Modwave

$799 korg.com

Modwave is the third of Korg’s recent line of digital synths, kicked off in early 2020 with Wavestate and expanded a few months later by Opsix. The Modwave follows a similar blueprint to those two; again, an all-digital instrument that wears its DSP-power on its sleeve.

All three synths present a modernized take on some of the synthesis concepts pioneered in the ’80s and ’90s. With the Wavestate, that involved updating the wave sequencing synthesis of Korg’s own Wavestation, while Opsix expanded on the FM format popularized by Yamaha’s DX series. For Modwave the focus is on wavetable synthesis.

The design is, at least according to Korg, loosely based on the company’s cult classic DW-8000, although aside from the broad concept and some DW waveforms there’s not that much to link the two. It’s to Modwave’s credit that it offers so many updates to the format that it feels no