RIP Seiki Kato

Will Kweks · Feb 28, 2025

(from CDM)

We’re all deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Mr. Seiki Kato, who across multiple decades at KORG lead the teams that helped define what the modern company is today. He was 67.

I think of all the people I’ve known at KORG over the years and the emphasis many of them place on team efforts. But then, behind a lot of that support for teams was Mr. Kato’s personality and vision. Following Mr. Kato’s career is really following the trajectory of Korg’s evolution. (Side note: I did not know until I read today’s obituaries that Kato-san’s degree from Tokai University was in marine science!)

After joining the company in 1980, Mr. Kato was Head of Product Planning in the transformative second half of the 80s. Plenty of headlines will list the legendary M1 synth, but remember this was also a big era for Korg drum machines, the DW-6000 and DW-8000 polysynths, and more.

The M1 is what gets remembered, but Mr. Kato’s contributions as President of KORG USA also paved the way for the company to firmly establish itself in the lucrative US market. (Here, I’d have to check a bit with the Korg historians, but my sense is that the current US distribution, sales, and research operations all grew in his tenure.)

Since fall of 2003, Seiki Kato has been President and CEO of Korg Inc., and what a ride those 20 years have been, from volcas to OASYS and lots of stuff in between.

It’s not only KORG that will feel this loss; it will resonate throughout the whole music instruments industry.
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So the man who ran the team who came up with a lot of classics. I fully admit I didn't know of the man before, but something like this make always pause: yeah, he didn't single-handedly come up with the M1, but the synth world could be very different were someone else was in his place.

But anyway, RIP and farewell Mr. Kato.

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