Korg volca - 3 small analog groove boxes

[Uncle E]

*Ok, I just saw the 3 part sequencer is for unison lines and does not make it multi-timbral.

You can have 3 independent sequenced lines but the sound will be the same with all of them.

[Johnny!]

Is it possible to synthesise drum sounds on the Keys or Bass?

no sine wave, no noise generetaor among other things, so - no, it isn't even remotely possible (at least on volca bass, but I doubt keys is any different in that regaard).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqBDw_iSPuY

It would be much more interesting if they actually make some music with them, instead of various bleeps and blops.

[dcfac73]

Is it possible to synthesise drum sounds on the Keys or Bass?

no sine wave, no noise generetaor among other things, so - no, it isn't even remotely possible (at least on volca bass, but I doubt keys is any different in that regaard).

Ye, neither of them have these features. But I know it's possible to do 808 type kicks with a Minitaur and an SH101 and they don't have a Sine oscillator.

[Uncle E]

Ye, neither of them have these features. But I know it's possible to do 808 type kicks with a Minitaur and an SH101 and they don't have a Sine oscillator.

In that sense, the Volca Bass would be better because it at least has square oscillators. Volca Bass only has sawtooth. The filter is highly resonant, too, and that can be used to generate a sine wave.

btw, the Waldorf Rocket is extremely cool for using the resonant filter as an additional oscillator. It tunes precisely to the oscillators.

[dcfac73]

Ye, neither of them have these features. But I know it's possible to do 808 type kicks with a Minitaur and an SH101 and they don't have a Sine oscillator.

In that sense, the Volca Bass would be better because it at least has square oscillators. Volca Bass only has sawtooth. The filter is highly resonant, too, and that can be used to generate a sine wave.

btw, the Waldorf Rocket is extremely cool for using the resonant filter as an additional oscillator. It tunes precisely to the oscillators.

Both have square and sawtooth. Yer, I'm considering the Rocket as well.

[dcfac73]

Ok so I've been trying to do drum sounds with square and sine wavs with Ableton Analog. I've managed some decent kicks and weird congo like sounds but decent claps and snares seem to be too difficult.
Anyone know how to do this? If so I'll stick to just getting the Volca Keys.

[Uncle E]

Both have square and sawtooth.

The Volca Keys only has square oscillators in the Ring Mod modes.

[dcfac73]

Both have square and sawtooth.

The Volca Keys only has square oscillators in the Ring Mod modes.

According to Korg's website ,it also has a saw as well....

http://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/volc ... page_2.php

Edit- sorry ,are you saying that percussion sounds are made in Ring Mod mode?

I don't know much about sound synthesis. I know a noise generator is highly desirable to make clap and snare sounds. Seeing as the Keys doesn't have one, is there a way to combine 2 saw waves in some way to simulate noise?

[pdxindy]

Both have square and sawtooth.

The Volca Keys only has square oscillators in the Ring Mod modes.

According to Korg's website ,it also has a saw as well....

http://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/volc ... page_2.php

Edit- sorry ,are you saying that percussion sounds are made in Ring Mod mode?

I don't know much about sound synthesis. I know a noise generator is highly desirable to make clap and snare sounds. Seeing as the Keys doesn't have one, is there a way to combine 2 saw waves in some way to simulate noise?

If the LFO has a random mode and can go fast enough it will make noise...

[dcfac73]

If the LFO has a random mode and can go fast enough it will make noise...

This is from their website-

"LFO-
Rate, Pitch Int, Cutoff Int, Wave (Sawtooth, Triangle, Square) "

It doesn't appear to have a random mode for lfo although I'm not sure what Pitch Int and Cutoff Int are.
I'm guessing this is to modulate Pitch or Cutoff with the lfo

[ghettosynth]

Surely I am not the only one who thinks these volcas (while kinda geez whiz neat-o, sure)... sound cheap and crappy?

I think that they are limited, if that's what you mean. The beats is the least interesting of the three to me largely because the percussion synths are super simple designs and that really impacts the sound quality. I think that they're fun when used in a limited context and I think that they're priced right for what they are. At one point I really wanted something like the keys that could be used as a simple analog chord generator, but I've lost interest in that kind of thing. On the one hand I'm itching to see the rhythm wolf, on the other hand, I know it can only be a slight variation on the Korg boxes. One thing that I like more about the Akai box though is the form factor. It's large enough to modify extensively and it has real knobs. Form factor is a big deal for playability and I don't like "toy sized" instruments very much. I didn't appreciate the Matson mini-modular for the same reason. Those little knurled pot shafts are irritating and tiresome for live performance. I have heard a few youtube videos where people have created some nice stuff with them, although, I think that they're all something of a one trick pony.

These little boxes, especially the rhythm boxes, are new today, but in the 80s, the basic sounds were common as dirt as they formed the basis for the plethora of cheap drum machines like this.



I haven't purchased any of them yet, it's not like I need more analog in my studio, but I think that they're an interesting development. For me, the biggest value of them is that they're signaling that Korg is willing to pursue new analog design and I think that they're interesting from that point of view. Musically, meh, whatever. Although, I will find it at once entertaining and endearing if we start to see 14 year olds rebelling against the man with their own new version of punk-techno, I'd like to coin it punkno, but that's already been taken by some bastard form of overproduced dubstep/crapstep/hardcore bullshit that should more rightly be called punkstep, or perhaps just bullshit, whatever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNBnzSYQ ... 09A3A83057

[Uncle E]

According to Korg's website ,it also has a saw as well....

http://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/volc ... page_2.php

Edit- sorry ,are you saying that percussion sounds are made in Ring Mod mode?

I don't know much about sound synthesis. I know a noise generator is highly desirable to make clap and snare sounds. Seeing as the Keys doesn't have one, is there a way to combine 2 saw waves in some way to simulate noise?

Korg's being a little tricky here. Square oscillators are available but only in the ring mod modes. I've never seen anyone make drums with ring mod but that doesn't mean it can't be done.

The LFO is quite fast and the Volca Keys can be made to generate something approximating a noise oscillator. The envelopes are fast enough for drums, as well. You might not get traditional drum machine sounds out of it but I'm sure you'll get some useful zaps and resonant kicks.

[dcfac73]

According to Korg's website ,it also has a saw as well....

http://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/volc ... page_2.php

Edit- sorry ,are you saying that percussion sounds are made in Ring Mod mode?

I don't know much about sound synthesis. I know a noise generator is highly desirable to make clap and snare sounds. Seeing as the Keys doesn't have one, is there a way to combine 2 saw waves in some way to simulate noise?

Korg's being a little tricky here. Square oscillators are available but only in the ring mod modes. I've never seen anyone make drums with ring mod but that doesn't mean it can't be done.

The LFO is quite fast and the Volca Keys can be made to generate something approximating a noise oscillator. The envelopes are fast enough for drums, as well. You might not get traditional drum machine sounds out of it but I'm sure you'll get some useful zaps and resonant kicks.

Ok, thanks for that.

[lectrixboogaloo]

Korg's being a little tricky here. Square oscillators are available but only in the ring mod modes. I've never seen anyone make drums with ring mod but that doesn't mean it can't be done.

The LFO is quite fast and the Volca Keys can be made to generate something approximating a noise oscillator. The envelopes are fast enough for drums, as well. You might not get traditional drum machine sounds out of it but I'm sure you'll get some useful zaps and resonant kicks.

You may have heard ring mod as tonal components in analog style hats/cymbals or cowbell/other bell percs? Maybe Volca Keys uses xor for 'ringmod', hence the square waves. That's ok, seems like a setup for very old school tonal hihats. But, never touched a volca keys personally and don't know how much control there is over the pitches being ring modulated.

[lectrixboogaloo]

still havent got my hands on one yet to try.... im tempted by the 303 type emu, but not convinced

idem. a friend reports that they are 'a bit rolf harris'.

but they seem pretty classic to me. lot better than a fooken
stylophone.

i think: forget seeing that as a straight 303 emu, it won't be,
no accent, but good for similar type things, and the 3 way
thing looks fun. but why only 8 pattern memories?(is it?)
that's got to be limiting. but if it sounds good, why not,
*and mod the s**t out of it*(so there'll be lots of broken ones
floating around before long too)

It's too bad about the accent. But, I happened to be in a shop with some of these in stock on the same day I had a little cash on me. Somehow ended up leaving the cash at the shop with a Volca Bass in my hand. Discovered soon after that eg amount to filter can be controlled via cc. So, there is some alleviation- but need a DAW or something to use it. Also, you can 'layer' an extra oscillator on only particular notes, if you wish, for some extra umphs here and there?