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Korg DW-8000

 

 

 

 

korg dw8000

info Country: Japan
Weight: 10,9 kg
Dimensions: 998 (w) x 338 (h) x 101 (d) mm
audio demo trend price : 200€
manual schematic demo comments

Korg DW-8000
Waveform Synthesizer (1985)

 

Near-classic hybrid analog-digital synthesizer: internal wavetable waveforms are digital while filter and envelope stages are analog.

logo dw8000
keyboard mode

info KEYBOARD 61 velocity keys with aftertouch.
Main panel features a segment display, 22 buttons, 4 sliders and joystick on the left side.


Back panel terminal connectors:
- Midi interface
- tape interface
- headphones
- main out with impedance switch high/low
- program up pedalswitch input
- portamento pedalswitch input
- damper pedalswitch input

 

 


edit SOUND
main core 8-bits at 2 mHz HD63b03X manages 8 voices polyphony based on - DWGS Digital Waveform Generator System- subtractive synthesis.

DWGS

Each voice is composed by 2 oscillators DCO + 1 white noise circuit with variable parameters:

- volume gain
- octave set between 16' / 8' / 4'
- pitch detune.




edit DCO WAVETABLE
the 256 kb ROM (4X EPROMS) contains 16 short-cycled spectral8-bits PCM. It seems to be possible to hack the internal EPROMS to change the waves.

rom DW800 internal waveform list : sawtooth, square, piano, electric piano (x2), clavinet, organ, brass, sax, violin, guitar, electric guitar, bass, digital bass, bell and whistle.




multitimbral PERFORMANCE
the system handles voices in various playmodes:

functions - poly1 rotates sequentially 8 voices in constant order

- poly2 same as poly1 but restarts from first voice

- unison1 retriggers the EG when a key is pressed

- unison2 only the first key activates the EG

Some other performance functions:
- aftertouch be assigned to filter, amplitude or LFO depth
- joystick can be assigned to pitch, LFO frequency and VCF cutoff
- interval transposes the OSC2 pitch to keep a constant interval above first OSC values: minor 3rd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th and unison.



filter FILTER based on OTA IC analog 8 X NJM- 2069AD9, same found on Korg Poly-800 which is paraphonic, a lowpass resonant VCF at -24 dB/Oct and polarity inversion.

cutoff mrmoryVCF offers a primitive Keytrack system with 4 fixed rates: 0 / 25 / 50 / 100 %

demo HEAR VCF cutoff resonance




Eg LFO
a single delayed modulator MG (shapes: triangle, square saw-up and saw-down) and 2 modulation destinations:

lfo

- LFO OSC 1 & 2 pitches (not individual)

- LFO TO VCF cutoff


demo HEAR LFO modulator to VCF




Eg ENVELOPE
3 EGs:

eg vcf - EG1 VCA: 4 segments + 2 times (ADBSSR)
- EG2 VCF: 4 segments + 2 times with polarity inversion
- AutoBend simple pitch EG (OSC1 / OSC2 or both) 2 modes up / down




FX EFFECT
a 12 bits digital delay is onboard with 2 - 512 ms time range able to generate short delays and chorus; DW delay ime can be set in coarse or fine mode as well as total feedback amount.
demo HEAR delay panned





arpeggiator ARPEGGIATOR
features 3 direction modes: up, down an special custom which records up to 64 notes - in addition It is possible to set the octave range and a latch mode.

mobo

SYNC arpeggiator temp cam be set internally or synched to external Midi clock.

demo HEAR arpeggiator




mrmory MEMORY
:

mobo

- 64 RAM patches
Sounds library can be saved to Midi sysex dump or to magnetic tape.

 

mrmory Battery replacement: System works with a 3V CR-2032 soldered to the mainboard - click to enlarge pic





mrmoryOS
ROM operating system can be displayed switching on the Dw8000 holding [1] + [2].
Lastest known version is officially 1.2


os

mrmory

DOWNLOAD Hex bin

 

 


arpeggiator
UPGRADE third-part companies like Musitronics Turbo "DW800EX angel" projected some hardware boards (MODS) that adds some new functions like split, key transpose, random LFO and more:

upgrade

- Splitting and Doubling Sounds
- Local off function
- Key Transpose, Random MG Waveform and Compare function
- Two MIDI Send- and Receive channels
- Compare and MIDI Program Change for all 128 Sounds.





mrmory
EDITORS there are some free and commercial editors for DW-8000:

- Soundquest (MAC/PC $$)

- ctrlr (PC LINUX)

- DW8000 Patch Editor (old PC OS free)



dw8000 editor





mrmory RELATED MODELS:

korg ex8000 mrmoryEX-8000 rackmount version with better Midi implementation but no arpeggiator feature.
related models

mrmoryDW-6000 61 keys keyboard version. Slimmed-down version with less waveforms and some minor differences

korg dss1 mrmoryDSS1- this is a sampler but with very similar architecture and hardware.
korg mex8000 mrmoryMEX8000 memory expansion adds 4 extra banks.

 

 

effet VST PLUGIN / SAMPLED VERSION there are some free and commercial samples set, NO OFFICIAL PLUGIN EMULATOR:

Waveshapper FREE
DW8000 sample pack
cobalt vst

Cobalt VST

Emulation of DW but also Kawai K3 and Ensoniq ESQ1

FREE VST
(no more updated)
PPG 3 V

SQ8L

Emulation of Ensoniq SQ80

FREE VST
(no more updated)

video

 

edit GALLERY:

thumb original scan original scan
 


 

Company: Korg
Model: DW-8000
Class: Synthesizer
Keyboard: 61 keys
Dates: 1985
Display:7 segments
Technology: DWGS
ROM: 256 kb
N.wave: 16 PCM
Resolution: 8 bits
Polyphony: 8 voices
Filter: analog low pass
Envelope: 3 EGs
LFO: 1 modulator
Arpeggiator: yes
Sync: Midi clock
Memory: 64 slots
Effect: digital delay
Midi: IN / OUT / THRU
CPU: HD63b03X
VCF IC: NJM 2069AD
OS: lastest is V1.2

 

demoDEMO:
demo song 100%
demo DW8000 + drums Korg DRM1
demo resonant pad
demo squared bass
demo delayed pad
demo fat sirens
demo random autobend
demo drone
demo klunky piano
demo chording
demo bass-organ
demo pad lfo to vcf
demo filtered organ
demo TEST: delay
demo TEST: arpeggiator
demo TEST: cutoff + resonance
demo TEST: LFO frequency

 

manual

manual

 

manual

 

edit Sample SHOP
edit Report Error
edit SUPPORT US

 

manual
- MORE DEMO
-FREE SAMPLE SET




Korg DW-8000 FOR SALE

Korg DW-8000 FOR SALE
CHECK OUT EBAY OFFERS

 

 

functions

 

 

 

trimmers logo dw display
awardSPECIAL AWARDS:
solid
solid
OLDSCHOOL LO FI Master


comment


REVIEW "The sound is nice, some waveforms are wasted. The keyboard version is pretty big, consider rackmount version EX8000 albeit DW has a neat arpeggiator "

manual manual
-cheap -keyboard quality
-arpeggiator
-some DWGS
-filters -bulky



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Korg DW-8000 Korg DW-8000
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