Volca Keys After Two Years 

One nice thing about the simplicity and intuitiveness of controls is that you can put the Volca Keys away for a few months, then jump right back in without needing to get re-acquainted with complex menus, knob assignments, reading the manual, etc. This is certainly not the case with many synthesizers.

Please trust me that you're missing half the fun by ignoring that sequencer! Honestly- please try to not dismiss it outright, and just give it one more shot for what it CAN do... especially in the context of a Volca / Pocket Operator jam. If it's not too presumptuous, may I raise a couple points to keep in mind? -basically EVERY KNOB can be sequenced (everything but Resonance, Tempo, and master volume, IIRC). All at once. Even the Delay controls. Over a dozen simultaneous lanes of parameter sequencing! The Minilogue & Monologue only allow 4. -Each pattern can be up to FOUR BARS LONG! Even without decreased resolution, because... -You can record unquantized (sort of)! Enabling "FLUX" unlocks the 16-step grid, and you can basically realtime record as many notes as you want in each pattern, almost like a looper (although there is still some degree of quantization going on). And each pattern can be 1, 2, or 4 bars long, so at its slowest speed (10 BPM), a single pattern can go for over a minute and a half before it loops. One cool possibility is recording into the sequencer using a controller with an arpeggiator. Enable FLUX, select the "1/4" TEMPO, hit REC to arm it for realtime recording... then just start playing 4 bars of arpeggios. You can overdub and make use of the 3-note paraphony... But ultimately, the insane Motion Sequencing capabilities is where the fun i-- good Lord! It's 3am! I need to chill out about this and go to SLEEP! ...anyway, enjoyed the video!! 😉🙏

I got mine a year and a half ago and I'm in total agreement here. I've watched many of your Keys videos and you always do it proud. It's good to see someone singing its praises because it's a very underrated synth. Yeah, it maybe basic perhaps, but the main thing is the sound and it sounds bloody brilliant! I'm currently using mine for bass in a track and it's a monster.

I always enjoy hearing the keys! For me it’s like when you have a favorite dish that you always get from a restaurant. You don’t get the most variety, but you get exactly what you want.

Great video as always! The sounds really are amazing, and I’m glad to hear other people mention problems with the sequencer. I really have been struggling with it, almost considering buying the Korg SQ1 just to get a better sequencer. But I don’t want to buy anything new until I learn this.

I've been rewatching your Volca Keys videos lately and learning a lot. Thanks for that. I finally ordered one while they were on sale last month, but it looks like it won't arrive until June... maybe. I knew that when I ordered it, but for $129, I couldn't resist and I figured it would give me something to look forward to.

Along with Moog Werkstatt, Volca Keys is one of my favorite synths and they both compliment each other very well. Had them both for 5 years. I also own NTS-1, Volca Kick and Drum.

I own my Keys since some month and like it a lot. There is a third party editor u can use standalone or as a VST, this give u the options of save patches and use automation in a DAW and make the Keys more amazing. When u are not an expert in synths, like me, u can learn a lot from using this lil synth.

I just got my Volca Keys about a week ago, and so far it seems amazing! My only issue so far is that I find it difficult to tweak, then again I'm still learning subtractive synthesis, so its probably a me-problem lol. I will say that it is very good in the bass department, and can create some killer leads. Overall, I feel that its an amazing synth! If you are a beginner, I recommend spending the money and getting it! Another alternative that is nice is the Stylophone Gen X-1 (although that has no polyphony).

I think the Volca keys is pretty much perfect- I wish they’d make one with more polyphony.

I love it for short blippy/plucky sounds and feeding it with MIDI arps. Does nice basses and leads too.

I use it with my circuit tracks/rhythm set up. Gives me good bass sounds to sample and good plucks to add reverb and delay to

I got one and it’s so awesome when I use it connected with midi to my circuit tracks on midi 1 and the nts1 on midi 2!

Thanks for the vid. To me, it's useful to hear the opinion of someone who has owned one for a couple of years. I'm trying to decide between one of these and the FM version. I may go with the FM. I wish they had more than 3-voice poly!

it sounded great. there is always a song in the air, just gotta catch it.

I've found that it's good at the limited things that it does, but you can get everything from fat to reedy sounds and make them as dirty or clipped or saturated as you like. I have a larger Korg digital polyphic that I use when I need more than a couple voices at the same time or if I need a tune to express a specific preset in mind... and it does that well, but I can get lost in it and forget what I'm trying to accomplish. For me, the keys are great for either a more distinct analog melody or harmonic support or specific bass tones or drones. I think I'm up to four volcas at this point, but the keys are handy for puzzling out little ditties in isolation and the limitations help me to focus because my choices are restricted a bit, and then I can shape what I end up with and layer that into what the other bits of kit are offering.

I love mine

Great video man, thanks. If you had to pair any one Korg Volca product with a Novation Circuit, which would you pick, maybe a second choice as well. Thank you.

From a technical perspective, the keyboard of the Volca Keys isn’t a resistive strip like on the Monotron, but a capacitive button array, so the tones are at least quantized in frequency.

I think the Keys are one of the best Volcas to get just becauz of the simplicity of it. I think the biggest problems the other Volcas have is that they have great features that are bottlenecked by their limitations. But becauz the Volca Keys are so simple and straightforward, you don't feel constrained like you would with the other machines. The only limits are no MIDI out and a sequencer that can only loop one bar, but it's easy to get around that with an external sequencer. The other synths have the same constraints in addition to other constraints. Out of all the limitations, the Volca Keys just seem to hav the least. It's versitile as well, it can create a variety of sounds and has just enough to work with to get nice sounds. It doesn't have complexity outside of it's capabilities.

The sequencer is meh, this is true, but it can do just enough to be useful. I have been feeding mine through a shimmer reverb pedal lately and it can sound epic. Honestly, for basic synth sounds, this, an NTS1, and the Monotron Delay and Duo...that'll do you. The combos are amazing.

I got a VK, and love it, but i always feel the need to pair it with a Keystep to really squeeze its potential. ;)

you made a playlist about the nts-1. how about making playlists for the volca keys and the microfreak? on a pc the search function is available for each channel, but on an ipad this is missing, so a playlist would be helpful.

Hi Freebeat! I am currently checking for midi keyboards. Do you think the Arturia Keystep you have there is excellent for the Volca Keys? Or should I go for the Arturia Keystep 37? Also, someone said that the Volca Keys is Paraphonic and it's not good for Keystep or Keystep 37. Hence I should go for the Keystep Pro. What are your thoughts?

The Volca Keys is really great. Especielly for beginners in the synth world.

Midigate! Awesome.

I’m wondering if I could use this with my Orba 2? I just really want to add effects and layer sounds over existing loops on the Orba in real time. For a live campsite performance lol

I'm certain the "VCO" is actually a DCO, because it never needs tuning. The "Detune" knob is to detune voices not a global frequency control. I'm happy with this because it means I just switch VK on and play in concert pitch without needing to warm it up and use a tuner which VCO synths require.

is an NTS-11 as capable in the basic analog synth department? Especially since it includes nice effects and you can add custom oscillators?

Random question, but I figure if anybody knows the answer to it, it’s you. Have you had any issues with the Volca keys getting stuck playing a note nonstop, when controlling it with an external controller? I’m using an oxygen pro mini and it has happened twice now where a note stays “on” and I can’t get it to stop unless I restart the Keys. Thanks!

If you have to choose between the Volca Keys and the Bheringer Model D as your only sinth, which one you choose? Thanks!

The sound is not stereo. Why?

what speaker do you have that connected to?

Sounds like the older mini moog, i like a piano and music box sounds on keyboards, am i thick or is that FM.

20 seconds it took me.. + this lol

Would you ever get a Volca Bass. I Got one and I'm having a little difficulty figuring it out

do you need some kind of software to play them?

And what is the difference betwin the Volca FM ?

I wish I could find one, I can’t even figure out how to order one from Korg...

You only have mono pulse wave on the poly ring mod and you cant turn off ring mod. No hack to do poly square...It sound good, but you will buy another later too. And all key related volcas like FM2 using the same sequencer, no step record and like a looper.

MIDI-gated😂 just like that!

Use some patch notes like this one! There's another one as well you can find pretty easy with a Volca Keys Patch Sheet and a google search :) bracket-three.com/wp-content/uploads/1/cfile6.uf.2609763D532276772C488D.pdf