A Maxi-Korg, courtesy of Soundgas
A duophonic synth introduced by Korg in 1975. Building on the work done by Korg on the Mini-Korg, the Maxi-Korg (also designated as the 800DV by Korg) is often described as essentially two Mini-Korgs in one box. Unlike most duophonic synths of the era, each VCO in the Maxi-Korg has a complete string of voice circuitry to go with it, including high and low pass VCFs, an ADSR envelope generator, and a VCA. With everything coupled with a 3-1/2 octave, F-to-C keyboard with duophonic capability, the Maxi-Korg comes close to being a true polyphonic synth, albeit one with only two voices.
In addition to duophonic playing, the two voices could also be layered and played in a unison mode. In this mode, it was possible to delay the gate to the envelope generator on one of the voices. The two voices could also be ring modulated against each other. In practice, most performers found the operation of the duophonic mode to be difficult to control, and elected to use the unison mode most of the time.
Unlike the Mini-Korg, the Maxi-Korg went with more conventional packaging. The controls were placed on an angled panel behind the keyboard, and the Mini-Korg's music stand was omitted. The shape and layout of the Mini-Korg's controls was retained, including the peculiar names given to some of the controls.
It is unknown how many Maxi-Korgs were produced or when it went out of production. As in the case of the Mini-Korg, it was marketed by Univox in North America, which gave the synth its own nomenclature; Univox called it the K-3.