Korg M1 vs Roland D-70 vs Yamaha SY77 vs Kurzweil K1000: Synth Review 

Korg M1 has a special place in my heart.

I have both the M1 and SY77. IMO while the M1 had some nice exotic sounds, ultimately the better workstation and build is the SY77.

Cool demo. One thing to avoid like the plague in this era: the crash cymbal, unless you edit the sound, keep it at lower volume, and use it very sparingly ;)

I actually like the SY99 a lot.. the key action is one of the best. I remember Chick Corea was in a lot of the old ads in Keyboard for it...

This is a great and informative video! Well done! It's a fun topic of discussion with us middle-aged 80's synth-dads. :) Keep it up! Subbed!

It maybe overrated, but many presets are iconic and still used to this day!

Great video showcasing my favorite era in synthesis! Now i need to start using my k1200 more those k series racks are pretty much a virtual modular system

Cool video! I like the Mr Clean guitar. Also, the "17 Organ2" patch at 6:45 was made famous by several early 90's house/dance hits such as "Gypsy Woman" by Crystal Waters. 🤘

I worked in a music shop in the 80s and 90s. The M1 was very popular, Roland didn't make the D70 as a competitor to the M1. That was the Roland D20 that had 8 track sequencer and multi-tamberal with built in drum machine and effects. At the time, yamaha had the B200 and then the V50. Roland also had the W30 which was a sampler workstation.

These were the 3 rompler synths to own in 1989 and 1990. The M1 blew me away the first time I played it upon its release in 1988 with pianos, guitars, drums, strings, saves and trumpets that sounded like the real thing at the time! I was after a workstation keyboard and was very perturbed that the M1 didn't have a built in floppy disk drive unlike the Roland D20 and Ensoniq SQ80 at the time. The T series, which the M1REX is the rack version, had the floppy drive as well as double the waveform ROM, the larger display and sequencer memory at a much higher price. I owned a T3EX for over 25 years. I also checked out the SY77 but it's sequencer only allowing 1 song in memory at a time was a deal breaker for me, despite the fact that as a synth it is more flexible than the M1 and T series with its resonant digital filters and AFM/RCM synthesis. The SY99 fixed up the SY77's limitations with superior fx, multiple songs in memory, more waveform ROM etc but at a much higher price. I also looked at the D70 despite it not having a built in sequencer and whilst it sounded great, it's user interface was a nightmare to navigate with its different levels of programming. It's advanced LA synthesis was also more powerful than Korg's AI synthesis with digital resonant filters and up to 4 oscillators per patch but its fx were a big limitation despite them sounding good at the time. Ultimately, the Korg won out with all those fantastic factory programs and combis out of the box and a much more friendly user interface IMHO. Saying that, all 3 of these instruments have their own strengths and weaknesses but ultimately. It was Korg who had the biggest sway at the time with the improved 01W coming out in 1991 and Roland not really getting their next big thing out until the realise of their phenomenal JV1080 in 1994. Yamaha released the EX5 in 1998. It was a very powerful, awesome sounding instrumental let down by a terrible user interface that IMHO simply couldn't compete with the superior touch screen interfaces on the korg Trinity and Triton at the same time. You did a great job with the video and keep up the great work!

D-70 key was stuck? OMG that's unforgivable... Glad the M1 uses Yamaha premium keybed and still plays nice after 30 years.

I'm not sure, but was that straight from the keyboards themselves, with all the drums inherent in them? Drums on SY77 are completely different from SY99. That guy has to clarify his vid.

For me, the most convincing pianos would either be from Roland or Kurzweil. The M1 piano sounds a bit like a toy.

Korg MI was primarily known for its piano patch whereas the DX7 and D50 were known for an array of sounds

Weren’t the M1’s pianos a lesser subset of the SG1D stage piano and/of the P3 piano module?

I was truly excited when the M1 came out, as it was such a different sound to what I had been used to (analogue!) BUT - upon reflection, this seems to be a time when (synth based) music was incredibly bland! I have little interest in later 80's or early 90's digital, and it's only the mid 90's Nord and Korg digital synths that started to sound interesting. For some reason, every synth manufacturer felt we needed trumpets and pick bass sounds!

I believe at the time the M1 was favored on stage because of ease of use live. The other units might have been favored in the studio.

I love pads sounds

D70 was a flawed competitor for M1, SY77 was expensive and had fm synthesis the others didn't have, and K1000 was interesting but had no filters and didn't have K250 countored modeling. D70 and K1000 also didn't have sequencers. M1's secret weapon was combi mode. And I find it interesting the M1 drums are used here.

Hmm. Nowadays, people would be tempted to substitute VSTs or newer instruments. The Roland is easily substituted with good D50 VST emulations and many of the famous patches are carried over into their newest gear. The M1 also has excellent VST and iPad emulations. The Kurzwel doesn't have any VSTs, although the later Kurzweils, up through the newest K2700 share many older samples. And the Yamaha SY77 doesn't have a VST either, but SY/TG77s are fairly cheap. And the Montage/MODX have the same AWM/FM architecture. On the song that you used, I think that the Kurzweil sounded best and the M1 worst, with the Roland and Yamaha in the middle. But most people use the D50 and M1 for specific 80's/90's sounds, so they won't care so much. If you want Digital Native Dance or Pizagogo, than you know what keyboard to use.

The Roland D-70 is most usable nowadays from the mentioned synths, but unfortunately all D-70s break down, with the keys and buttons. The M-1 loses it on polyphony, piano and strings sounds and the lack of effect sends. The Yamaha loses it on its bad samples and that it doesn't have a combi mode where you can play more than one sound. The Kurzweil loses it on its too warm samples and that it doesn't have effects.

And you will still see the M1 on stage to this day Latin bands use it all the time for its piano, sax and organ sounds Most merengue bands use it for its piano combined with the hand clap, kick and whip sounds in combi mode I don't see the other 2 on stage, as good as they are. I had the SY77 and loved it but technology replaced it

And then came the Triton and surpassed everything for 2 decades.

Sy 77 sonido realista

Asking if an instrument is overrated in a comparison with instruments that came out LATER is strange. When the M1 came out, it was a milestone. Also talking about the advantages of an unplayable Roland (because of bad building quality) is even funny. Instruments are like a wine. It is easy to find the bad ones. Everything else depends on individual taste and style.

"... just the main sounds 'people' want in a 'synth'; piano, strings, synth brass, and bass." 1:37 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤨

My Reface DX will blow all of these away. And there isnt a sanple in sight. Pure synthesis forever.

That was interesting, the pianos sounded really dated. The SY did better than expected.

The M-1 is overrated because of its limited polyphony and that all sounds run through the same effects.

Sorry to say but i hated the late 80´s era regarding synthesizers. So boring. And no model has stood the test of time.

I have a D70 and the M1 is far superior. The D70 is way better than people thinks, they problem is the keybed. Just a month ago one key got stuck and this is 2024 already. I have been trough four D70s already and the keybed is a nightmare, no only the glue but the cables are so delicate when opening. It feels that someone in upper management at Roland hated this keyboard.