Korg Dw 8000 Vst Download
Nadja Norrington
Take Korg's first digitally controlled analog synth hybrid (DW-6000) two steps higher and you get the morepopular DW-8000. Sound is digitally generated from the DWGS (DigitalWaveform Generator System) and has been doubled from 8 sampled digitalwaveforms to 16 simple analog to complex digital waveforms. The DW-8000has 8 voice polyphony in two modes, or one monophonic mode with alleight voices stacked. The analog VCF resonant filter and VCA both haveindependent ADBSSR envelopes. Parameters can be altered in real time viaa single programmable slider. There are 64 presets that can bereprogrammed by the user.
In comparison to the DW-6000, the DW-8000expanded to 8 notes polyphony, 16 sampled waveforms, a velocitysensitive keyboard with programmable aftertouch, auto-bend, a simplearpeggiator and a digital delay unit. The Digital Delay was anastonishing goody for the time, offering up to 512ms delay, phasing,flanging, chorusing and other time effects. Both the Arpeggiator,Auto-Bend and Digital Delay make this synth an inspiring and greatsounding machine to use for great 303 basslines, techno and house bassand synth sounds and more! The EX-8000 (pictured above) is a rackmountversion of the DW-8000. Several 3rd-party developers offered expansionboards for the DW-8000 providing up to 1024 presets, layered sounds,keyboard splits and Sample+Hold for the LFO. Though later overshadowedby the M1, the DW-8000 has been used by DivineMasquerade, Juno Reactor, Depeche Mode, Dream Theater, Joe Zawinul,and Keith Emerson.
The Korg DW-8000 synthesizer is an eight-voice polyphonic hybrid digital-analog synthesizer 61-note keyboard instrument released in 1985. By the time of its launch, Korg had already begun a common trend in 1980s synthesizer design: using numerical codes to access or change parameters (synth "voice", tone, etc) with its predecessor - the Korg Poly-61, which was widely regarded as the company's first "knobless" synthesizer. This was a move away from the heavily laden, complex control panels of earlier designs.
A more unusual feature of the instrument for the time was the use of single-cycle digital waveforms as the basic building block of sound synthesis, and the inclusion of a digital delay effect. This delay effect was a significant factor in the relative success of the DW-8000 compared to the cheaper DW-6000 released earlier the same year.
Physically, the instrument used a 61-note synthesizer action keyboard. "Synthesizer action" means that it did not have weighted or semi-weighted keys, a common feature on stage pianos marketed at pianists. The DW-8000 keys were velocity sensitive. As such, a light press triggered a quieter sound and a hard press triggered a louder sound. As well, its keys could sense channel-pressure aftertouch as well. Aftertouch is the placing of pressure on keys after the initial striking or pressing of the keys. On a digital keyboard with aftertouch sensitivity, when the performer continues to press the keys, the aftertouch sensors send a message to the synth module; depending on the programming of the synth patch and/or the settings selected by the performer, aftertouch can trigger a digital effect (e.g., vibrato) or a change in the timbre (tone colour). The keyboard sends aftertouch messages via MIDI if required.
Whilst the source sounds were digital, the subsequent major sound shaping stages consisted of an analog variable-gain amplifier (VGA) enveloper using six stages and similar arrangement also for the analogue filter. The filter is unmistakably analog 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, 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.
While contemporary synthesizers with built-in sequencing facilities were quite rare in 1985, the DW-8000 included a 64-note arpeggiator with an optional latch function and an "assignable" mode which allowed the user to cumulatively add up to 64 notes to the arpeggiator's input. The arpeggiator also includes options to span multiple octaves and an adjustable tempocontrol slider.
While DW-8000 may not have represented a great leap in synthesis, the hybrid architecture of digital waveforms through analog filters was to become an important approach used in Korg keyboards during the second half of the 1980s. Other manufacturers were developing instruments using similar ingredients of samples and effects, though still using traditional subtractive synthesis with better technology. The Korg DW-8000 was monotimbral and had trouble competing with the Roland D-50 and MT-32 introduced two years later, which used samples of real attack transients to synthesize increasingly realistic acoustic instrument sounds. The MT-32 also introduced multitimbral capabilities, with relatively high quality onboard effects. Korg took longer to develop a competitive synthesizer, but by the end of the decade achieved considerable success with their M1 workstation, in which 9 of its 14 DWGS waveforms are borrowed from the 16 DWGS waveforms of the DW-8000.[2]
The DW8000 made use of Korg's DWGS (Digital Waveform Generator System). What this amounted to was sampled waveforms stored in four 256Kbit ROM chips. At the time it was considered important for manufacturers to come up with proprietary acronyms for their synthesis technologies to give an air of wonderment to new synths, and Korg were very much on the bandwagon with DWGS. This has often been seen to backfire, and the DW8000 has generally been overlooked, being seen as little more than an S+S synth with a limited palette of waveforms.
Two oscillators are provided, with the ability to adjust the relative levels and to detune oscillator 2 for a rich, chorused effect. Four parameters relate to the DW8000's 'autobend' feature, which sweeps the pitch of either, or both, oscillators up or down to its true note over a specified time and by a specified amount following the press of a key. Although this feature may not seem particularly exciting, it does have the capability to add interest to the attack of notes and imparts a certain 'weirdness' that is very appealing. Korg added a separately mixable noise generator, which was quite generous.
The DW8000 is very much a synth, not a sample playback device, so don't expect the acoustic piano waveform to render anything much like a Steinway! The waveforms are essentially raw material to be mangled by the synthesis engine. Pad sounds are thick and rich, but never seem to sit in a mix particularly well in my experience. String sounds are also warm and powerful, but just don't seem to cut it when other sounds are around. I mention these points not as damning aspects of the machine, but as a reminder that no synth will be all things to all players. Utilise a device to exploit its strengths, forgive it its weaknesses, and it will pay you back accordingly.
The DW-8000 is an 8-voice hybrid synthesizer, which uses digital waveforms (two DCOs per voice) run through an analog filter and VCA. The filter can be pushed into self-oscillation. Keyboard velocity and aftertouch, an onboard digital delay, and a 64-note arpeggiator make this an inspiring synth to play.
I will likely be picking up one of these, which one do suggest? I have never touched either, and the online sound samples don't tell me much. I like that the 8000 is fewer rack spaces, and I kind of like the extra wave forms it has. I like that the 800 is half the price, and it has DCOs not rom waveforms.
The EX-8000 is a module version of the DW-8000, an voice synth that, as you say, had ROM waveforms, but handled and sounded pretty analog. It's generally more sought-after and versatile than the 800, which is why you're seeing the price difference.
Nice machine, waveROM instead of analog so next to the saw/sqr/noise it also produces bell-like sounds. Not to keen on those though, I have FM for that. My HAWK800 modified Poly800 would almost replace this DW8000 were it not for the individual filters on each oscillator and the nice delay FX processor.
The DW-8000 does have pretty bad aliasing in the top octave or two, due to the waveforms 1) not being oversampled and 2) not being interpolated. But if you're not playing super-high-pitch notes, or have a fat enough sound, the aliasing won't be noticed by most owners.
Matt Johnson, Jamariquai kbds, says in one of his vids: "people comment I'm only making bread and butter sounds in my videos... well most of the time, what a song needs are bread and butter sounds..." I spent a half-hour looking for some basic sawtooth synth pad on the Kronos 2 and realized that on the DW-8000 I'd have been able to program the entire patch in 90 seconds.
Version 12 was released well after the DW-8000 was discontinued to address the issue of stuck notes (where you'll be playing and one note just won't stop playing even though you're not holding it anymore).
I upgraded my primary DW-8000 to version 12 years ago so I have it. The spare DW-8000 I just picked up has version 11 (I think). The EPROM is an HN4827128G-25. The EPROM is close to the backup battery and is the only chip that isn't soldered to the system board. See the chip with the white sticker that says 850711 in green? That's it.
Since they were originally offered by Korg, I haven't seen them offered anyplace since. Is there any interest in getting the latest software for your DW-8000? If there is, I'll buy an EPROM reader and some blank EPROMS. The price would be just a couple bucks more than the actual cost of the EPROM plus shipping.
I'm not looking to make more than a couple bucks per EPROM just to help defray costs of the EPROM witer. The main reason I'm doing it is if my DW-8000 EPROM went south, there's not a single place to get the latest software again. And I also know most DW-8000 users out there would like the latest.
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