Korg Volca Beats Snare

Mr. Funktone · Post by **Mr. Funktone** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:11 am

Is it just me or is the Snare possibly the worst most distorted analogue snare you've ever heard. The rest of the unit is fantastic but the Snare is just terrible. I have seen a video on you tube of an Aussie guy called Darren modding his snare and wow you've got an 808 snare drum! Please can someone please help me with this. Why on earth did Korg make the snare so distorted? It's been done on purpose and could have sounded so much better. I don't know anything about modding and won't invalidate my warranty as I know I'll just brake the thing. I love the volca beats but its snare really let's it down

Sclr · Post by **Sclr** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:02 pm

Read these:

http://mods-n-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how ... ng-357844/

http://mightyohm.com/files/soldercomic/ ... mic_EN.pdf

Then read this thread:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/electron ... e-fix.html

I would get some junk electronics you may have or can get a hold of to practice on. The newer the better cause new stuff is going to have the types of surface mount parts you will have inside the volca beats. Buy a 15 watt soldering iron. Then get any parts like resistors, you can for cheap at tandy or whatever and start trying to solder the stuff like you see in the vid. Practice, practice, practice. When you feel comfortable enough buy the parts and do the mod.

gabrielstigmatic · Post by **gabrielstigmatic** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:08 pm

The snare isn't that bad if you just do a tiny bit of EQ. I most definitely see the pros of modding these. I just think that it's not worth it with the stability that I've seen in the products so far. For something that could fail at any moment, I think it's best to not void the warranty.

Sclr · Post by **Sclr** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:15 pm

Its not too hard.

Mr. Funktone · Post by **Mr. Funktone** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 6:06 pm

Gabriel - yes the snare IS that bad. Do you think I haven't spent hrs 'eqing' the snare to at least get it to sound less crap.....of course I have!?

Sclr - thankyou for the links I'm going to investigate and your right it can't be that hard. I'm a fairly handy guy so I'm sure ill nail it. Cheers

darenager · Post by **darenager** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 4:46 pm

I did mine, well worth doing but very tricky even with the right tools, so weigh up the cost of the gear (unless you have it already)

You will need:

A illuminated magnifier (I got mine from maplins for about £6)
A very fine point soldering iron, I use a soldering station with a 0.5mm tip, even that is quite big when dealing with surface mount parts this tiny.
Some blutac or similar to hold the parts in place while you solder.
Decent solder, I used leaded 60/40 multicore brand, DO NOT USE cheap lead free solder, it is crap and you will probably mess up your Volca, go for the thinnest you can find, I used 0.8mm

Take your time and have plenty of space to work, make sure the Volca PCB is secure so that it does not move whilst you are working.

Re-Member · Post by **Re-Member** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:32 pm

The snare only sounds distorted when you the Snappy knob all the way up. As for it being "terrible," that's just a matter of taste. It reminds me of the CR-78 or something you'd hear from a vintage home organ rhythm section. I actually like it a lot, but I do weird minimal synth and industrial music, so it's probably not suited for everything.

CleverConQueso · Post by **CleverConQueso** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:50 am

It's do-able and sounds better after, but don't start if you don't have the right tools. For reals. I could add that we did two and the mod didn't have a very noticeable effect on the second one so we put a second identical cap across the first mod (effectively doubling it) and it did the trick.

Vxster · Post by **Vxster** » Fri Apr 11, 2014 4:45 pm

I got the Volca bass a month or so ago and loved it, then got the keys and beats last week. The snare seems fairly bad and it's a shame because everything else about the series is great!

kypjedi · Post by **kypjedi** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 12:39 pm

i just turn snap down and use it as a third tom

tux2 · Post by **tux2** » Fri May 16, 2014 1:29 am

A Gearslutz forum user has discovered that the Volca Beats snare sounds so horrible due to a manufacturing error. A capacitor has been left out by mistake.

See also this post on Gearslutz with detailed info:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/10075185-post1.html

So what I'm wondering is what is Korg planning to do about this.

Will Korg fix the snare sound by installing the missing capacitor under warranty for customers who request this?

Will there be further production runs of Volca Beats without this manufacturing error?

I had planned to buy a Volca Beats but now after knowing about this manufacturing error I will only go ahead with my purchase after an answer from Korg to these two questions.

haj · Post by **haj** » Fri May 16, 2014 3:14 am

It's unlikely that Korg will do anything(fix) about this..

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2014/ ... -warranty/

I'm going to do the mod eventually.. got a dozen of caps (but not flat like in Darren Glen's mod) so wonder if it sounds as expected. Is there direction I have to keep? (which leg goes which I mean)

tux2 · Post by **tux2** » Fri May 16, 2014 3:24 am

Well since this is an actual manufacturing error that results in a defect I would expect that if someone who owns a Volca Beats does a warranty claim with Korg to get this repaired Korg would need to do this under warranty.

It seems absurd to me that the owners have to fix this themselves and consequently void the warranty.

I seem to remember that this forum is monitored by Korg staff so I do hope that we get an official answer to the two questions in my previous post.

Just to clarify: I'm not talking about the various mods, I'm purely talking about the capacitor that was mistakenly left out due to a manufacturing error and that is required for the snare to sound as intended.

twointhethink · Post by **twointhethink** » Mon Sep 11, 2017 3:42 pm

I'm looking to buy a capacitor to do this mod, and it seems like there is a lot of variability within the "104" code (high-voltage, low-voltage, size, shape). Can someone link a capacitor that will work that I can order in the US or the UK?

Also, has anyone tried the 2,2k resistor in 013 mod as described here?

https://hackaday.io/project/9863/instructions

Weirdofromouterspace · Tue Sep 12, 2017 12:18 pm

twointhethink wrote:I'm looking to buy a capacitor to do this mod, and it seems like there is a lot of variability within the "104" code (high-voltage, low-voltage, size, shape). Can someone link a capacitor that will work that I can order in the US or the UK?

You can use any out-of-the-box 100 nF cap you have lying around. The little ceramic capacitors usually can deal with at least 50 Volts, and that's sufficient by far. You can use an SMD cap, or just a common THT one soldered to the pads.

... and yes, I know what I'm talking about, having done the C78 mod on my Volca Beats myself - using a THT cap I had lying around anyway

.

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Korg Volca Beats Snare

Korg Volca Beats Snare

Meh

If you take no risks you get no reward

Ditto Darenager

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Re: Capacitors and Resistors