KORG volca series

what i have been enjoying with the volca fm of late is running the 'picking' preset through a short delay and also doubling up the sequence with a reverby pad running on something else and you can get some really nice fake oud sounds that way, get some phrygian mode going and you're sorted

I wonder if that's the same one that I read as 'plucking'? It must be, it's the best one. After getting it I was inspired to make two whole tracks using mostly that preset, and a bass. On one of them I think I layered it with a marimba patch and some harp samples, but yeah it's so usable.

I think there's a pluckkey *and* a picking preset, which is confusing! Picking sounds like a zither string being hit with a stick, pluckkey is more of a harp type sound, which has almost a flutey tone to it, albeit with a harder attack. Still not sure what a 8arnbass is though

i'm wanting to get a cheap drum machine and have been looking at the volca beats — anybody know the difference between the analog vs. the digital one?

these might be mischaracterisations, but from the demos I've seen, volca beats has got some nice classic 80s drum machine sounds but seems to be cursed with a terrible snare that sounds like a wasps fart. volca drum has got a wider palette and sounds a lot more modern. guess it depends on what sort of music you want to make with it?

Not a Volca but I can recommend the Korg NTS-1 synth. It's a bit cheaper (£100 or so) and is well worth it for the effects alone - filter sounds lovely and there are several different reverbs and delays that can do some crazy shit. There are downloadable oscillators and effects as well but I haven't really explored them. Only downside is it's pretty small and flimsy, so more like a Monotron than a Volca in terms of build.

Austin I'd def give the volca drum a try - you can get more, and more weird, sounds from it. all digital but lots of tone shaping on offer, plus sequencer does probability and stuff like that to get you out of endlessly sticking with the same loop.

this guy fakes a Lyra 8 with it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWbdrH5qcgM

the beats is analogue kick and snare matched with sampled hats and other percussion, it's sorta nothing you can't get from a decent sample pack.

Wow! I have no interest in using it for drums, but a lot of interest in using it for non-drum applications.

Hmmm. I keep going back and forth on whether I should get the drum. I used to play music with a buddy but I moved away and lack music buddies here. I've got a looping pedal but it gets boring after a while and I feel like a new piece of gear might be what I need to get back to it.

Is it pretty intuitive to use? I had an Alesis awhile back and I had a very hard time figuring it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEggWkX2Lns]
(not a Volca and more expensive but maybe a bit like a more flexible Beats?)

Is it pretty intuitive to use? I had an Alesis awhile back and I had a very hard time figuring it out.
forgot to give an answer on this, sorry! so, it is and it isn't. you get six drum voices and you can do what you like with them, no preset 'kick' 'snare' etc, which means dialling in sounds from scratch will take longer (no real templates for each).

you also need to grasp that you get two layers per voice, which is good for doing one short sharp sound and another longer tailed one to combine the two.

I tried using the 'Edit' function of the Volca FM for the first time, attempting to do some actual patch programming (or just get the LFO set to pitch for a given patch!). I watched a tutorial and it seemed like the parameters coming up on mine did not match what the video guy had, idk.

I'm still getting great results just by twiddling knobs, you can get a long way from the presets just by changing the algorithm and adjusting decay & velocity. I may never learn it properly but I'm still getting more tracks out of it than maybe any synth I've owned.

Nice to hear you're getting good use out of it, Jordan! The Volca FM is the first synth I bought, 3 years ago. I ended up selling it in part because I couldn't get my head (and fingers) around programming it.

Loki hates lo-fi delays I guess?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW948Va-l10

(that's supposed to start at 33 seconds in)

tax marvel

It's a streaming series, no budget for a Minilogue (much less a Kyra or something)

If this had been a late 70s BBC series, it would have been a Stylophone.

I signed on to do a solo drums & synth performance next month (along with a couple of other drummers), and I think I'm going to keep it simple and roll with just the Volca Keys, my old fave (and an old Tascam digital 4 track to play samples).

I explored the sequencer for the very first time to record some loops, and it's very cool but also pretty touchy and wonky. But you can put down a bassline and another part, and then I can get a lot of tweaky mileage just from adjusting the cutoff, delay, and tempo. That's about all I can handle live, while also playing drums.

I saw Russ Gabriel doing a live set at a festival with 3 Volca’s about 5 years ago, and it was as the equal (if not better) than the other people playing sets that weekend with gear many times the price. It helped that he played to the strength of the machines - loopy techno with lots of live tweaking.