IN THE BEGINNING, or at least one of the beginnings there was the DW6000... a solution to the question man has posed since time immemorial — do I go analogue or digital? It was a six-note, polyphonic synth with eight 'pre-set' digital waveforms. These were not samples, nor FM generated, but were stored in 512K of software, patterned on the profiles of genuine, acoustic sounds Korg had analysed.

That was the digital bit. The analogue side analogue came in the form of real filters and envelope generators adhering to the normal tenets of programming.

It was good.

The 8000 is many steps better, and cheaper than the 6000's original recommended retail (though you can now pick the 6000 up for around £699).

It's eight-note polyphonic, has 16 waveforms, touch sensitivity and a built in digital delay line. Quickly ramming through the essentials, there's a five octave C to C, second-touch keyboard, (brings in modulation, filter and volume changes), plus 64 memories programmable by parameter control (on average up to 32 levels), joystick, arpeggiator, cassette dump, MIDI (spec not available at time of review) and a welcome expansion of facilities in the parameter section (a choice of ramp, sawtooth triangle and square wave LFOs for a start).

If anything the sound is slightly more analogue than the 6000 with most of the new waveforms tending towards softer, richer wind and brass sounds. But the variety is still immense. It may not have the subtle complexity of FM, but the 8000 certainly approaches the spikey piano and bell tones currently favoured with far greater skill than a standard analogue, DCOed machine. A broad canvas.

On-board DDLs are the next big thing after chorus units, as we predicted in last month's NAMM report. On this showing, they're a superb success. Each sound can have its own, uniquely ordained chorus, ADT, echo, etc, ready programmed into the patch. All the common DDL controls are included — delay time, feedback, effect level and modulation. But apart from the obvious Leslied organ and Albert Hall strings, the DDL's presence on-board encourages you to think of it not just as an echo unit, but as another sound shaper, integral to the synth.

For example, when Korg came to patch together a bass guitar sound, they left the delay time and modulation at zero, but lifted the feedback control to halfway. It's like freezing a flanger in mid step through its sweep — normally you might dismiss the honky, slightly false tone it produces as pointless, but it turns the Korg's 'bass' into a 'bass-through-a-speaker-cabinet.' That's the sort of change in sound a combo might add to a genuine bass guitar, so it lends the 8000 a little extra realism. By tweaking the feedback level, you can then tune the tone to your preference, and it's these extra, below-the-line tricks that help the 8000 sound different.

The delay obviously assists the 8000 in sounding powerful, but even without it, the digital waveforms are rich singly, and even more varied when layered together in pairs, Theoretically, you've got 136 different waveform combinations, which can then be treated by two six-stage envelope generators. These are the same as the 6000's offering Attack, Decay, Break Point, Slope, Sustain and Release. The two extra sections provide far greater control over the middle of the sound. Break Point and Slope produce extra dips or jumps in the volume (VCA) or filter before you reach the sustain level. (See the April issue's 6000 review for further details.)

Another parameter development is auto-bend. The 8000 will slide up to, or down upon, the notes you're playing perhaps by a small amount and quickly (like a trumpet player finding his place), or a large amount, and slowly (similar to portamento, though there is that, too). You have settings for time, intensity, up/down, and whether it's oscillator bank one/two/or both that are effected.

Velocity sensitivity can be switched to the filter amount and/or volume, and is programmable in seven steps with an unusually wide and welcome range. It really will go from whispers to shouts.

The second touch facility is one of the few failures, but apparently, one that Korg are studying before production models start rolling. By pressing down harder on the keyboard, once you've already played the notes, you can switch in modulation, extra volume or extra brightness in the filter. Contacts beneath the keyboard detect the pressure. Problem is, there are only four programmable levels, and instead of blessing you with a delicate change, the 8000 will leap, dramatically in volume or brightness, as if someone had flicked a switch.

For the rest of the modulation department... joysticks you love or hate, and I run my flag up the latter; fiddly, unpredictable things with pitch bend to the left and right, and modulation up and down. Doubtless there are pilots among you who have cheerier opinions.

Look, here, to the left of the control panel, beyond the eight memory select buttons, bank hold, parameter value slider (and step up/step down buttons), we have an old friend — an arpeggiator. Ah. Haven't seen one of these on a new synth for a long time. As of old, it will run up and down any notes you're holding, playing them across one octave, two octaves or the full keyboard range. The 'chord' can be latched so it continues playing once you've taken your fingers away. The arpeggiator can be switched to assignable mode which means the notes will be scanned and repeated in the order that you played them, rather than just racing from lowest to highest. This option is more adept at knocking out riffs, but the whole arpeggiator takes on a new lease of life when you switch in the digital delay. I had fine moments of fun latching up an arpeggio, then tinkering with the delay time to fit echos in between the beats — a brand new beast. Gently tweaking the overall-tune slider puts the arpeggiated notes mildly out of tune with their echos which adds to the wavery, chorused effects beating from the speakers. Atmospheric with a big A.

The arpeggio clock can have its timing clock changed (the last parameter in the list) from demi-semi quavers to semi quavers to quavers, and that's for both internal and external triggering.

The remaining, minor disappointment is that Korg haven't included separate inputs and outputs for the DDL alone. We reviewed the first prototype to arrive in the UK, and spec on the delay was scarce. It behaved with a passable bandwidth — you didn't lose the tingy, digital tones — and I'd estimate the maximum delay time to be around 300-400ms. Therefore, plenty good enough to want to plug another keyboard or guitar in, maybe even the send and returns of a Portastudio.

Alas no. I suppose Korg do have their own separate delay lines that they would quite like you to buy.

In a word, the DW8000 is complete... a highly impressive and varied sound, a successful balance between analogue and digital, broad touch sensitivity, slightly suspect second touch, maybe, but with the DDL and arpeggiator, it must be one of the best, do-it-all, self-contained keyboards to have appeared for a long time. This one, alone, might do the whole job for you.

KORG DW8000 digi-synth: £1075

CONTACT: Rose-Morris, (Contact Details)