The Korg 01/W is a workstation synthesizer, released in 1991, and was intended to replace the M1 and T series. The workstation was based on Ai2, an improved version of the Ai (Advanced Integrated) Synthesis technology found in the M1. The success of the Ai2 architecture ensured it was used in the majority of subsequent Korg synths of the 1990s.
The 01/W only had a few of the M1’s samples. Particularly missing were the M1 Acoustic Piano, and some of the M1 Electric Piano sounds. These were replaced by more realistic versions (the Acoustic Piano in the 01/W was radically different and sounded more oriented for classical music).
The M1’s piano was so bright and metallic sounding that it found its niche in Dance/Electronica and some Latin Music where it could cut through the mix easily. Korg acknowledged this fact by integrating their M1 piano back on later incarnations of the X range, such as in the X5D synth and N264 / N364 workstations.
The 01/W also added more electric piano sounds, having at least 5 times as many, therefore becoming one of the standard keyboards used in smooth jazz, which often uses electric piano sounds.
The 01/W introduced a feature called “Waveshaping.” This was a feature where each sample value was run through a non-linear function, and thereby producing new harmonics. This is similar to the way a tube amp distorts sound. It was possible to select from 59 different waveshapes having names like “Rezzy,” “Parabola” & “Comb,” to transform/distort the sound. Waveshaping would add different harmonics to the sound depending on the selected waveshape, but the added harmonics depended also heavily on what kind of sample that was fed into the waveshaping function. The waveshaping feature could make some very interesting sonic textures as it would literally reshape the sound to fit that specific waveshape. However, the feature was discontinued on subsequent models. Original sounds were achievable but required significant experimentation, as using waveshaping on stock samples often only seemed to add distortion.
The 0 series took a step backward from the T series in one area: the 1-megabyte sample Ram, on which users could load their own multisamples, was removed. More current workstations almost invariably have integrated samplers or user sample playback features.