Nippon Gakki Co., Ltd was born in
1897, 10 years after its founder
Torakusu Yamaha had built his first
organ. The company's products consisted of organs and
upright /
grand pianos until
1954, when manufacturing of
motorcycles began. The
lineup started expanding with
bathtubs,
wind instruments,
sport equipment,
furniture and just about everything else imaginable.
Audio products weren't left behind though, with a stylized
tuning fork logo even on the motorcycles.* After producing electronic organs, PA equipment and
home stereo systems, Yamaha released their first mass-produced
keyboard synthesizers, the
SY-1 and
SY-2, in
1976. In the late
70s the SYs were followed by the CS line, and in the
80s the company had huge success with the DX series, especially the
DX7. During the last decade they - like most other big synth manufacturers - have concentrated on
virtual acoustic modeling and
analog synthesis emulation.
The company bought most of the
Korg stock just before they hit gold with the
M1 workstation.
Yamaha Instruments and Audio Equipment Featured in Everything2:
Last updated: May 28, 2002
Have I missed something? /msg me!
*
Thanks to iain for pointing out this detail.