Korg unveils new concert piano

Korg G1 Air Concert in white: black and brown versions are also available

This week’s Musikmesse trade show in Germany will witness the premiere of the new G1 Air Concert Series digital piano

Musical instrument giant Korg is using its presence at this week’s annual Musikmesse to launch a raft of new music hardware, including the G1 Air Concert Series digital pianos. At the heart of the Korg G1 Air is three world-famous concert pianos from manufacturers in Germany, Austria and Japan.

In order to achieve a sound that is as close as possible to that of an acoustic instrument, the three main pianos in the G1 Air analyse performances dynamics to select between different sets of piano samples. The G1 Air also recreates the ‘damper resonance’ effect that is produced by the sympathetic resonance of the strings in an acoustic piano when the damper pedal is held down, and Key-off simulation recreates the sounds that are produced when the player’s fingers lift off the keys. String Resonance is an essential characteristic of the overall sound of an acoustic piano and so the Resonance technology developed for the KRONOS piano sound engine features in the G1.

The G1 Air includes the RH3 real weighted hammer action 3 and Key touch control is also provided, with a choice of five levels of sensitivity (light, normal, heavy, stable, fixed) to specify how playing dynamics are reflected by the sound produced. There are a variety of keyboard layout options, including a partner mode that divides the piano keyboard into two identical sections on left and right. The G1 Air is equipped with the full complement of three pedals found on a grand piano: damper, soft and sostenuto, with the damper and soft pedals also featuring half-pedaling.

Two large-diameter speakers are positioned below the keyboard in a resonant enclosure, while high-frequency tones are presented by a pair of speakers mounted above the keyboard. The amplifier section provides 20W of output power for each of the four speakers, delivering up to 80W. Bluetooth connectivity makes it possible to link the G1 Air to another device such as a smartphone, to play the piano along with your stored music or other audio. So when you’re not playing, you can use the piano as a Bluetooth speaker system.

In addition to the three concert grand pianos, the G1 Air also offers electric piano sounds, organ, clavi, vibraphone, acoustic guitar, strings and more, providing a total of 32 sounds. Three effects are also available: brilliance, reverb, and chorus. In addition to 10 demonstration songs that showcase the different sounds of the G1 Air, there are 40 built-in piano songs. Two-track digital recording is also a feature provided to analyse or archive performances – record each hand separately or record an additional track onto a previously-recorded song. Playback tempo can be adjusted and up to 99 user songs can be saved in the instrument.

The Korg G1 Air is available in black, white or brown as a suggested retail price of £,1249 and will be available Summer 2017. To find out more, take a look at: korg.com/uk

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