a chair and 'No. 1' interrogating me for how much more I really know.

3. I'll wake up and find that the world is really filled with human incubation modules providing the metabolic energy for a strange computer run underworld.

So here's the question:

Does Yamaha own Korg?

Kevin.

LOL

No ... the owner of Korg bought back the controlling shares from Yamaha some time ago after the financial success of the M1 etc.

Daz.

Just to back up what I am saying ... here are some quotes from an SOS article on the history of Korg :

Sound On Sound wrote:However, in 1987, the relationship took another huge step forward when Yamaha bought a controlling interest in Korg Inc, effectively making it a subsidiary. Apparently, the arrangement was entirely amicable, with the exact details drawn up by Katoh himself. One of the aspects of the agreement was that both companies remained separate entities, free to develop independently, and to compete head-on in the marketplace.

Sound On Sound wrote:Thanks to the products developed using the funds from Yamaha's cash injection in 1987, the previous five years had been very successful, and Tsutomu Katoh now had some cash at his disposal. In fact, he had enough to buy out the majority of Yamaha's share in Korg. So he did.

I believe Yamaha still own some shares in Korg ... just like Microsoft own shares in Apple (!) ... but not enough in each case to claim ownership of the company or to have any control over the company.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Dec02/a ... ersary.asp
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Nov02/a ... rsary2.asp

Daz.

Aha -

Very interesting. I had heard fairly recently that there's a 'link' between R&D in both companies. And then recently I purchased a 2nd hand T3 which blew its power supply, and when I opened it up the keyboard and a few other other parts were Yamaha. Hence the question.

Thanks for the information.

(the question also was prompted by seeing a thread on the oasys forum about Korg's supposed committment to mLan )


cheers,
Kevin.

Does Yamaha own Korg?

Congrats, you have found THE question. Its answer MUST be 42. Not sure if it can be classed as a percentage or not, although as we are on the Infinite Improbability Forum, it could well be.

having given the correct secret password

That's alright, with the KF brotherhood, membership is not very taxing. You just have to defend the Kato-lic faith, pray to St Wakeman every day, promote the Legacy of Pauli VI, and show good Karma.

Oh, and members great each others saying "Pa1x vo biscum", which doesn't translate as "Go in peace" as some have said, but as "PA1X be with you".

Kevin Nolan wrote:Aha -

Very interesting. I had heard fairly recently that there's a 'link' between R&D in both companies. And then recently I purchased a 2nd hand T3 which blew its power supply, and when I opened it up the keyboard and a few other other parts were Yamaha. Hence the question.

Thanks for the information.

(the question also was prompted by seeing a thread on the oasys forum about Korg's supposed committment to mLan )


cheers,
Kevin.

Most of Korgs high end workstation,Trinity,Triton etc as examples uses Yamaha Keybeds,and a some of the Korg internal circuits have Yamaha stamped on them...

an old question, an old post, but interesting to me nevertheless, as i just happened to be speaking to someone about that very subject just yesterday, then today found out some of my information on the subject was WRONG.
what is right is this: yamahahaha is simply waiting for the old man to die, so they can "convince" the offspring to sell a controlling interest's worth of shares to them and get control. probably not a very difficult task, since the old guy is not very well liked and apparently never misses a chance to humiliate said offspring in front of visitors. must be some heavy-doody family crap going on there, eyWHAT (?)...

an old question, an old post, but interesting to me nevertheless!!!

I opened my Korg Trinity Pro V3 and you guys know what:

MANY OF THE INTERNAL PARTS ARE FROM YAMAHA,,,NO KIDDING!!

I personally think Yamaha owns Korg!!

When I installed the EXB-DI into my Oasys it had a part made by Alesis ... maybe Alesis own Korg too ?

Daz.

Kevin Nolan wrote:
3. I'll wake up and find that the world is really filled with human incubation modules providing the metabolic energy for a strange computer run underworld.

So here's the question:

Does Yamaha own Korg?

Kevin.

Oh just both swallow both pills and be done with it.

Most of Korgs high end workstation,Trinity,Triton etc as examples uses Yamaha Keybeds,and a some of the Korg internal circuits have Yamaha stamped on them...

That's because Yamaha make some very nice dedicated ICs, I wouldn't be suprised to find one or more of them in the majority of electronic musical instruments, but this isn't indicative of any collaboration between the companies or R&D departments, simply that Yamaha have spent many years developing audio electronics in general for use by the industry as a whole.

Even the MicroKorg has a Yamaha DAC in it.

Has anyone of you who think that Yamaha own Korg ever heard the word "SUPPLIER"?

Yamaha is a huge company and manufacturer of several parts in many application fields.

Nikos,

While Korg is now a separate entitiy, read Daz'z links above. For a few years, Yamaha did own a controlling interest in Korg, and there were efforts such as the Z3 guitar synth system that clearly borrowed from Yamaha's FM development (for better or worse

Mike