Korg DW 8000

Physical characteristics

Physically, the instrument used a 61-note synthesizer action keyboard that was both velocity-sensitive and could sense channel-pressure aftertouch as well, sending it via MIDI if required. A four-way joystick was provided to control LFO modulation as well as pitch bend. Pulling the joystick bender towards you, also allowed control over VCF as well. Around the back panel headphones, stereo line-out, pedal inputs for damper, portamento and program up were available. Also available were two sockets for tape interface to facilitate offline patch backup and storage. Electrical power was supplied via a two-pin IEC C9-type connection cable rather than the rather more ubiquitous C13 type, which can potentially be a source of frustration if lost just before performance.

Patch storage and backup

The instrument had 64 memories which could be backed up to cassette tape in similar fashion to that used for home computers of the time. This system could be prone to error or mishap as the availability of the “verify” feature for the tape backup system can attest to. The instrument did however possess the capability in MIDI to allow sys-ex transfer provided you had another DW-8000 or a computer with suitable software that can send the MIDI dump request message to it. A modern and more reliable alternative to the cassette tape interface is the portable CD player with wave files saved on disc. An optional accessory was the MEX-8000, a hardware device which could provide extra storage to the user.

DWGS synthesis

As basic material, sixteen digital wave cycle waveforms were available to the user through a system Korg called DWGS for Digital Waveform Generator System. The DWGS system can be thought of as an early sample playback system where only extremely short, single cycle waveforms are stored on four 256 Kilobit ROM chips, played back through the two digital oscillators and processed by relatively familiar subtractive synthesis facilities. The waveforms themselves were the usual staple sine, sawtooth, and pulse waveforms, but more unusually featured waveforms such as acoustic piano and saxophone. To aid the user in appropriate selection, each of the sixteen wave samples are printed on the right hand end of the operating panel along with the parameter reference below. Any two of the digitised waveforms could be used by the 2 digital oscillators provided. A noise source could be added separately to add further colour.

Oscillator modes

The synthesizer could be used in two polyphonic modes and two monophonic modes. The latter monophonic modes are worthy of examination on account of sounds they can generate. Each of the two monophonic modes arranged the oscillators into a single note stack of slightly detuned oscillators. Use of these two monophonic modes changes the character of any given patch quite considerably, generally imbuing it with what could best be described as a powerful or fat sound.

Analogue VCA and VCF stages

Whilst the source sounds were digital, the subsequent major sound shaping stages consisted of an analogue VCA enveloper using six stages and similar arrangement also for the analogue filter. The filter is unmistakably analogue and can be pushed into self-oscillation using the filter-resonance parameter. Further modulation of the sound could be applied using the single LFO which could either modulate oscillators to produce vibrato effect or the filter, or even both at the same time should such be desired. A significant creative limitation of the DW-8000 architecture was that the user could not control the LFO depth with respect to each oscillator, as they were both modulated in common.

Digital delay effects

The final key part of the architectural jigsaw was the digital delay section. As the rest of the synthesizer architecture up to this point in the sound chain was analogue, the signal had to be converted back to a digital signal. This fact is evident in the increased noise when using the delay effect. Despite this, it was a flexible digital delay that gave times ranging from 2 to 512 milliseconds in length. Added to this was a modulation depth parameter so the user could create chorus and flanging effects as well as delay.

Arpeggiator section

In 1985 synthesizers with built-in sequencing facilities were quite rare; however, the DW-8000 did have a 64-note arpeggiator section. The 64-note memory could be especially useful when the arpeggiator was set to its “assignable” mode. This allowed the arpeggiator to loop round any number of notes up to 64 that the user added to the arpeggio. The arpeggiator can be set to latch so that the sequence continues to play after the user releases the keys, or un-latched; then the sequence will immediately stop when keys are released. A facility to make the arpeggio span one or two octaves, or even the full keyboard can be selected. Finally a tempo slider sits immediately to the left of the arpeggiator controls to control the speed of the arpeggiator sequence.

Historical assessment

The DW-8000 in itself cannot be seen as a huge milestone or breakthrough product, but the hybrid architecture of digital waves partnered with subtractive synthesis was to become an important motif in Korg keyboards during the latter half of the 1980s. Other manufacturers were soon arriving with instruments using similar ingredients of samples and effects, though still using traditional subtractive synthesis with better technology. The Korg DW-8000 was not multitimbral and would therefore not fare well in the market that only two years later would produce both the Roland D-50 and MT-32 which used samples of real attack transients to create increased realism, whilst the MT32 also brought multitimbral facilities with relatively high quality effects. Korg themselves took longer to find the winning combination, but by the end of the decade had achieved considerable success with their M1 workstation that included a few old DWGS waves.

Notable users