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Hello Youtube! Ujiie here
The VOLCA series by KORG
I'm having the time of my life right now with these
VOLCA beats
VOLCA bass
VOLCA keys
These 3 machines all belong the the VOLCA family
Such well built machines, very impressed with them
Each synth is sold separately, as you would expect
But you might have noticed that all three synths were playing in perfect sync with one another
This is one of the highlights of using these machines together
So basically all three machines are being controlled by one master tempo
For example, let's play something using this
And this one as well
So right now we have our drums and bass playing
And they're both playing back at the same tempo
But watch as I up the tempo of this machine
And back down
So what's actually going on is
This 'Sync Cable', which is really just your standard stereo mini cable
If you'll take a close look here, you'll notice that there's a 'Sync I/O', something that all of the VOLCA series synths come with
Without the 'Sync Cable' plugged in, you'll see here
These are our drums, and our bass
As you would expect, it's completely out of sync
But by simply connecting our 'Sync Cable'
So first we decide which machine will determine our master tempo, the VOLCA beats in this case
So we connect the output of the VOLCA beats, to the input of the VOLCA bass
And just like that, the VOLCA beats tempo is now controlling the VOLCA bass' tempo as well
And the amazing thing about this is, you can actually daisy chain these sync I/Os
And that's all you need to do to have all three machines synced up to each other
Amazing
Normally you would need to sync everything through MIDI, and set up all your clocks manually
As a side note, you can still sync your MIDI clocks as well
Very nice
So using these sync cables, you can really come up with some elaborate sync chains
Some pretty groundbreaking stuff here
With that being said, let's take a look at each machine individually
We'll start with the VOLCA beats here
The VOLCA beats, as you might have guessed, is a drum machine
The thing about this machine is, it's very intuitive
Programming it is a breeze
You have even have grasped what I was doing just by watching the DEMO earlier
First we'll activate 'Step Mode', then activate 'Recording mode'
At this point, you'll notice some LED lights begin to flash
Each light corresponds to a 16th note in this case
And as you'll notice, the light for 'Kick' is on right now
This indicates that we are currently controlling our kick sound
Let's take a listen
So our kick sound will be triggered wherever our grid is lit
For example
Very easy to understand
Right now we have our kick selected, but let's try sequencing our snare instead
To select our snare, we'll use this 'Part' button
And now we have our snare sound selected
Looks like it's working..
So intuitive, so easy to use
Alright next let's program our closed HH
Straight 16th notes
Maybe we'll try a clap as well
So simple
Let's add an Agogo
Side note
Your kick sound, all the way up to your open HH, are all analog sounds
Your claps, clavi, and agogo sounds are PCM sounds
Of course you can adjust certain parameters like pitch, envelope etc.
So you can customize your sounds to your liking
So well made
Another interesting feature is this 'Stutter' function
Adjusting the time/depth will result in something like this
Hear that?
Works very well
It's pretty similiar to a delay
Triplets
Quarter notes
Half notes
And if we really break it down into smaller notes we get something like this
So as you can see, it's possible to get some really intricate grooves going with this machine
Such a quality machine, VOLCA beats
Next up is the VOLCA bass
This thing is capable of some really fat sounds
Incredible
This is where are all your basic synthesizer controls are located
Filter cutoff
Resonance
Next we'll adjust our envelope
You have your LFOs as well
Awesome
Using these knobs, you can calibrate your detune levels, and really fatten up your sounds
Step sequencing is really simple as well
And just like that, you can start adding/layering other parts over eachother
Which you'll then record using this 'Memory' button
Very cool stuff
So that is the VOLCA bass in a nutshell
Very intuitive, and there's alot of ways you can experiment with this synth and come up with some very techno-esque basslines
And lastly, the VOLCA keys
And true to its name, it's layout closely resembles a keyboard
These keys do indeed function as you would expect
Playable, not much different from any other keyboard synths
And as I demonstrated with the VOLCA bass, you can record your own phrases with this machine as well
This right here is the focal point of this synth though
You can choose from a number of different presets using this ***
Poly, for example, will get you a polyphonic sound
We can also make some adjustments here
Very analog
Next is 'Unison', which is a mono synth
Which we'll then detune..
Next up is 'Octave'
'Fifth'
Perfect fifth intervals
Next is the 'Unison Ring Modulator'
Very powerful, punchy sound
And now we'll play that in poly mode
So what's happening here is the ring modulation is working based on what intervals your playing on the keys
And as you can see, we have a MIDI cable plugged into this
Connected to this microkontroller, which will function as a MIDI controller
So now you can play your sounds using a much more musically functional controller
So much fun
VOLCA keys, I'm actually using this as a sound bank during live shows currently
And don't forget, this machine has delays/other effects built in as well
Analog delay
Another one of the many analog-esque features of this synth
So definitely experiment with these three machines, as there's potential for some very interesting musical ideas
Using these new synths, let's come up with some new music for THIS generation
Not just rehash/recycle old sounds, but lets innovate and push boundaries
I'm very excited to see what people will be able to come up with using these machines
This has been a DEMO of the VOLCA beats, VOLCA bass, and VOLCA keys, thanks for watching!