Korg "How to get fat sound from a thin wallet" family of synthesizers ad, International Musician 1978

Korg "How to get fat sound from a thin wallet" family of synthesizers two-page advertisement including the 800 DV (Maxi Korg), Mini Korg 700s, 770,  Poly 1000 (Polyphonic Ensemble P) and Poly 2000 (Polyphonic Ensemble S) from page 12 and 13 in International Musician and Recording World November 1978.

Crazy late in the day. I know. That's just the kind of days it has been around here.

I'd like to take full responsibility for this ad - as if I was blogging about this long string of Rose-Morris ads after each first appeared back in 1978, and the company was actually listening to what I had to say. :)

First, the bad. For some reason, Rose-Morris has decided to ignore the new crop of Korg gear they had just launched in an ad three months earlier - including the MS-20, MS-10 and VC-10. How could they go back to the older products? MS was the future! In the US, once those MS/VC ads started running, they didn't stop for over a year.

Gah! Maybe they put out that ad before instruments could make it into the UK? Or maybe they had to get rid of old stock...  :)

But because this ad is just so great, I can forgive Rose-Morris for circling back to Korg's older gear.

For starters - the ad-title. Unlike some of the older ads, this one makes sense. It's also a great play on words. Witty and all that stuff.

The layout is also great. Only five products have been wisely chosen to promote - and each includes a nice large photo. There is also a nice large sub-title for each, and a small descriptive paragraph with just enough white space to make it easy for the eye to separate the content of each instrument from the others. But the best thing is that Rose-Morris/Korg has decided to finally use bullets to highlight the main features of each instrument. What a great way to get a lot of good reference info, including recommended retail prices (!), into a small amount of space. Kapow!

Plus - look at that font size. Finally, I can actually read this without putting on my reading glasses (did I just give away my age-group?). The font choice is a little unorthodox, but it is still readable, so I'm not gonna complain. Even the logos, although smaller that in previous ads, are easily seen in the bottom right hand corner. There is no doubt who's ad this is. Great stuff.

Looking over old ads, I can't believe I haven't actually looked into who Rose-Morris is anyways.

I found a bit more history about Rose-Morris in a Korg "40 years of gear" article in the November 2002 issue of Sound on Sound magazine. Near the bottom of the Web page is a call-out box called "The Establishment of of Korg UK" where it explains that Rose-Morris was a British company established in the 1920s, and by the 80s were very successful with a number of stores, distributing for Korg and many others. They also had a few of their own product lines including Vox.  But in the late 80s, things weren't looking so good for Rose-Morris, and in 1992 Korg acquired  a major stake in the company and changed the name to Korg UK.

Interestingly, I found a Rose Morris Web site that sells music instruments and they do write in their About Us section that they have a 90-year history. So, it could be that the name was kept alive or resurrected at some point. If anyone has more info on this, please comment!

Another great SOS article I ran into online was written by Gordon Reid in April 1998 called "Korg Minikorg Family (Retro)". It includes some great history and reference information on a number of the instruments that are highlighted in the past few Korg ad blog posts, including the 770, 700s, 800DV, M500 Preset, Poly 1000 (Polyphonic Ensemble P) and Poly 2000 (Polyphonic Ensemble S).

The best thing about that article is how it explains Korg's "unorthodox terminology" used on many of these synthesizers. For example, the "Traveler" was the name used for Korg's combined dual 12db/oct low-pass and high-pass filter. "VCF" just wasn't good enough.  :)

Thank-you Sound On Sound for keeping this history alive on your Web site!

Korg "Synths for all the music you'll ever need" family of synths ad, International Musician 1978

Korg "Synths for all the music you'll ever need" one-page family advertisement including PS3300 synthesizer, PS3100 synthesizer, 800 DV synthesizer, 700s synthesizer, Preset synthesizer, 770 synthesizer, Synthebass, Polyphonic Ensemble 1000, Polyphonic Ensemble "Orchestra" 2000, and Micro-Preset M-500 synthesizer  from page 13 in International Musician and Recording World (UK) July 1978.

This ad is proof that great things are often the result of small progressive increments. The best from Korg was still to come when it came to their ads in IMRW, but this one-pager was definitely an improvement over the earlier March 1978 2-page "Seven-hundred and fifty words..." ad.

One of the first thing you will notice about the ad is a thick grey line along the right edge of the page. It does look odd out of context. The thing is, this ad was part of a four page "Rose-Morris Advertising Feature" section in the magazine that also included ad pages on other products the company distributed - including Marshall amps (page 11), DiMarzio pick-ups (page 12) and Ludwig drums (page 14). That line is simply a design element that helped readers differentiate this series of ads from the rest of the mag.

The only other ways readers would know these ads were related would be the small text at the bottom of each ad that reads "A Rose-Morris Advertising Feature", plus a small, virtually unnoticeable form at the bottom of page 14 that readers could fill out to receive more info. Check a separate box for Marshall, DiMarzio, Ludwig and Korg. And don't forget your address!

But, like I said, it wasn't all bad and was an improvement over the last Korg ad. Rose-Morris did throw away the useless small talk that made up most of that previous Korg ad. They granted my wish and kept the ad-copy strictly instrument-related. In fact, I should be careful about what I wish for, because not only did they cram info about all the gear from the previous ad, but finally threw in a few more Korg instruments as well - the PS3300, PS3100 and Micro-Preset M-500. The US Korg ads had been pushing these synths  since March.

The cramped feeling is only magnified by some not-so-succinct ad-copy, an extra small font, and that grey side bar.  I can't decide if the lack of both the Korg and Rose-Morris logos were an oversight, or if there was just no room.

And, not to get really picky - but what is with that ad-title? "Synths for all the music you'll ever need". Does that even make sense?  

But, I'm getting all negative on Rose-Morris' ass. I'm actually really happy to see the appearances of the Korg PLS-series in this ad. Unlike in the US where PS ads appeared almost monthly between October 1977 and July 1978, PLS-series synth sightings seem quite rare in UK ads up to this point. And even better - unlike in the US where both PLS ads fail to mention the actual synth model names - both the PS3100 and 3300 get a nod in this ad.

Likewise - finding the Korg Micro-Preset in the ad was another big plus. I think the poor thing often got the short end of the stick. For example, check out this extremely small Spec Sheet promo in the May 1978 issue of Contemporary Keyboard:

"Korg Micro Synthesizer. This preset synthesizer has a 32-note keyboard. There are 30 voice selections, plus a filter, two-position portamento controls, two types of delayed vibrato, repeat, random repeat, modulation controls, and a pitch control. The price is $449.00. Unicord, 75 Frost St., Westbury, NY 11590."

Yup. That's it. Just a couple of sentences.

I'm guilty of ignoring that little sucker too. Most of my interesting in these Korg ads has been about the PLS-series synthesizers as well. While doing some online research, it didn't take me long to come across a great February 2001 Sound On Sound article by Simon Lowther on the PS3100. It contains some good information on all three of the PLS-series synthesizers, including information on the voice architecture, resonators, modulation generators and patch panel. A great read!

The wikipage for the PS3300 also seems very good with sections on it's history, resonators, tuning, audio mixer and modulation, and keyboard and foot controllers. Use your Google chops to find more info.

I promise I'll be out of my negative mood soon. It could possibly have to do with my inability to grow any sort of moustache for Movember.   It kinda hurts.   :)

This ad was a step in the right direction. And the good news? The best from Korg was yet to come!

Korg "Seven hundred and fifty words..." family ad, International Musician 1978

Korg "Seven hundred and fifty words..." 2-page family advertisement including 800 DV synthesizer, 700s synthesizer, Preset synthesizer, 770 synthesizer, Synthebass, Polyphonic Ensemble 1000 and Polyphonic Ensemble "Orchestra" 2000 from page 20 and 21 in International Musician and Recording World (UK) March 1978.

From the moment I read the title, this ad made me a little bit annoyed. Mostly because I didn't know what "flannelled" meant.

Let me save you the trouble: "Flattery or meaningless talk intended to hide one's ignorance or true intentions."

Okay. I keep reading....

Still annoyed. Mostly because once I found out what "flannelled" meant, I then found it ironic that most of the "750 words of fact" was doing exactly that - trying to hide Korg... er... Rose-Morris' true intentions - to sell instruments. But that's not so bad. That's what ads are supposed to do - sell instruments. I'm angry they were doing it so badly.

I get it. They were trying to play "educator" with readers. Make 'em feel like they are the experts by laying down some basic facts about sound, how it's produced and how heat affects tuning. Get all altruistic on 'em. But unfortunately it's written... it's written... well... it's written like *I* wrote it. Lot's of sentences that start with "And", "But", and "Because". More of a conversational or advertorial-like tone. Bad news is - I'm not so good a writer. I write at about a grade-two level with an even more limited vocabulary.  That's why I'm not a featured writer for Wired (Two words: dream job).

And what do you get when you try and cover up a bad sell job by hiding it behind 750 words of "facts" using grade-two level conversational writing - all written in a font size more at home in the Mr. Men/Little Miss book series? In my opinion - epic fail. It can almost be insulting to the reader. At the least it is confusing, and the end result is a two-page spread that actually provides very little value.

We, my friends, are the ones getting "flannelled". 

In fact, it's really only that second page that provides any real value. Could you imagine what an effective ad this would have been if the title had been "Two hundred and fifty words of fact about Korg synthesizers for the keyboard player who's tired of being flannelled". And then just included nice sized photos along with the basic facts about each of the seven instruments in a half-decent sized font.

Instead, the actual information on the instruments is squished into the far right of that second page in a font only an ant could read, with only a photo of a Polyphonic Ensemble and a Mini-Korg 700s.

Finally - those logos in the bottom right corner. I figured out the Rose-Morris connection with Korg - and will report on that in my next blog post, but what is with that Hohner logo sitting there too? I'm only starting to piece together that connection... but it is just too dang warm out. Unusually warm. And it won't stay that way for long.

So, logo connections will have to wait. Time to throw a snowball before it all melts.  :)

End note: Please note I'm not annoyed at the word "flannelled" - just that I didn't know what it meant. In fact, I think that word needs to make a come back with today's kids. Maybe get it positioned with the Occupy movement or something. Or slip it in with that Internet cat meme.