Korg Triton - History

History

The Korg Triton line may be seen as the direct descendants of the previous Korg Trinity line of workstations. They are aesthetically and functionally very similar. The Trinity had similar naming conventions with the Triton Classic, with Pro and Pro X being designated to models featuring 76 and 88 keys respectively.

The original Triton introduced many improvements over the Trinity, like 62-note polyphony, arpeggiator, onboard sampler, faster operating system and more realtime controllers. However, to much surprise of musicians and magazines, it lost the sequencer audio tracks, digital input and output, and the digital filter section was downgraded, thus limiting sample-based synthesis. The original piano samples, which are a crucial element of evaluation on expensive synths and music workstations, were even more criticized; although the integrated sample RAM could compensate this. As time passed, some of these shortcomings were fixed, like the digital connectivity, and better piano samples were shipped with newer models; however, the sample-based synthesis filter section was not improved. Some limited 2-track audio recording was added to later revisions of the Triton Studio, while the Triton Extreme added in-track sampling support, which allows stereo samples to be recorded in context with a MIDI sequence and automatic triggering of the samples at their proper locations in the sequence during playback. While less robust in function and usage, in-track sampling did mitigate the lack of full audio recording in the Triton Extreme.

Ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian in collaboration with KORG sound designer Jack Hotop created Sherinian's signature guitar lead sound on the KORG Trinity in 1996, and expanded it to the Triton in 2000 .