KORG Volca keys - Sequencing a Melody 

For God's sake, that LFO!

yeah, by letting that LFO on it kinda shows me the guy doesn't know what he's doing.

Yes, he doesn't know what he's doing....

and this is Ableton company's official tutor. . .

russ thompson yup

Agreed, this is more of a demo than tutorial.

Didn't understand a word , you are assuming the user knows what you are talking about ,having just bought one I have no knowledge of it at all , as somebody else has said this is not a tutorial , it's a demo and not what is needed ,the manual is of no use at all either in explaining how to use it ,or programming a sequence .

Made perfect sense to me

Really? I've never been impressed by any of the demonstrations of this device, but this video actually made me want to buy one.

Yes

I've came a long way since then man thanks with the from you and allot of other vids. I appreciate people like you taking the time to help the beginners cause we all had to start somewhere

This will only be achievable in Poly mode

Pretty sure it’s only got a midi input. You can run a 1/4 trs cable into an audio interface, just get a 3.5m adapter for the audio output of the Volca! That’s how I record from my Volca I use the iRig to record into my iPad, but whatever you use for PC will be fine

It only has one oscillator available. More importantly than white noise, I'd love a Square wave, Triangle wave... when I got it I was blown away that I only had one waveform. So it's all about the filter and EG

***** Ha, I wish! No, that only changes the waveform of the LFO. So sine wave is a smooth modulation, triangle is a little more forceful one, and square modulates in like a 'trill' fashion. I fell for that too before I bought one. Then I slapped myself in the forehead when I realized it was just for modulation, not for the actual oscillators. Unfortunately, sawtooth is all we get. (Unless you count the two square modes that are not poly)

***** To defend it though, it is one of the coolest-sounding synths I have played with. The instant gratification you get from it. When I use it as a monophonic, it has tons of cool options. It just bugs me that the Square wave is in there, and there was no reason why they couldn't have made it an option for polyphony, as the sawtooth is a bit harsh. I had hoped I could make a nice pad with it, but again, as a harsh, gritty synth module, it really delivers.

Definitely does that well! Turn up the resonance a bit, turn down the cutoff all the way, 0 attack, short decay, 0 sustain, and turn up the filter env to taste. Great poly plucky sounds! Especially when sequenced by the DAW. The minikorg filter sounds great too.

Try this! Note that is only accepts and outputs mono, which should be fine for the volcas, but not much else. www.amazon.com/Behringer-MX400-BEHRINGER-MICROMIX/dp/B000KGYAYQ/

I use this little guy for his comparable size and it also runs on batteries for portability. Works great for me. en.audiofanzine.com/analog-mixer/boss/BX-4/user_reviews/

Dean Scott Look up "Rolls mixer". They are small, passive, cheap, and work fine. I use one and may get another. I think they also make an active one, too.

The Volca Mixer

Sharkwhisperer Yeah, via midi cable and midi. You can't loop the actual sound from an outside synth, but you can loop the midi notes a controller or synth is sending to the Volca.

the volcas only have a midi in, sync over 3.5 mm and a 3.5 mm headphone jack as far as i know you can connect the volcas to midi controllers over midi and play their own sounds using external hardware :) (for example: connecting a midi keyboard to the volca keys, so midi signals (such as pressing down a key) will go to the volca and trigger a sound)

no

But actually, no sequencing until 3:00.

You are changing the wave form of the lfo, not the oscillators. This synth only has on waveform. Turn up the lfo pitch knob then change waves to hear what's actually changing.

William Voje Ah yes, I get it now, thanks for your reply. Just out of interest, do you or anyone else have any idea what kind of settings are in place to produce that sound he has at the very beginning?

Ross Aitken so if you're talking about the first chords he's playing then yes, I can. When I listen to the noise two big things jump out at me. First, the cutoff is moving from closed to open, like it's pulsing. Because it's pulsing you immediately know it's LFO modulated. The second is that every time he hits a note the cutoff starts at the same place. This implies that the LFO is "trigger synced" meaning that every time a new note is hit the LFO resets to its starting position. So, try enabling trigger synced, and turning on a little (or a lot) if cutoff int.

William Voje Amazing, thanks so much! Only had it a couple of days but I am really enjoying messing around with this synth. It is very user friendly but I am pleased there are people out there willing to help demystify it for a first timer such as myself.

William Voje Great answer dude.

Just my opinion., these are going to be great for resampleing into your DAW adding EQ and compression for good analog grit....But I am tempted to look at Arturia's MicroBrute for 299US. That little monster is just, sick!

EXACTLY what I was also thinking.

LatigidGolana . I seriously just bought a Volca Keys and a Microbrute 3 days later. I run them through a Zoom H4N into my DAW and i must say; Best investment ever. You're forced to take a minimalistic approach, which really makes you think about what you're gonna record. I am a happy human being. I just want to find out how to sync the Microbrute with Ableton. That would be the best..

Volca Keys is a polysynth, which is good fun and all, but with only Sawtooth available... you're left with the most harmonic of the waveforms to deal with. You can't easily dial in a smooth pad sound. It is more geared towards stabs. 3 Sawtooth oscillators coming out of one amp becomes chunky and messy unless played very separately in pitch, like if you hook up a midi keyboard to it. The delay is nice, but the feedback of the delay just seems to create a tiny awkward distortion in any setting below 50%, so even though it has its charm, it's not the lush delay you'd hope for. The EG and filter are excellent though, and you'll pretty much spend all your time with the EG, Filter, and LFO. Which is a shame because a complex oscillator section would have made this a star product. All in all, if you're looking for an analog polysynth, I do not recommend this. It's a bit of a one-trick-pony with the sawtooth waveform, and many of the other settings are very limited. It's good fun but not versatile enough for me to really call it a SYNTHESIZER. It should be called a Korg Volca PolySaw.

***** you actually CAN change the waveform on it as far as i know on the pressable keys there are many extra functions which they didn't talk about in the video and there actually are keys for the saw, triangle and square i'm new to all this, so please correct me if i'm wrong - but that is what i could make of pictures of these :)

+T. K. The title is actually correct. You can either play a melody, record a melody or "Sequence" a melody. Since the Volca Keys "Sequencer" allows you to "arrange your notes in a particular order" ( the actual definition of a sequence ), it is in fact sequencing your melody vs having to linearly record or sample your melody or play it live every time. Even in your subjective definition of sequencing, his title is correct, because someone can interpret the 16 step pattern sequencer as the full length of their "song" and create different melodies within those 16 steps.