Lifetime-Achievement-Award
Laudatio Katoh
It is a special honour for me to present the MIPA
Lifetime Achievement Award to a man who has proven his strategic vision and entrepeneurial
spirit since the early 60s, when he founded one of todays most innovative companies in
1962 together with an engineering graduate, who at that time regularly worked as an
accordionist in a nightclub owned by our award-winner.
Some of you will have guessed already - I am talking about Mr. Tsutomu Katoh and the company is called KORG today.
Under his leadership, the company grew to its important international position of today, from very small beginnings with just four assistants to the founders at a little facility near the Keio railroad line.
While the first product was a rhythm machine based on electro-mechanical technology, the company made an early transition to solid-state with the introduction of the Doncamatic DE-20 in 1966.
During the following year, Mr. Katoh was approached by the engineer Fumio Mieda, who wanted to design keyboard products. The resulting organ, which was one of the few models of its time to feature programmable voice capability, carried the brand name KORG, which became the companies name.
Quickly recognising the importance of synthesizers, the company was among the first to develop such instruments, starting in 1973 with the KORG 700, also known as the "MiniKorg", a breaking ground with Instruments like the KORG PS-Series synthesizers and the KORG MS20, a synthesizer that, due to its unique sound, now enjoys a spectacular revival in the new dance/techno scene of today. In the 1980s KORG made price/performance breakthroughs with the now legendary Polysix and Poly800 models and the CX3 and BX3 organs.
With the modern workstation concept of the KORG M1 and continuous development to integrate DSPs and disk-recording into workstations like the highly acclaimed Trinity and Triton series, with tools like Electribe, Kaoss-Pad and the complex Oasys system, and with instruments like the Prophecy, the Karma, Z1 and Pa1Xpro, Mr. Katohís company has proven over and over again its visionary power both in discovering musicianís demands as well as in advancing the possibilities with new technology.
We hereby proudly present the MIPA Lifetime Achievement Award to Mr. Katoh.