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Huh? When did Korg buy(?) Waldorf?


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I learned about this purchase(?) accidentally, as Geoff Grace mentioned at vi-control that Korg Gadget is on sale at the moment, so I went to Korg's main website as the sale page doesn't offer product information and I was getting confused by the different configurations and upgrade options.

 

https://www.korgusa.com

 

Scroll down to the icons that show "our brands", and there are several that I did not know are now part of the Korg family, including popular-in-the-UK budget guitar brand Tanglewood and Spector Basses (plus some boutique drum companies), but most critically Waldorf!

 

Possibly this is just a distributorship arrangement, as I think that is also the case with Blackstar (as it was previously with Marshall before Korg kicked them to the curb due to falling quality control -- they were quite vocal about this at the time, and replaced them with Blackstar); whereas I think VOX is outright owned by Korg (and has been for some time)?

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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Heh, it"s possible. Waldorf is tiny, so it"s acquisition wouldn"t make big news waves. Although you"d think the MI mags would have caught it. Maybe Korg does distribution for them? I dunno.

 

 

Google says that in 2017 Korg picked up distro and advertising for Waldorf.

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Korg USA is a distributor. Many brands ' repped' in the US. Its what they do.

 

Waldorf is a German synthesizer company

Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ?

My Soundcloud with many originals:

[70's Songwriter]

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Yeah, that's what I thought. I just figured that Summer NAMM just happened and that something might have been announced there.

 

I guess it's kind of cool that Korg treats brands that they distribute, on equal footing with ones that they own.

 

I'll have to check on the nature of the Spector Bass Guitars relationship now as well, as possibly that was announced at NAMM, being that the summer show is more about guitars.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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Yeah, that's what I thought. I just figured that Summer NAMM just happened and that something might have been announced there.

 

I guess it's kind of cool that Korg treats brands that they distribute, on equal footing with ones that they own.

 

I'll have to check on the nature of the Spector Bass Guitars relationship now as well, as possibly that was announced at NAMM, being that the summer show is more about guitars.

 

Korg USA, the distributor , and Korg of Japan have been joined at the hip for decades.

 

To clarify Korg's Inc[Japan] [ as a manufacturer] structure, here's

a long list of 'country distributors'. Korg USA is 1 of them:

 

https://www.korg.com/us/corporate/distributors/

 

I believe Korg USA does most of the Internet sites for Korg of Japan [ the manufacturer]. This tends to muddy

who is who and what the structure is.

 

Above is the best of my understanding. So lets keep going:

 

Yamaha Corporation owns 51% of Korg Inc. Since 1987.

Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ?

My Soundcloud with many originals:

[70's Songwriter]

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Geoff Grace mentioned at vi-control that Korg Gadget is on sale at the moment

Here's a link to the Korg sale page:

 

KORG music apps & software: Special Summer Sale - all products are up to 50% OFF!

 

...and to the VI Control thread:

 

Roland Cloud subscriptions on summer markdown sale

 

Best,

 

Geoff

My Blue Someday appears on Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon

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To add to the confusion all of Korg's arrangers are handled by Korg Italy. The Korg arranger forums talk about that a lot with questions like since Korg's flagship performance board is the Kronos while the flagship arranger is the Pa4x why can't the arranger have some of the Kronos tech or sounds? They're basically at the same price point. The answer seems to be Korg Japan has little to do with Korg Italy. What gets me is a lot of pro's on the arranger forum have both and use them on gigs. That's a lot of expensive firepower for a one man band thing.

 

Bob

Hammond SK1, Mojo 61, Kurzweil PC3, Korg Pa3x, Roland FA06, Band in a Box, Real Band, Studio One, too much stuff...
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To add to the confusion all of Korg's arrangers are handled by Korg Italy. The Korg arranger forums talk about that a lot with questions like since Korg's flagship performance board is the Kronos while the flagship arranger is the Pa4x why can't the arranger have some of the Kronos tech or sounds? They're basically at the same price point. The answer seems to be Korg Japan has little to do with Korg Italy. What gets me is a lot of pro's on the arranger forum have both and use them on gigs. That's a lot of expensive firepower for a one man band thing.

 

Bob

 

1 of my Korg forum friends mentioned that Korg Japan is getting involved in the Korg Italy. This is inside baseball stuff, not widely known or discussed.

 

The top of the line arranger is a newer board and got a solid OS update recently. This might be where Korg Japan applied their resources.

 

In a perfect world, we would see a hybrid, best features of Kronos and the Arranger combined. But

don't hold your breath. I think Korg has its other new product priorities.

Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ?

My Soundcloud with many originals:

[70's Songwriter]

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