The D-50 was introduced in 1987 as the popularity of the Yamaha DX7 was starting to decline, resulting in the D-50 becoming the most popular synthesizer on the market until the introduction of the Korg M1 the following year. The D-50's synthesizer-on-top-of-samples-and-through-effects innovation was an influence on the M1, which went on to become Korg's top selling keyboard, until the release of the Korg Triton. In fact, this scheme was a common method of digital keyboard sound creation for more than a decade, until ROM and Flash RAM were finally inexpensive enough to store entire samples or multisamples.