Music workstation

Examples of early music workstations included the New England Digital Synclavier and the Fairlight CMI.

The result was that music workstations evolved rapidly during this period, as new software releases could add more functionality, new voice cards developed, and new input technologies added.

The biggest change in the industry was the development of the MIDI standard in 1983 for representing musical note sequences.

The Ensoniq ESQ-1, released in 1985, combined for the first time a multi-track, polyphonic MIDI sequencer with a dynamically-assigned multi-timbral synthesizer.

The Korg M1 (released 1988) a widely known and popular music workstation, and became the world's best-selling digital keyboard synthesizer of all time.

The groove machines that emerged in the mid-1980s include the Linn 9000 (1984), SCI Studio 440 (1986), Korg DDD-1 (1986), Yamaha RX5 (1986), Simmons SDX (1987)), Kawai R-50e (1987), E-mu SP-12/SP-1200 (1985/1987), and Akai MPC60 (1988).

The MPC breed of sampler freed the composer from the rigidity of step sequencing, which was a limitation of earlier groove machines.

OASYS was an acronym for Open Architecture SYnthesis Studio, underscoring Korg's ability to release new capabilities via ongoing software updates.

While advances in digital technology have greatly reduced the price of a professional-grade music workstation, the 'time cost' of learning to operate a complex instrument like this cannot be underestimated.