Volca Modular

Yes, a good- sounding (& good-looking) drum machine. Fairly easy to use, once you understand it's workflow. Great sounds. Versatile. Very good price, too.

Korg Volcas are addictive, and this is the third one I've bought after modular and nu:bass - of the options for providing drums/beats, the Volca Drum is the most original and powerful, though the sample offers a lot of flexibility as well. It adheres to the standard Volca form factor and battery requirements, with the usual audio, sync and MIDI input. The pattern sequencer is also familiar, with 16 patterns of 16 steps for up to 256 steps in a song. There's no means of backing up the kits or storage, but you can get a third-party editor and VST which helps with that. What it does: Six-parts of synthesized drums consisting of two 'layers' each, each layer having its down sound character modified through the wave source, envelopes and other parameters accessed via the edit button. There's enough control to change sounds on the fly, and it's a VERY powerful drum synthesizer for the money, rivalling the likes of the Nord Drum 3P for sound and texture creation. Editing the six drum sounds is remarkably easy, though getting truly accurate or characterful original sounds can be tricky, it just needs a subtle touch. Bolstering the sound of the drums is a single resonator that affects all of them, which can be tuned and changed from tube to string, for bassy or reedy tones. This is really the only limitation of the sound generation, you can't have one part in a tube, and the other via string. It's intuitive to play basic beats, with 10 preset kits of straight electro/pop sounds with some wierd and wonderful squawks and breaks for good measure, but it rewards in-depth thoughtful programming. How does it sound? Remarkable. High-quality and clear, the bass can shake and the high pitches can ring with no aliasing or crudeness that you might expect of cheap PCM samples, this is true drum synthesis with rich harmonics and a lot of flexibility. It's at home in synthwave, garage, dubstep, grime or whatever, really, capable of being very solid or just plain bizarre. How vital is it to a Volca setup? This should be your second or third one alongside bassline and melody, but you could buy this for use alongside other synths and find it stands alone as an excellent drum machine. It's one of Korg's best yet and incredibly good value; I'm still finding more depth months into owning it. It's more enjoyable to program than the Nord 3P as well... Anything it benefits from? Effects of course - the Volca Mix has send/return, but I'd probably use this with a Kaoss KP3+ or kaoss pad for glitch, delay and grain effects if I weren't using the minikp2 for that via the mixer. It really suits that style of dynamic, effected playing and becomes a simple drum and bass machine if you take the time to program it. It also works well with the Volca Modular as an additive percussion synth for additional character. Think complex, shimmering and harsh metallic hits like early industrial music, backed by more 2000s-style heavy, long-decayed kicks from the Volca Drum. Any downsides? Not really, apart from the lack of sound bank/pattern backup. It stores them fine, but doesn't have much storage on board and there's no MIDI out or audio backup option. It would be nice if it would play an audio file of the memory contents for later restoration, in the same way that firmware updates are applied. You want it, basically. The Korg Volca Drum is one of the best Volcas yet; it's powerful, flexible and original - the sounds are versatile, and it could add something to any studio, not just a starter project or basic Volca layout. You could sample patterns from this until your fingers wear out.

Brilliant fun, fast and intuitive and now so cheap for what it does. It gives similar products (like the Sonic Potions LXR02) a real run for its money. I see no reason to spend more. However just like these similar products it has it's own unique sound and flavour and this may ultimately be it's downfall. There are great sounds ready to be created but in the end they all sound like a Volca Drum. For some reason there is just a limited colour pallet at hand. I found programming via the front panel a pain after about 30 mins and it was much easier via the editor program which really opened it up (there are two available). It made progamming a breeze and you could store all your sounds and kits instantly to computer. I preferred using the editor for the full experience and this finally made me decide not to keep the Volca Drum because I felt that I might as well go for a vst if I'm tied to the computer again. I enjoyed it for the few hours I had it (there were a few bugs but I didn't update the firmware) it was very immediate but unfortunetly so was the boredom that set in. Highly recommended if you want to tweak on the go and create edgier sounds. The sounds really PUNCH! It really is amazing for the price. Just not a keeper for me.

Great value FM synth which is basically a dx7 in small box. They have improved polyphony from the previous one and sounds just like an FM should. The volca comes with 64 presets however no init or blank patches. You will need to overwrite the factory presets. You can restore these with factory reset. I have been able to transfer the presets to wav then sysex files and saved them on my pc. It was a faff. Transfering the other way was much easier, i have been able to transfer some dx7 patches from dexed to volca very easily. A bit disappointed the unit doesnt have a rechargeable battery like the airas, takes 6 AAs which dont last too long. Builld quality is fine, light and solid but is made primarily from plastic, I recommend the UDG case. For just over £100 its a bargain.

You couldn't call it better. It makes beat. But not a single beat. There isn't limits when you can fine tune the analog sound parameters. It can be a simple clic but a warm groovy beat.

モノトライブでアナログシンセの出音にやられました。 ですが、持ち歩くには重い/でかい。モノトロンでは物足りない。 そこでvolca keysです!!これは素晴らしい！ まず、鍵盤が2オクターブの上、あります。しかも一般的な手鍵盤配列です。 歌もの演奏いけます。 volca bassでは、一列に並んでしまっているので、弾きにくいです。鍵盤数も少ないです。 タッチ・パネル鍵盤には慣れが必要です。静電容量式スイッチ(スマートフォンと同じ)で、 キーが小さいので、MIDIキーボードをつけるのもありです。 が、グリッサンド演奏が可能と考えればいいんですよ！スタイロフォンでおなじみの！ デジタルシンセ、スマートフォンでは出ない、あたたかみのある豊かな音(ノイズを含めて)。 アンプ、スピーカーにつなぐと驚くほどいい音が出ます。 本体のスピーカーはダメ子なので(そもそも本体裏から音が出るという)、 布団の中ではちびスピーカーをつないでいます。 audio-technica コンパクトスピーカーミラー AT-SPG50 MI 音を作るのは楽しいです。上手くいくときもあるし、いかないときもある。 プリセットの音をいじっていくのとはやはり違います。 お気に入りの音で、適当なフレーズを演奏して、フィルターかけて、ディレイかけて、アクティブステップして… これがあれば一人の夜でもさみしくない！ この子は小さいのによぅできた子です！ 欲を言えば、別売りで専用クッションケースが出て欲しいですね。 小さいボタン、つまみが出ているので気を使います。

Alles bestens

Estupendo sinte FM. Suena genial, 6 voces y admite sysex de DX7 de Yamaha.

This was an impulse buy on Amazon Warehouse (AW) on a bitterly cold night in early February, an evening when I had had a few too many glasses of wine. I was vaguely aware of the Korg Volca series, in that I had seen a few negative or neutral comments about them on various music forums, but I hadn't listened to any audio demos or watched any YouTube demonstration videos. Honestly, these tiny boxes had never appealed, as I like my synths with keys or something I can put in a rack and MIDI up to my rig. So when this popped up on AW in a "Used-Acceptable condition for what seemed to be nearly 50% off the retail price, I thought, well, if I don't like it, I can sell it on for a profit. I'm glad I did. I love this little box, and it looked absolutely brand new in the box when it arrived. Go figure. I like it more than my Pro-1 monosynth -- I think the Volca Bass sounds better than most of my keyboards, with the exception of my Korg Radias. I mean to say, the Volca Bass is fat sounding, and oh!!! it has that distorted squeal that is very similar to a Roland TB-303 (or the Behringer clone). The filter resonance (peak knob) on this wee thing self-oscillates, so if you're looking to do a bit of Daft Punk or Chemical Brothers-style late 90s and early 00s techno work, this little guy can do it, and do it very nicely. Let's get the cons out of the way: The speaker is rubbish. I get why Korg put it there, but the speaker doesn't have the range to actually hear what all the glorious goodness this synth can make. Tip: Use headphones if you're going portable with this. Otherwise, hook it up to your mixer / monitoring system / amp. The MIDI implementation is good, but you can't modulate the filter via MIDI. What???!!! Why not, Korg? What are you thinking? Sigh... So, you must use the Volca Bass's filter knob in real-time. Also, no MIDI out, but it is possible to modify the unit so that it can do MIDI out, so at least there's that option for the hardcore modders. Pattern storage is limited to 8 memory slots. You will use those up quickly, and then you'll have to decide on which patterns to get rid of for later sessions. Also, there is no pattern chaining, so you must manually change patterns in real time, and you will need to do that in perfect sync as there is also no "wait to change pattern" functionality. If you're sequencing a pattern, know that the filter knob adjustments do not get recorded. The octave knob's movements will be recorded, however. On the other hand, it is possible to create 24 patterns when in individual three-osc mode, and with a bit of clever muting, you can probably do quite a bit with that. The smaller, clear knobs ... it's sometimes difficult to see what their positions are. Also, when I reach for the tempo or the EG attack knobs at the top center/left of the unit, I often accidentally brush the big filter knob. No noise oscillator... that's a shame. But not a deal breaker... So them's me cons. On the the pros: Three very stable analog VCOs (digitally tuned for stability, but these bad boys are definitely analog oscillators), any of which can be a Saw or Square wave. You have the options of three independent VCOs, two stacked together, or all three stacked together. There is also a tuning knob for each VCO, so you're able to create a very thick and fat super saw sound. Note range can be adjusted per voice but only if you are sequencing a pattern. Otherwise, all three VCOs will change depending on where the octave knob is set. The playing surface (ribbon?) is really responsive to touch and it's fun to play and slide around on it, but it is important to note that the playing surface is not velocity sensitive. The Volca Bass responds to velocity when connected to MIDI controller, though. Keep that in mind if you want to get the most you can out of this tiny box of joy. It took me a few minutes to work out what the deal was with the black and gold "keys." Tip: The gold keys are the black keys on a keyboard. The rest are the white keys. The lowest note on the surface is an "A". Maybe an "E" would have been better, which is the lowest note on a bass guitar, but from keyboard perspective I suppose it makes sense (an 88-key keyboard's first note is an A.) The filter on this insanely good. I read somewhere that it's based on a Korg 700s filter. I dunno if it is or not. And I don't care. I really like a lot. The envelope seems limited, but it actually has two modes and it is perfectly serviceable. One mode with no sustain segment, just an attack and delay, which is superb for punchy bass tones, and the second mode is with a sustain feature, which is great for more synthy sounds and self-oscillating the filter rez. These modes are switched by holding down the function button and pressing the number 11 key marked Sustain. Pattern sequencing is quick, if not a bit imprecise when doing it in real time. There is some sort of quantization going on, which can be distressing if your timing is off. I much prefer to sequence a pattern in Step Rec mode. Speaking of modes, the Active Step mode is useful and fun. At the moment, I tend to use a Beat Step Pro to sequence more complex patterns. Other times, I will set up a zone on my workstation to play the Volca Bass via MIDI in real time. I'll even swipe at the playing surface from time to time when playing other synths. You'll definitely want to put some effects in the signal chain, such as pedals or some other multi-fx unit, as the dry sound may be a bit in your face. But even dry, it can sit in a mix at low volumes. All in all, I'm really impressed by the sound of the Volca Bass. I had no idea that I was missing this in my life, and I'm glad I bought it. I'm now considering selling my Pro-1, as I have had that turned off since the beginning of February when the Volca arrived and I don't need two monosynths which cover the same sonic terrority. For its size, it's a little powerhouse in a tiny, tiny box. Could the UI (knobs), memory storage and MIDI implementation be improved? Sure, those could be better, but if you can snag one of these for $100 or less, it's definitely worth it.