page_title: Music workstation
section_title: Second generation music workstations
hierarchical_section_title: Music workstation / Second generation music workstations
caption_attribution_description: Korg M1 Synthesizer
context_page_description: A music workstation is an electronic musical instrument providing the facilities of:
  a sound module,
  a music sequencer and
  a musical keyboard.
  It enables a musician to compose electronic music using just one piece of equipment.
context_section_description: By 1982, the Fairlight CMI Series II represented another advance as it now offered more RAM-based sample memory than any other system with an improved sample rate, and in the Series III (1985) changed from 8-bit to 16-bit samples. The Synclavier introduced hard-disk based sampling in 1982, storing megabytes of samples for the first time.
  Other products also combined synthesis and sequencing. For instance the Sequential Circuits Six-Trak provided this possibility. The Six-Trak was a polyphonic analog synthesizer, which featured an on-board six-track sequencer.
  Still other products focused on combining sampling and sequencing. For instance the E-mu Emulator models, first introduced in 1981, combined sample memory (read from floppy disks) with a simple sequencer in the initial model, and an 8-track sequencer in later models.
  The biggest change in the industry was the development of the MIDI standard in 1983 for representing musical note sequences. For the first time, sequences could be moved from one digitally controlled music device to another.
  In the late 1980s, on-board MIDI sequencers began to appear more frequently on professional synthesizers. The Korg M1 (released 1988) was the first widely known and popular music workstation, and became the world's best-selling digital keyboard synthesizer of all time. During its six-year production period, more than 250,000 units were sold.
caption: Korg M1 (1988–1990s)
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