Korg DW-8000 Sounds Demo

A little demo of some of the sounds from my trusty DW-8000. I can no longer remember which are factory patches and which I programmed myself but, as with the Juno 106, I spent quite a lot of time fiddling around with the programming on this to get the sounds I wanted.
When it was released, I remember 1-2-Testing magazine patting themselves on the back for having predicted that onboard digital effects would be the next thing - the DW-8000 offers a delay line. This was, as one online source puts it, an "astonishing goody for the time, offering up to 512ms delay, phasing, flanging, chorusing and other time effects". In fact, some of the huge organ patches on here utilize only the onboard DDL - for example, the patch at 15:45 has no external effect, only the DDL.
I remember playing one in a studio in London whilst recording a demo, a short while after they came out. I had just bought the Juno 106 at the time, and I remember wishing I'd bought this instead - I liked the touch sensitivity, and the fact that you could get hybrid sounds out of it. I used a kind of bell pad - a string pad with a chime at the start, a little like a precursor to the Fantasia sound of the D50 that was to come out a couple of years later. And I couldn't understand why the studio engineer preferred my Juno - I thought the DW had way more sonic capability and features (velocity sensing, aftertouch, delay line, arpeggiator, etc.). But the Juno still commands a higher respect (and value - I eventually picked up my DW-8000 in the 90s for a fraction of the cost of the Juno) and I guess that the Juno does have a somewhat warmer sound.
Favourite sounds:
01:13 Synth Bass
01:48 Lead Synth
02:37 Soft Synth
03:07 Pianics
04:54 Slide Up
06:26 Sequence Bass
08:55 Bell-like
10:12 Synth Clav
10:33 Bell Sequence
11:40 String Filter
12:45 Res Lead
13:02 Soft Echo Sequence
14:25 Square Lead
16:24 Strummed Harp
As usual, this was recorded direct to a Roland R-05 through an Alesis Multimix (with a little added reverb on just a few of the patches).

[@dayglo98]

This machine is sooooo good for pads.

[@littlebritain64]

I have this keyboard, and I am mad for it. It has no transwaves, only basic looped ones, and sounds organic and has lots of harmonics. It is digital but has powerful analog filters. Has an useful and powerful delay effect on board. Easy to program enough, even it has no knobs. Gives an immediate addiction. Love,love it! And if it was good enough for Rick Wakeman durin the Yes tour in early 90's together with the Oberheim Matrix 1000 ( they had some on stage and some Ex 8000 expanders hidden under ) , it's good enough for me.

[@billyruss]

I loved it too - as I said, I think I actually preferred it in many ways to the Juno 106, just because of the playability of the sounds right from the board, without the need for any extra reverbs or delays. I'm always sorry to let synths go, but this one went as part of a grand rationalization of my gear a few months ago :(

[@andrewgleave2357]

Great sounds and programming. I had two of these and newer Korg models such as M1 and 01W which sounded nowhere near as good. I didn't like their keyboard actions so I located an EX8000 and sold the keyboard versions. Still got it today, after listening this it reminds me of just how great it is, I think it will go back in my stage rig! Thanks Bill . My Juno 60 sounded slightly purer on delicate pads but overall the DW is a monster. I can remember the sound of the lead patches soaring through the PA and that was 37 years ago!

[@billyruss]

Thanks for your comments! As I have commented elsewhere below, I also think this had quite a bit more bite than the Junos, even if it lacked some of the warmth.

[@JerryFochtmann]

Great sounds, great performances... you have a lot of different playing styles that match with the sounds perfectly. An excellent demo of sounds of this awesome synth. I've had the EX-8000 for over 30 years... was thinking about selling it... your video made me re-think that, it reminded me how much I love the sounds.

[@billyruss]

Thanks for your kind words! I always get a bit sentimental for synths past whenever I go back and revisit these old demos.

[@80ssynthfan48]

Man, this thing sounds good. Intent on having one at some point.

[@thebreathalyzer]

For me, both the DW8000 and Juno were good for certain sounds. I actually prefer the plugin versions because they work better for wind controller. I had my DW8000 for about 35 years before I finally sold it. I really did like it, I actually liked the keybed. And the aftertouch was great. The DW8000 sounds really great when layered with a more analog sounding synth. The pads, organ sounds, brass... classic. You can get some decent leads, I didn't like the Unison feature because it was too detuned. The free FB-7999 will load DW8000 patches via sysex. It's quite close.

[@davemaverick8438]

wow amazing patches, is there a way to download them or buy them?

[@billyruss]

Hi Dave - thanks for the comment :) Unfortunately, I no longer have the synth and I didn't take a backup of the sounds - mainly as I no longer had a synth to use them on! There are a couple of good resources I found over the years, and some of the sounds you hear in the demo may well be found here: www.pallium.com/bryan/dw8000.php has a load of patches on there, as well as a lot of other information. Otherwise, check out www.dw8000.com/ for more of the same (though not as many, I think).

[@thebreathalyzer]

@@billyruss You might want to check out the FB-7999 plugin and I have a whole bunch of patches saved via sysex

[@billyruss]

@@thebreathalyzer Yes, I actually downloaded a copy of it fairly recently - haven't got round to playing with it properly but it looks and sounds pretty good on first impressions.

[@MrLawrence0071]

I'd have this one above a Juno anytime. It can do sounds a Juno can only dream of. True though that Juno sounds a tad warmer but I find the DW8000 better fitting in mixes. Sounds cleaner. Juno's are seriously overpriced these days. I got a Juno 106 for 250 euro 17 years ago. Today they ask over 1000, for a 1 oscillator/voice machine... ridiculous. Certainly when the Rolandcloud plug in is 99,5% close to the real one and TAL UNO comes at 95% of a Juno 60.

[@billyruss]

Yeah, I have to agree, as I've said in the initial comments above. I'm kinda sorry I let mine go, but it was getting on a bit, and getting very noisy at times (the audio for this was cleaned a little for hum and hiss) and I think a big repair job might have been coming up. Sold my Juno, too - but have the System 8 with the Juno plugout, and it's pretty much indistinguishable.

[@MrLawrence0071]

@@billyruss I sas stunned when I heard comparisons between the system 8 and juno and even jup 8. As you say: indistuinguishable. Of course, analogue purists will always be able to tell, until you submit them to a blind test... :-)