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Buying all 6 Volcas

 
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Ckek20



Joined: 23 Dec 2017
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:51 pm    Post subject: Buying all 6 Volcas Reply with quote

Okay
So I have a quick question^

Currently I'm planning on getting the Volca Keys & Volca Fm

The question is : is it necessary to buy all 6 Volcas or some of them can generate the exact same sounds as any other Volca from the Korg Volca series?

For example : a lot of people say that the Korg Volca Kick can really generate a lot of good/bright leads such as the Volca Keys do

So I am curious if I actually need to purchase all of the 6 Volcas or some of them are basically interchangeable ?
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Koekepan
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Joined: 27 Sep 2016
Posts: 616

PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2017 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They are quite different units.

I have six Volcas, but only of three types. I skipped the Beats, Kick and Sample, in favour of getting four of the Volca FM.

The Volca FM is the most flexible of the lot. Six operator FM synthesis will get you everything from a snare to weird pads. That said, the Bass and the Keys have a sound that the FM can't replicate, and the Sample doesn't happen to interest me.

I do have a percussion unit, in the form of the Roland TR-09, and it works fine. It is also a lot more flexible and powerful than the Beats, so that's why I made that choice (plus, I got it on sale at a discount).
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slug
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Joined: 03 Aug 2007
Posts: 370

PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 4:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No filter or velocity from external keyboard on the FM though (without paying for a 3rd party component or using a fiddly intermediary application), and filters are one of the key parts of any synth using the vastly more common subtractive synthesis.
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megamarkd
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Joined: 15 Aug 2017
Posts: 635
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 5:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

slug wrote:
No filter or velocity from external keyboard on the FM though (without paying for a 3rd party component or using a fiddly intermediary application), and filters are one of the key parts of any synth using the vastly more common subtractive synthesis.


Plonking a filter box of some description on it's output can help some, but then you effectively make the synth paraphonic with only one filter running on all it's voices as if it was a monosynth (it would be like an FM version of a Poly800 with a lower voice count).
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Stuff I'm using: Umm right now, well there's a Volca Drum, a Micro Freak, an ADX-1, a Pulse, a Blofeld, a UNO Drum, KeyStep/Beatstep Pro/Keystep Pro (one of each), a Circuit, a LiveTrak L-12 and this nonsense: The Brief-case as it was about a bit over a year ago (the the complete ridiculous GAS monster collection here)and here
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jeftones
Junior Member


Joined: 03 May 2017
Posts: 61

PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:29 pm    Post subject: Re: Buying all 6 Volcas Reply with quote

Ckek20 wrote:
Okay
So I have a quick question^

Currently I'm planning on getting the Volca Keys & Volca Fm

The question is : is it necessary to buy all 6 Volcas or some of them can generate the exact same sounds as any other Volca from the Korg Volca series?

For example : a lot of people say that the Korg Volca Kick can really generate a lot of good/bright leads such as the Volca Keys do

So I am curious if I actually need to purchase all of the 6 Volcas or some of them are basically interchangeable ?


It isn't necessary to buy all of the volcas, really just grab whichever ones suit your needs.
I own 4 of the volcas: beats, keys, sample, & fm. Of the 4 the the only two I find interchanable are the beats and the sample. The fm tackles a specific style of synthesis and does it well. The keys is a decent analog machine.
The Volca kick I think is improperly named. It's a synth that is based on the ms-20 resonance filter I believe. Because of this it is capable of getting far more than just kicks.
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Koekepan
Platinum Member


Joined: 27 Sep 2016
Posts: 616

PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

These things are true.

If you want a more conventionally powerful FM synth, save your pennies and get a Yamaha Reface DX.

I don't use my Volca FMs in that way, so it's not really a concern for me. I drive them (including velocity management) from a linear sequencer, so while there isn't a filter on each note, I can put them through effects units and get several parallel timbres.

Honestly, it all depends on what you want. If you want maximal FM goodness for under $1000, you could do worse than getting a Reface DX and a Numa Compact to drive it.
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thehighesttree
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Joined: 18 Nov 2011
Posts: 594
Location: Canada East

PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aside from polyphony, it's actually a weaker synth engine: being 6-operator with motion sequencing, the Volca FM is far better if you program patches and sequences, whereas Reface DX is way more playable as an actual keyboard and is tougher build quality. Are you a tweaker/editor or a keys player?
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