build quality is fine. the keyboard sucks but the rest is decent. Not DX7 bulletproof but good enough.

filter is 24 db/oct, and does self oscillate (very well actually)

and the LFO can't be applied to the VCA.

and the biggest mistake: the sounds are very lush and warm. it won't do bright sounds very well but strings are excellent. The oscillators aren't that great but the filter is wonderful and the delay is the icing on the cake- wouldn't think a simple 12-bit digital delay would sound that good but the secret is in the analog feedback path.

If you're not using the delay I can see why you say it doesn't sound that great, but with the delay it sounds excellent (for pads and softer bass sounds anyway- a minimoog it isn't but it's not bad, and the leads are quite "phat" in unison mode).

And best of all it's cheap. If you can think of something better for the money I'd love to hear it. ESQ-1 is good competition but it doesn't sound as lush and warm.

It's easy enough to program. The sounds are best described as "unique", due to the 16 digital waveforms you get with the 2 oscilators. The filter is 12Db/Oct low-pass with a 6 stage envelope and not self-oscilating; the single LFO can be applied to the oscilator, filter and amplifier sections; 6 stage envelope for the amplifier. It does have a digital delay, that you program into each sound.

MIDI spec is fairly limited, though you can use MIDI for sound bank dumps, and to link it to a computer editor. Not multi-timbral.

The sounds are just not that good. Some nice pads and basses, but you can get something better sounding, more reliable or better built for the money. If you want simple thin pads with some unusual harmonics in your studio rig, OK. If you want really fat basses, lush strings, lots of control over you sounds all in a package you can gig with, you will be very disapointed.

I sold mine and put the money towards something better instead, and I've not regretted it.

A local Korg technician may require that you bring in the board and might charge you a minimal amount for labor and their time but it shouldn't be much. In some cases they just might do it free. They need to old ROMs from your board in order to be credited for the new ones, so you can't just order the new ROMs from Korg.

Oddly enough the rack version (the EX8000) doesn't have these midi bug issues. It came out later and also doesn't have a keyboard so it bypassed the problems that existed in the DW8000.