Korg rk-100



The peak of keytar popularity was during a decade that some would consider to be a fashion disaster: the ’80s. It was during this time that almost every contemporary leader in the synthesizer industry made its fair share of keytars. Korg is no exception as it dabbled on the largely ’80s keyboard phenomenon and came up with the Korg RK-100.

Korg RK-100 Specs:
The Korg RK-100 (RK stands for “remote keyboard) was produced in 1984 and is a 41-note MIDI keyboard controller. It is capable of switching between 64 programs with a program up and down switches or via program select buttons. Players can use the octave up and down switches of the RK-100 to choose between high, middle and low octaves that provides a 64-note range. The neck has pitch bend, modulation and volume wheels. It has a MIDI output port and a DC-in jack for the included power supply. It is equipped with a MIDI output port and can be powered via the included 9V adaptor or six UM3 or AA batteries.

The Korg RK-100 has a reasonable weight of 4.4 kg with batteries and can be fitted with any guitar strap using its two strap buttons. A recess along its right side enables a user to rest it on the right thigh in a similar fashion that a guitar player would play an acoustic or electric guitar sitting down. In keeping with its polygonal style, the recess is unfortunately V-shaped and not a soft curve. Users therefore would prefer playing the RK-100 strapped rather than resting on a thigh,

As a performance instrument, the Korg RK-100 is not without its limitations.
The keyboard is not velocity sensitive, and so pianistic touch techniques will not work. It also does not have aftertouch, limiting its expressive capabilities further. Any sort of dynamics control would have to be done through the volume wheel. The octave up and down switches is limited so users would just have to give up on being able to achieve an 88-key piano range with the RK-100. Despite capabilities for patch or program selection, the manual does not indicate any form of MIDI channel selection.

Unless a VST host allows for reassignment of MIDI commands, one can forget about switching from one VST or AU synth to the next with the RK-100. One can say that the RK-100 is rather limited and a bit inflexible. Nevertheless, it is still useful as a MIDI controller that would be useful for performing things such as synth solos, something that most keyboardists use keytars for in the first place. Any creative keyboard player will be able to find a workaround to turn the Korg RK-100 into a very useful tool.g