Korg Volca Keys - Sonic Lab Review
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- čas přidán 16. 09. 2013
- The last of the Volca reviews, be sure to check out our other reviews.
Volca Keys is a 3 voice analogue synth capable of the 3 voice poly operation. astonishing in such a small, cost effective package.
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Loving mine. Beware that it's a total gateway drug though! You'll soon want more Volcas and other synths as you go down the rabbithole...
i mix synths with sodium bicarb in the microwave and smoke them - someone help me!
exactamente es
currently there, im fucking in love with the volca sample, not using my mpc500 anymore lol
I'm not using my laptop, guitar and bass anymore since I don't remember when, but I'm happy.
Just got my 7th ! Gotta catch em all!!!!
One of the best reviews I've cam e across so far, I'm a guitar player and just started to spread my wings and this is my first synth. I'm happy with the purchase and haven't played my guitar in over a month, I think I should pick it back up before I lose my calices!
+stack0413 ST@X13 @SoundCloud
spent so much time playing music you forgot to study spelling and grammar in school! LoL!
Yeah, takes the time to add some cunty remark to a 2 year old comment.
@@SonicBodhi1 That was rather callous
@@SonicBodhi1 ass
I like, I love and I adore your SonicLab reviews of synthesizers and other things. I watch them very active, very often and completely all reviews. And I watch them some of them several times. SonicLab reviews is my favorite. Wonderful!!!
Just got mine and about to have some fun playing with it. Thanks for the great review as it was most helpful and influential in making my decision to buy one. You really know your stuff, clearly explain the features and give great constructive criticism, all of which is very informative and refreshing. Please keep up the good work.
I would say these three reviews (beats, bass and keys) are the best and most informative of all that I've stumbled uppon on youtube! Thanks!
Where else can you get a 3 voice poly analog for $150? This thing is excellent.
This review was worth the wait. It hit the points I was wondering about and brought up a few issues to ponder. Excellent.
Nick, I appreciate that you actually play something nice and melodic. Many other synth demo/reviews (especially the manufacturers) are people just jerking around with uninteresting sequences and saying all the great things it can do.
I don't care of all the cool things it can do if I don't know how I can use it with the music I create.
Hey Nick, was just watching your reviews of the Monotron Delay/Duo and Monotribe. The analogue synth industry (Volcas not the best example) and your channel have both come a long way in the last 5 years. Not missing the goatee at all!
The sounds you made in the outro of this video are freaking awesome!
Excellent Review as always. I've got one coming in the post.... Thanks!
Nick you are awesome. Thanks for doing all of these great vids, keep it up!
Really informative, man.. thank you for making these videos, your knowledge helps a lot of people, seriously, thanks you very much. You are the best!
i love this dude, its so pleasing to listen to his reviews,
The Volca Keys really is an amazing little synth. I play it every day and I'm still finding new sounds it can create. It can be a smooth polysynth, a bassy monosynth, and if you have a sampler it can even provide your analog drum sounds. Love it.
Great review as always, thanks.
Really good review!!
great review. thx for your work.
Fantastic review and fantastic product, a true workhorse!!
THANK YOU NICK
Superb demo. Thank you.
I genuinely need all three of these.
Thanks for all your reviews Nick. I watch them all the time. Going to be reviewing the Bass Station 2 soon by chance? Cheers
to me, it's about the unique features. automation is very cool. you can really do things with these that you can't do with anything else. great for creativity. plus when the power went out the other day I hardly even noticed. also I like the stepped sound to the filter when the res. is high. people usually complain about this but I use it to my advantage, you can play melodies with the filter and sounds different than everything else out there. thank you korg.
not unique though... Almost all korg products have that automation thing, the older one too. As parameter locking in ALL the Elektron machines... So not only Korg ;)
No, its not. Analog filters do not generally step like that, they have a smoother slope to them, the stepping is due to the lack of resolution of the control knob. This is because of two things - the MIDI controller is only 128 steps AND Korg have not done anything with the interpolation to make it smoother. Unsurprising really considering the cost, but that is why.
Great review as always! I want all three volcas. Because of Nick and Sonic State I have bought Moog, Korg and Dave Smith synths. I've also avoided buying equipment as well.
Definitely the best of the Volcas. I even like it's sound more than a lot of really expensive synths. Love the gritty old school feel of it... perfect for ambient soundscapes.
Having built in delay is a huge bonus too... the average delay pedal costs as much as the Volca Keys itself.
Wow that sounded nice and big at the end there. I really like the rustic delays, if it is like the one on the monotron I will love it!
Great idea! I'd buying one of those as well.
Yes I saw that! Never actually got around to trying it out... thanks for the reminder.
Sounds really awesome, nice!
Very tempted to buy a couple of these to sync with my analog 4.
I wasn't too convinced of its actual usefulness until you showed the tempo division feature! I'm going to try and sync it to my EMX-1 to add a few chords here and there. Thanks for yet another awesome in-depth review. PS I read somewhere the filter is steppier on the Keys due to it being digitally controlled (for automation recording) unlike the Bass.
Great review, as always!
I loved the John Carpenter sequence at the very last end :-)
that little set up is badass
For the price, this thing appears quite epic.
Excellent demo!
It took me 9 years after this video to actually buy a Volca Keys... but hey the fun is still there!
Dope review.
The filter has more than a little bit of stepping IMO
They only need to put a tiny amount of lag on that. That would only cost them a few pennies (or yen or whatever)
I don't mind stepping in lots of cases. Sometimes it can sound cool
Yeah, but it screams.
Motion recording delay time adjustments to make a chorus is such a good idea! Could do the same with detune in tandem maybe too for even thicker effects. Damn it I can't wait for these boxes!
I purchased the volca keys and hated it on my first listen of it. Its growing on me as i play with it and learn its features. The way its designed with the sync makes you want all 3. I have now ordered the bass and beats will be no doubt on the the way soon. All i can really say is you get what you pay for. its very good for price but dont expect a awesome sounding analog. With tweaking and change of EQ through a mixer , external fx it can sound sweet.
I like your reviews Nick. Informative and conversational style, that gets to the centre of the subject without too much jargon. I have the volca fm (which is a superb unit) and am thinking of adding the keys to my humble setup. If only the volcas could receive midi on different channels.
They can! you can select the channel
This video made me buy one! :D
Excellent end to a fine series of reviews. Like how you rounded up some general notes, very thorough. Rather strange (and disappointing) how it's noisier than the 2 others, but still doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as the monotrons, so still a very tempting proposition. Also disappointing with the filter, as the filter on the bass sounds very sweet in your review of that.
Btw, any1 know, is it confirmed that the delay is analogue? I believe the monotron delay was only "analogue style".
GJ!
Great review Nick. Given all the different features and louder noise level of the Volca Keys, would you choose the Keys or the Bass if you were to only get one?
It sounded pretty flippin musical in your demo nick!!
A mini portable sampler keys would be nice, they should do a mini sample player with analogue filter and delay. A little micro sd job, but make it run on batteries.
Seems like this might be my first synthesizer
Love the camera changes. Though they should be synced with key changes ;)
Just a note about waveforms, the oscillator puts out a sawtooth wave, except in the ringmod modes. If you go into ringmod poly and play single notes, you'll get a square wave. Hardly earth-shattering, but it's a nice feature.
6:21
There's a reason for that. When in either of the ring mod modes, the oscillators output square waves.
To get rid of the hiss, bypass the delay witch a switch.
MrVitalic85 how ? :o
if you are watching this and still dont own one of these things, go out and buy it. you wont regret. the keys has been a solid performer in my studio.
Loved the chord progression
Wow! Ouuuuu! Wonderful...... The Synth is completely wonderful and all review is wonderful!...... And the music what you play for the review in the review is wonderful!.... I like it very much .... And it is wonderful the all end of the review... finishing in TV episode way with the credits, and the content of the all picture: Illuminating in white and after that go dark and go night with night lights. And the music correspond to the illustration and all picture....with that music expression and the expression of the image in the video relating to the music! The all expression of the entire video review relating to the product presentation, the all idea which is this what it is THIS. It is so so so good! It is wonderful every thing in this video. You have very good and very good quality of expression in all kind of things/activities, side and ordinary things/activities which are expected to be side and ordinary but they are not. This is just a product review of a manufacturing product but the things inside this are not that ..... They are other things. It is wonderful.
Amazing little synth the bass mate, has a very unique sound and is capable of some really complicated and fresh new sounds. It's not just for bass either, you can make some amazing leads too even bass drums and percs. Most people are saying it sounds better than novations bass station II which is pretty amazing considering theyre £400.
Only a matter of time until we have a "mini" poly 6! Congrats Korg on enhancing you analog image this year.
Hey! Good interview with allesandro cortini
Year 2020 and I'm watching this review (because sonicstate reviews are really really the best!) hunting for some (additional) cheap (
Those chords at 9:36. Fantastic!
From the retailer where I have my pre-order waiting to be filled. They checked with Korg Canada last week and just heard back from Korg today.
Funny, Korg Canada already has a bug fix posted for Volca Beats and the system software 1.02 to download.
Yeah I think I'd buy the beats if I didn't already own an EMX-1, but the Volca Bass just has a such a great sound to it considering it's price. Can't wait...
i got one when released. i like its crusty cheap sound, ran through fx its great.
I have a volca keys and I love it. It's really a minimal rig, by the way it's capable of surprisingly subtle shades. Noisy, yes, a little. Not a problem, it's too much fun for the buck.
Yeah, in this case i'm inclined to agree. But traditionally the noise is a huge problem with all Korgs units with built in speakers. That's why it's on so many peoples minds in this case too.
About the sampling, all those interested in a cheap sampler should take a 2nd look at an Akai MPX8. Which also kinda proves that a Volca Sampler is very possible. And Korg have earlier done very well with the Electribe ES-1 and ESX-1 samplers. Think that tech would easy and cheap conform to a Volca format.
they are here in the states!
Yeah, I've been wondering about the delay as well. The monotron was using some cheap CMOS IC so my guess it's the same. Would be great to get that confirmed though.
I really want one.
This is megasonic, simply due to the ability to clear the quantize and go freeform over four bars...lovely stuff!
as a person who mainly does live improvisation, the motion-sequencing and beeing able to pre-record them really makes me wonder if I should get this one or the bass (although eventually I might get both)... I don't care for the beats at all, but I can't wait to sync them up with my good ol' Electribe ER1
As far as sampling goes, I think between the Korg ESX-1 and microsampler and the Roland SP-404, there are plenty of affordable, easy to use samplers out there already. Plus samplers are not having the sort of renascence that analog synths are right now.
yes! a midi lfo box is something really missing on the market, same as just a standalone pitchbend/modwheel for keys with no function like that. where are the manufacturers with their mind?
nice demo, you did a great job on this and the v bass!
i'd like to see a volca sequencer come out
If you use a slow LFO to modulate the filter, it will not step. The EG attack/decay will not either. generally the stepping is usually on synths where there is some preset storage or automation ability, because I believe the slider is controlling data not the VCF directly. My Jupiter 6 does this, but funny enough the Andromeda does not. So maybe its newer or more expensive data encoder designs. The only way anyone can say no to this synth is if they already have a more comprehensive analog poly.
@sonicstate About modulating midi parameters like with an LFO, I know that's pretty easy to do in Reason 7 and above with virtual cv patch cables and the external midi device module. Pretty amazing stuff
Slight mistake in the review: the motion controls can't be applied to the VCF Peak knob or the tempo knob. All the other white/transparent knobs can have motion control applied to them. One very positive thing to note is that the it's actually possible to play the keys on the device, unlike that sadistically tiny strip that comes on the Monotribe.
I thought the same thing the first time I heard someone demo the Keys filter. If you listen closely though you'll notice that as the filter sweeps higher it starts missing harmonics. It's too bad as they probably could have dropped motion sequencing support for something that wouldn't have bee missed (like the EG or one of the mod depths) and doubled up on the cutoff's resolution.
Legend!
It's 8th (like good old days when clock pulse of Din sync between Korg and Roland were different).
9:35 Wow, that 1 to 4 tempo setting really lets you put everything in its right place doesn't it!?
I picked up a portable Lithium-ION battery pack for $20 that you use to recharge smartphones, MP3 players, etc. via a USB cable. It powers the Akai MPX8 great. I haven't tried to see how long the MPX8 will run off the battery pack, but probably longer than typical 6-AAs.
it would be fantastic, yes!!!!! hey, korg!!!! please!!!
That delay is the same as the Minilogue, I know realize. Wow!
and the stepping is still better than the some of the vintage analogs like the sequential six trak in particular.
No noise generator on this one? I mean..if i just wants to use it as an effect sound unit..to make breezing winds an suchs?
try having a look at sonicstate's review of the Kaossilator Pro it goes into the midi functionality, the other thing is I think the Volca keys only excepts sync by its clock inputs and not by its midi input could be wrong tho and that could be updated later
Now I understand why Akai has made that new mini sample player! They timed it with these I reckon , for the tabletop hobbiest tribes. Akai could of killed it if they were clever enough to realise it should be able to run on batteries, but no Alai lost it long ago.
great vid got a lot of info, missed if he explained what the LFO trigger sync function did. I'd watch it again im just quite busy if anyone would explain that would be most rad.
AYE found my answer so ill just post here in case anyone is equally as clueless as myself. The LFO trigger sync function when turned on restarts the sweep of your LFO with each new note you play pretty groovy
Does the other synths (bass/drums) have anything similar to the tempo 1/1 - 1/4 division? When you are using a 1/4 tempo division can you switch patterns ? Do patterns saved with tempo divide mode save with theiir respective tempo divisions?
Very important question (for me)! If I wanted one volca just as a analog synth module for my DAW and not for live performances which do I want? Bass or keys? Which has the bigger range use in studio work?
10 years in - still deciding whether to commit to buying one. :-0
Maybe get the Roland S1 instead
@@sonicstate S1 looks cool - I have some of the boutiques though and I don't like how deep Roland goes with menus on small devices in general, so I'm wary of adding more (the 4d looks cool too - but then I see the menus getting used in any demo I've watched, and it turns me off).
The funny thing with Volcas is, I was never that enamored with the original trio, so I basically ignored them completely until recently - now I have the Kick, which is my favorite, and the Sample, Nubass, Beats, and Drum... I have so many other synths I feel like the original volca Bass/Keys aren't going to do that much for me. Yet, the Beats impressed me though even against all the other drum machines I have had (back then I got the TR-8 and I thought the Beats couldn't match it, but I was wrong, it's got its own character and ease-of-use even against the OG TR-8, let alone the TR-8s).
Anyway thanks for the response, wasn't expecting anyone to reply! :)
Definitely going to keep the S1 on my short list of things though! Only checked it out a few days ago online... it does fit the volca ethos much more than their bigger units, for sure!
If I need a review, I come and see Nick...
Just curious, what was the signal during the 6:58-7:03 marks?
theres a midi template you can get for the lemur on ipad that works as a midi LFO. that should work
since im already writing a book here I might as well add in, the reason the volca bass doesn't step is because it cant record motion sequences or store the cutoff knob data. Of course I haven't played any volcas yet but have played hundreds of synths. I'm relay looking forward to both the beats and the bass both of which make sounds that haven't been available for the last 15 years for under a grand. The keys is surely the least expensive analog poly ever built tho.
So I bought the Volca Keys and I tried plugging it to my Kaossilator Pro. The only thing I managed to get with that is synched clocks. Is there something else I can control with the Kaoss? (Such as starting loops on both machines at the same time)
Overall, I really like it. Yesterday I commuted to and from work while trying new sounds with it. I'm sure there's a whole lot about it I haven't discovered yet!
Hmmm wonder if they'll release a software update like with the Monotribe :D I could go for that! I'm guessing the filter doesn't track the keyboard right?
Great video. Can you hook this up to a Roland tb 3? If so how?
hey, im tying to connect my axion 25 mk2 to my volca keys via a Dc 9v adapter without a computer. I have masure they are on the same channel, but Im having no luck