Korg 01/W - Key Differences

Key Differences

The 01/W only had a few of the M1's samples. Particularly missing were the M1 Acoustic Piano, and some of the M1 Electric Piano sounds. These were replaced by more realistic versions (the Acoustic Piano in the 01/W was radically different and sounded more oriented for classical music). The 01/Wpro even went a step further and added another even more realistic Acoustic Piano.

The M1's piano was so bright and metallic sounding that it found its niche in Dance/Electronica and some Latin Music where it could cut through the mix easily. Korg acknowledged this fact by integrating their M1 piano back on later incarnations of the X range, such as in the X5D synth and N264/364 workstations.

The 01/W also beefed up its Electric Piano sounds, having at least 5 times more Electric Pianos, therefore becoming one of the standard keyboards used in Smooth Jazz, which thrives on FM Synthesis based piano sounds.

The 01/W introduced a feature called "Waveshaping". Basically it was a crude variation of Additive Synthesis. One could select a sample from the ROM Wavetable, and process it with one of 59 waveshapes. The feature would add a specific set of harmonics to the sound depending on which type of waveshape one would select, from for instance, names like "Rezzy", "Parabola" & "Comb". The waveshaping feature could make some very interesting sonic textures as it would literally reshape the sound to fit that specific waveshape. However, the feature was discontinued on subsequent models. Original sounds were achievable but required significant experimentation, as using waveshaping on stock samples often only seemed to add distortion.

The 0 series took a step backward from the T series in one area: the 1-megabyte sample RAM, on which users could load their own multisamples, was removed. More current workstations almost invariably have integrated samplers or user sample playback features.