Review and Opinion of the Korg G1 Air and Where to Buy it

Korg is a Japanese company that makes electronic musical instruments and guitar tuners. Today we will analyze one of their digital wall pianos, the Korg G1 Air, with a price of €1239/£1,145. It sets a new standard in the world of digital pianos. We will look at all the functions and features of this great instrument:

• 88 weighted keys (Weight that the keys of an acoustic piano have and that digital pianos try to imitate to equal the touch of the piano. The keys in the high register are heavier and in the high register less. This is different from the sensitivity on the keyboard which serves to regulate the volume of the note. But a weighted keyboard always has sensitivity in the keys) with RH3 technology
• 29 sounds (Various piano and other instrument sounds) for piano and 3 sounds (Various piano and other instrument sounds) for bass
• 120 notes of polyphony (Number of notes that can be played at once. This includes accompaniments that also consume notes. So if you play on top of an accompaniment more notes will be accumulated)
• 50 demo songs
• Damper resonance to improve the feel of the real piano
• Simulates string resonance
• Simulation of double exhaust
• Transposition function (Transposition allows you to move the note spectrum of a keyboard. This is to be able to play with transposing instruments. It is not an easy concept but it is made to facilitate the writing of an orchestration for instruments with very different bass and treble registers)
• Brilliance Effect
• Reverb effect (Reverb effect)
• Chorus effect
• Metronome (Basic study element to study and practice the tempo of a piece of music)
• Dual mode (Dual mode allows you to combine two sounds to create a more complete one. Typical is the combination of piano + string sound)
• Split function (dividing the keyboard into two different instruments)
• 2 track recorder with a maximum of 45,000 notes)
• Integrated triple footswitch
• Line out, USB, Bluetooth (A2DP Sink)
• Midi input and output (MIDI allows you to do such wonderful things as connect your keyboard to your computer, record a sound track and with certain programs pass with a click what you have played to musical notes on a score. MIDI tracks store the information of the musical notes)
• 2 headphone outputs for Duo Mode (Duo Mode allows the keyboard to be divided into two pianos so that four hands can be played or the teacher and student can play on the same keyboard)
• Keyboard cover with soft drop
• 2 super powerful 20 W speakers
• A weight of 41 kg and dimensions of 1346 x 384 x 985mm (width x depth x height)

One of the most relevant characteristics of this digital piano are its samples of the three pianos we have mentioned: German (rich and powerful sound), Austrian (warm and colourful sound) and Japanese (lively and dynamic sound). What have been recorded and sampled in such a detailed way, that they can differentiate between a delicate Pianíssimo versus a powerful one. We also have a string resonance simulation and a damping resonance and a Key-Off function to simulate when the player takes his finger off a piano key. We will talk about your keyboard later after the first comparison.

Now that we have listed and described the features of this keyboard there is no better way than to take a look at the following videos where they tell us more about the Korg G1 Air and you can hear how its different sounds sound in the second video especially as it goes through all of them.

Related post you can be interested in

• Ranking with the best digital pianos
• My selection of cheap musical keyboards.
• Basic concepts you need to know about digital pianos.
• The best resources to learn to play the piano by yourself.

Now let’s compare the Korg G1 Air with its more common alternatives. Also at the end of the post you will find a section with the best shopping possibilities for this digital piano. But you can go directly to that part of the post by pressing the following button.

Korg G1 Air vs Korg C1 Air

First we will make a comparison between two Korg digital pianos: the Korg G1 Air which is priced at €1239/£1,145 and the Korg C1 Air which is priced at €835/$1500/£769. With a difference of £400, we will see what their differences and similarities are by putting the faces with their features:

• Both digital pianos, have 88 weighted keys with RH3 technology, which imitates the hammer action of a real acoustic piano (we’ll have a video later to analyze this more specifically). Weighted keyboard, is the weight that the keys of real acoustic pianos have, in the bass register heavier while in the treble register lighter.
• Both keyboards have sensitivity. Sensitivity refers to the option of making dynamics in interpretations, i.e. when a key is pressed with force it sounds louder and when a key is pressed with less force it sounds lower.
• The G1 Air has 29 instrument sounds and three piano sounds, and the Korg C1 Air has 30 sounds, including two piano sounds. Both offer 120 notes of polyphony, which is the most notes that can be played simultaneously.
• Both have effects like Reverb, Chorus and Brillance. Also triple pedalboard, they accept half pedalboard. They have a two-track recorder, the G1 Air with a maximum of 45,000 notes and the C1 Air with a maximum of 14,000 notes.
• Both also have line output and Bluetooth. In addition to MIDI input and output. So they can be connected to a computer to be used as a MIDI controller in a music composition or production program.
• The G1 has 4 x 20W speakers with a total of 80W and the C1 has 2 x 25W speakers with a total of 50W.
• In terms of weight and dimensions, the G1 Air has a weight of 41 kg and dimensions of 1346 × 384 × 985 mm (width X depth X height), the C1 Air has a weight of 35 kg and dimensions of 1346 × 343 × 770 mm (width X depth X height).

As can be seen in the face-to-face they are very similar digital pianos with certain differences in the capacity of their functions, although in general they are the same. However in the G1 we find one more piano sound, more power and two more speakers, AND a recorder with more MIDI storage. To differentiate their sounds below you have a video comparison between both equipments.

We will put the characteristics of each of these pianos in 2 different columns to make it easier to see the differences:

Let’s see a video of how Korg’s RH3 technology works, which has a graduated hammer system with different colors, weights and thicknesses. In the low range, we find red hammers that are large and heavy, simulating the longest and thickest strings in a real acoustic piano. In this way they become lighter and lighter in the mid-bass range (blue color), mid-treble range (green color), and we reach the treble range where we find yellow hammers that are small and light simulating the shorter and thinner strings in a real acoustic piano.

Video comparison of the C1 Air and G1 Air, where the sound comparison between the devices is shown. The C1 Air has two samples of real acoustic pianos and a totally Japanese manufacture, that is to say of a higher quality. The G1 Air offers three piano samples, giving it a significant advantage over the C1. If you want more sound and space for MIDI recording

And now a video of the Korg C1 Air

If you want to know more about this model don’t miss our review of the Korg C1 Air.

Korg G1 Air BR vs Kawai CN-29

Now we will have the comparison between the following keyboards: the Korg G1 Air with a price of €1239/£1,145 and the Kawai CN29 with a price of €1.259/£1,177, having such a small difference it will be very worthwhile to review the functions and features that both equipments offer us, let’s see their face to face:

• Both keyboards offer 88 weighted keys with their respective technologies, the Korg with its RH3 and the Kawai with its Hammer III. Let’s remember that weighted keyboard means the weight that the keys of a digital piano have to simulate those of a real acoustic piano. In the heavier bass register and in the lighter treble register.
• Come on keyboards offer sensitivity, a function that allows to make dynamics in the interpretations, that is to say that when a stronger key is played it sounds higher and when another one is played with less force it sounds lower.
• The Korg offers 29 piano sounds and three bass sounds along with 120 notes of polyphony, while the Kawai offers 19 sounds and 192 notes of polyphony. Polyphony is the most notes that can be played at the same time.
• Both have effects like Reverb, Chorus and Brillance. In addition triple pedalboard, accept half pedal. They have an engraving, the 3 track Korg with a maximum of 45,000 notes and the 3 track Kawai with a maximum of 10,000 notes.
• Both also have line output and Bluetooth. In addition to MIDI input and output. So they can be connected to a computer to be used as a MIDI controller in a music composition or production program. The Kawai also has the option of Bluetooth MIDI to connect to a computer without cables, an excellent option for a recording studio.
• Both have 20W speakers.
• In terms of weight and dimensions, the Korg weighs 41 kg and has dimensions of 1346 × 384 × 985 mm (WxDxH), the Kawai weighs 43 kg and has dimensions of 1360 × 405 × 860 mm (WxDxH).

They are two very similar digital pianos, having very similar characteristics with slight differences such as the amount of sounds they offer and their different polyphonies as well as the amount of MIDI notes they can record. The best thing would be to be guided by their sound quality and thanks to the videos you can do it, try to use a good pair of headphones or monitors to have a better definition in the listening.

We will put the characteristics of each of these pianos in 2 different columns to make it easier to see the differences:

First a video of the different technologies offered in the Kawai keyboards, which among them is the RH3, which includes the following features: synthetic ivory touch, counterweights, Key-Off simulation, 3 sensors and hammer system.

And now a video review and demo of the Kawai CN-29:

If you want to know more about this model don’t miss our review of the Kawai CN-29.

Korg G1 Air vs Roland FP-60

We will finish with the comparison of the digital pianos, the Korg G1 Air at a price of €1239/£1,145 and the Roland FP 60 at a price of €1.329/$1500/£1,199. With a difference of almost £100 we will make a comparison of both with their respective functions and features:

• Both digital pianos have 88 weighted keys, the Korg with its RH3 technology and the Roland with its PHA-4 technology, which we will analyze later in a video that we will post. Both have sensitivity in their keys.
• The Korg G1 Air has 29 piano sounds and three bass sounds and offers 120 notes of polyphony. The Roland FP 60 has about 351 sounds, including acoustic pianos, electric pianos, strings, organs, Pats and other areas with a polyphony of 288 notes. Remember that polyphony is the highest number of notes that can be played simultaneously on a computer. In this section we note that the Roland has a greater advantage, thanks to the greater number of sounds as well as greater polyphony between its notes.
• The Korg has effects like: Reverb, Chorus and Brillance, while the Roland has general effects like: Ambience and Master EQ and specific effects for organ tones like the rotary speaker (Leslie), effects for electronic piano tones like modulation speed.
• In addition triple pedalboard, accept half pedal. They have a recorder, the Korg 3 track with a maximum of 45,000 notes and the Roland does not specify a maximum number of tracks, however in total they should not exceed 70,000 notes. The Roland can also record audio files in WAV format, a function that requires a USB flash memory.
• The Korg offers four powerful 20W speakers, for a total of 80W, and the Roland offers two 13W speakers, for a total of 26W. Where the Korg has a much higher power.
• In weight and measurements, the Korg weighs 41 kg and has dimensions of 1346 × 384 × 985 mm (width X depth X height) and the Roland weighs 19 kg, making it a very portable digital piano with dimensions of 1291 × 344 × 125 mm (width X depth X height).

Explanatory video about the PH4 technology of Roland pianos, where we can see the operation of the hammer system that has the Roland brand, which has a simulation of the leakage of real acoustic pianos when the hammer falls after hitting a note. That also offering its simulation of synthetic ivory touch, creates a great feeling as if it were a real acoustic piano.

And now a video of the Roland FP60:

If you want to know more about this model don’t miss our review of the Roland FP60.

Where to buy Korg G1 Air

Thomann

• Free Shipping.
• Full warranty. If you have any problems, they take care of everything.
• 100% reliable payment.
• Leader in trouble-free shipping.
• Usually Best price.
• Best Reputation: They are the leading online store in Europe and have the best catalogue and information.

Amazon

• Free Shipping and possibility of shipping in one day with Amazon Premium.
• Full Guarantee but they are no experts in music equipment.
• Sometimes better price.
• He’s got worse stock than Thomann.

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