The KRP1 is the brainchild of a German engineer, Jurgen Haible, whose recreations of interesting analogue processors and synthesizers are highly respected among synth enthusiasts.
He first cloned the Compact Phasing A in 1999. The development had been financed by MAM (Music & More), whose co-owner Michael Thorpe had approached him to discuss the possibility of manufacturing the finished unit as a MAM product. But MAM were in financial difficulties, and although Thorpe demonstrated the KRP1 prototype at the NAMM show in 2000, the project was shelved.
In 2007, Haible began selling the clone as a DIY kit, but in 2009 he and Thorpe decided that there was room in the market for both the kit and the finished product. Unable to decide whether to reinvent MAM or use Thorpe’s TBS (Touched By Sound) brand, they chose instead to create a new brand, Mode Machines, which now carries the KRP1, the Xoxbox (apparently pronounced ‘socks box’) clone of the Roland TB303, and the SL1 Synthlab analogue monosynth.