Korg Volca Drum

I have the Korg Volca beats and such a good drum box for the money. When I feed it with modular it’s even more fun. I’m looking forward to run it thru my analog heat once that arrives.

Can you post an image of the Electribe you are talking about. There are so many, that I get really confused.

I imagine it’s the EMX2 but could be wrong.

This is the E2.

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Gnaaa, using the Volca Drum again (of course with lots of distortion) makes me once again kinda sad at this amazing engine being confined in the volca format.

I’m looking into the Digitakt manual, and I wonder if it’s possible to completely control the 19 paramters per volca-drum-track with it, like

https://synthmata.com/volca-drum/

in order to be completely independent of the Volca’s knobs, buttons and memory :stuck_out_tongue:

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Another Volca Drum lover here… Got 2! The sound engine is great - such a shame it’s in a volca format.

Despite their annoyances I still love using them for hihats/shakers over the top of my LXR mk1 or having 2 VDs running where one unit covers drums and the other does fx/ambience/tuned stuff. I’ve been experimenting with various methods of controlling them to get proper access to the parameters - recently bought an Akai Force so will be spending some time soon looking at how best to control the VDs from it using macros and pad-fx etc. Will report back!

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I love it too. Was disheartened to see that the Drumlogue didn’t make any use of the Volca Drum DNA…alas, we still have the Volca Drum.

I’ve been using it in a similar fashion to this, just with the Octatrack, the 10x CC slots provided are enough and the 3x MIDI LFOs are a delight. That’s before we even talk about running VD audio into OT!

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The limited memory doesn’t bother me as I don’t export/backup stuff in general. Fire and forget!

But a big brother with a knobbier interface would be nice for sure.

Currently pairing it with my Model:Cycles. They compliment each other nicely. Lil’ digi drum bros.

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One of my favourite things about the Volca Drum is that it sounds natural, almost like real percussion. I doubt it’s just free running oscillators (but maybe it’s just that).

(And that is multiplied a lot by the resonator, which sounds like Mutable Rings and not just some fast delay.)

That’s very contrary to the Model:Cycles (which utterly confused me when I had it: that it almost sounds like one shot samples instead of a … well … synth) and the Syntakt machines that are based on those, but at least on the Syntakt there’s a second LFO to make them sound similarily alive - which I always do …

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this was really a bummer, if the Korg Drumlogue had the Volca Drum architecture it would be an instant buy

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I agree on the Volca Drum! It can make remarkably acoustic-sounding synthesized percussion, can even get close to like foley-type sounds.

I find the M:C takes more work to get those sounds if you’re using anything but the Perc engine, but that’s actually why I like it, with some manipulation and pushing the percussion engines on the M:C can get really wacky and melodic almost

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(… not sure that was still directed at me - I was more talking about the behaviour that a sound on the Volca Drum (regardeless what kind of sound) never sounds the same when hit multiple times (same as when a percussionist hits a real-life instrument and naturally never hits the exact same spot twice) … the opposite of the “machine gun effect” :wink: … )

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Love the Models, especially the cycles. Love the VD. My setup will grow and improve as I do, but those three machines will always be in my aresenal, even if their roles diminish. The sounds the Volca Drum is capable of keep it in the conversation and make me want to throw it on as many tracks as possible.

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oH i misunderstood you, but yes I do agree with you there the Volca Drum does feel more organic in that way :slight_smile:

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Volca Drum into Valco Dist :woman_factory_worker:

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Great video! At times it could be everything I want musically coming from the volca. You mention in the description “General: The Octatrack isn’t the best-sounding machine - running the Volca through better-sounding gear might be nice to add some more character to the sound.” which of course bring up the Octatrack sound quality debate (personally I think it sounds as good as anything else) - I’d be interested in more comments in this regard. Do you feel the Octatrack was taking anything away or just not adding character?

In any case, an amazing set! Makes me want to sell all my gear and just use the Volca Drum and Octatrack!

Thanks - With the Octatrack comment, I was mainly focussing on the sound quality of the compressor, which I had on the master chain. It didn’t sound too transparent, rather muddy. I like overexaggerated compression at times, but this just didn’t work for me - also in the sense of “not adding character”. An Analog Heat with envelope follower and minimal distortion seems like a good alternative. I can’t really comment on general sound quality of the machine or compare it to others.

The Valco Distortion sounds amazing with the Volca Drum. My interest is peaked. Are you using the Valco with other electronic instruments? If so, are the results just as good? (sorry to go slightly off topic)

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I haven’t had much time with it yet, but the other day I ran my TD-3-MO through it (the goal this time was to /not/ sound like acid and take advantage of the MO possibilities) and it was devastating :bomb: I posted a bit more with the Volca here: Valco KGB Distortion - #16 by Jeanne … as you can hear, it makes tiny sounds huge without creating a mess. It has that bright, ‘expensive’ character I’m always looking for (as opposed to what I’d call lukewarm and muddy).

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Yeah, there’s a kind of heavy metallic sound, or like heavy machinery, coming out of it at certain levels that sounds amazing.

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