Korg iM1 Mobile Music Workstation On The iOS Update

The latest episode of Mitch Gallagher’s iOS Update takes a look at the Korg iM1 software synthesizer for iPad.

iM1 is designed to be a complete reproduction and evolution of the classic Korg M1 synth workstation. Sounds that you create in iM1 can be used with the Korg Legacy Collection M1 and with original hardware Korg M1 workstations.

Korg iM1 is available for US $29.99 in the App Store.

If you’ve used Korg iM1, leave a comment and share your thoughts on it!

20 thoughts on “Korg iM1 Mobile Music Workstation On The iOS Update

  1. several years watching ipad videos on youtube and i have never seen a midi-piano controller without that ipad camera connection kit XDDD . nobody with an Irig pro with lighting connections or IRig keys with 30 pin connector directly to the ipad ??

    1. I have an iRig Keys (the small one), which works great without the camera kit obviously:) The cam kit comes in handy in a lot of cases though (it allows me to connect my crappy Behringer mixer to the iPad via USB and have two way audio going on etc)

    2. I have a iconnect midi+4.
      Powers two iPads at the same time, sends digital audio to and from my DAW, and let’s me connect 4 midi controllers through DIN and also 1 through usb. The nice thing is the USB port is a host port so I could connect a usb hub and plug in even more usb controllers lol but I don’t need to.

      So there is options out there 😉 the CCK used to annoy me because I would have to stop and disconnect it to charge the iPads

      1. I use the Alesis IODock II which lets you hook up any standard MIDI keyboard and/or USB MIDI keyboard to the iPad, allows lo-z mic and guitar in, pro-level audio in/out, has headphone jack and footswitch, and it charges the iPad when docked. Very low latency and a nice clean design. It really turns the iPad into an audio/MIDI workstation.

  2. This makes me feel a little wistful, because the 01W was the real synth to beat in this line. Everything “M1” came together with enough voices and effects to do complete songs in-the-box with few limitations. It evolved from the M and T lines, yet it somehow got ‘lost’ when the Trinity and touchscreens appeared. I mention it because with the added voices, a lot of 3rd-party programmers seemed to dive into it more deeply. The general creativity was 2 cuts above. That’s where “Combis” became a ‘thing,’ for me. I still use a fair number of those patches, because despite being sampled at a lower rate, the synth compensated with Bigness. It blends quite well with newer, 44.1KhZ sounds. It was fun to discover that a touch of Korg strings under a Mellotron ensemble added a lot of clarity, for example.
    Don’t diss the iPad Korgs too much. I’ve heard the M1 & Wavestation sets up close and you’re getting far more than your money’s worth. They sound a bit cleaner thanks to the digital conversions, but the muscle is still there. I like the Big sounds, but over time, its the smaller uses in layers with other things that satisfies me the most. If the day comes that I decide to go for an iPad, this will be one of the reasons.

    1. The 01/w was my first, and for ages, my only synth. I still have it, but not out due to lack of room, and I still love the sounds it made. The pads are fantastic and when I listen to music I made then I’m always impressed by the range of sounds it made.
      A few years ago I took mine to Korg (their UK base is only 5 minutes from me) for a clean and a refurb and the guy phoned back and said ‘this may take longer and cost more, the inside seems to be a bit sticky and full of crisps’.
      Ahh, the joy of pub Ibiza nights in the late 90s!

    2. I’ve never had this board, but there’s a free ‘DynoPiano’ sample for the Motif XS/XF on motifator.com. It is truly lovely 🙂

    3. When you add in all the other synth and sequencing apps that are made for iPad, it’s really a dream platform for any old-school synthesist. You can do so much and the cost per app is very reasonable. You can buy an iPad and load it up with apps by multiple manufacturers for much less than what a single original Korg M1 cost.

    1. Tedious? The iOS version is way more accessible than the original. I owned the original and have the iOS version. I just wish the iOS version had the sequencer. I don’t understand why Korgs other iOS synths have them and iM1 doesn’t.

      1. For me that whole period of synths from the early nineties onwards was a dreadful time, analogue was out of favour and these awful synths using samples and wavetables etc were just a massive cheese fest….and then the VA’s appeared……SHUDDER…

      2. The iM1 is designed to work with Korg’s Gadget, which is a very powerful sequencer. The iM1 also supports audiobus and Inter-App Audio so you can use it with Garage Band,

  3. Ghee it takes an Ipad to have a faithful recreation of a 25 year old synth that ran on chips a fraction of the speed available today. The M1 has been outranked exponentially numerous times by now. The more recen tech would also run on an Ipad although people are still impressed and willing to pay for M1 so I guess it’s supply and demand at work right here.

  4. Can anyone tell me if I can play the Korg im1 sounds directly into a PCs sequencer . Why? I just want to combine the im1 sounds with some of my favourite sounds on my PC and my external sound module played through my PC sequencer.
    Is that possible ?

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