Volca, midi implementation & midi designer templates

LouisJB · Post by **LouisJB** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 11:12 am

Hi, I've just joined.
Recently joined the Volca club, got the bass to start with.
Having much fun. The beats shortly to follow.

This may have come up previously (certainly it has) but regarding the Midi implementation for these, who can we nudge to provide slightly more extensive midi control.
In particular the obvious ones being cutoff and resonance.
Even if they are a bit coarse/steppy, still better to have some control.
I love jamming with the bass but the sequencer is too limited for me to do anything in the style I might prefer. So it's hooked up to my daw and it sounds great, but adding some midi automation to these items would turn it from great to fantastic!

Also, I use an app called MidiDesigner for my iPad, to edit my external hardware over Midi.

I made a start at a design for the bass, which you can download here:

http://mididesigner.com/qa/3623/korg-vo ... ?show=3623

So, sure these controls are on the box, but it's nice to have remote automation. I can now tinker with the bass over wifi from around the house while it plays through the monitors

I'll do a template for the beats when I get it.

Planing to do lots of mods, but enjoying them just as they are for the moment...

Much fun!

volcaPaul · Post by **volcaPaul** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 1:29 pm

I believe the cutoff and resonance on the bass are just part of the analog circuit, so there'd be no way to get midi control over them via a firmware update.

Maybe someone will come up with a hardware mod to do it, but I don't expect it would be easy.

The volca keys has been designed with midi control over the cutoff, but not the resonance.

LouisJB · Post by **LouisJB** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 2:30 pm

yeah that's entirely possible.
be useful to get a circuit diagram for these. I'll have to wait until I've had a look inside to see if it might be possible somehow.
Maybe also an excuse to get a keys too

does the bass really do bass better than the keys?

volcaPaul · Post by **volcaPaul** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 3:06 pm

They've both got differences that end up complimenting each other well - I wouldn't say one is better than the other at any role, they're just different, so depends on what you're trying to achieve and how you plan to do it:

Bass:
Selectable square/saw waveforms for each VCO
Selectable pitch for each VCO
Step sequencer with better real time performance options eg editable slide+step disable (vs the common step skip of active step mode)
Screen (really miss this on the keys)
Toggle for EG amplitude
Mutes and sequences for each VCO and the 2+1 mode

Keys:
VCO modes inc ring modulation with single detune knob
Portamento control
Play chords (vs programming chords via step sequencer on the bass)
Up to 4 times longer pattern recording via non-quantising flux mode
Delay - which can be tempo synced
EG Sustain knob vs just on/off on the bass
Separate lfo intensity controls over pitch and filter cutoff
LFO saw mode
LFO trigger sync

LouisJB · Post by **LouisJB** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 5:18 pm

Thanks for the comparison, that's really useful.
I've been having a lot of fun with the Bass, so far. The 3 parts with muting makes for fun experimentation.

Actually I originally was only going to get the beats, but bass came first and now I could see I'll end up with all 3 (sampler excluded, not sure I need this).

Interestingly I found the bass has a couple of features that can be controlled over midi that are not available on the panel.

1. Glide time (bit like portamento) - you don't get a lot of control (but maybe this can be enhanced by a hardware mod, tbc).

2. Gate time, this controls the note length from the sequencer and is continuously variable.

I've wired these up on my x-station controller and it's much fun to experiment in real time with these.

Also, I've added these to my midi designer template as well (see above).

I'm interested in the Keys, however I've some other poly analog synths including an Alpha Juno 2 & Poly 800 and maybe this means the keys isn't quite as essential. Planing to mod the Poly 800 with the Hawk-800 and AtomaHawk filter mods, long may the old Korgs live on

I think some mix of these units should make some interesting noises.

The other interesting analog synths are the minibrute and Korg's own MS 20 mini, how would they compare to the Keys too?

volcaPaul · Post by **volcaPaul** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 5:59 pm

The beauty of the volcas is the cost, size, the analog sounds, and syncing them together and jamming on them live imo.

The keys is a relatively basic analog mono synth - if you have other better featured analog synths hooked up into a sequencer driven setup, then you'd have to want something specific that the keys offers.

You can download the manual for the keys from the korg website to see exactly what features it has and see how that works for you and your plans:

http://i.korg.com/SupportPage.aspx?productid=674

LouisJB · Post by **LouisJB** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 10:22 am

Thanks for the info.
Maybe I'll hold fire on the Keys for now, I should explore again the analog poly synths I've already got.
Besides, there's the MS20 mini and theMicro and Mini-brutes to consider too, not to mention the BassStation2. All more expensive, but also more powerful.
Main thing I wanted was the Beats for some tweakable analog drum sounds. I hope to make some mods on it, not leads to provide some separate line-outs for the individual sounds. This and the bass should fill an analog gap in my sound sources perhaps not covered by my other kit.
As you say, can't argue with the price, the size or the hands-on playability of these little guys, I jammed for ages on the Bass yesterday, just against some simple drum patterns from an Electribe, was much fun!

LouisJB · Post by **LouisJB** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 6:53 pm

Well I got the Beats too now.

As mentioned, I've made a Beats template for MidiDesigner, which is here
http://mididesigner.com/qa/3623/korg-volca-series in case it's any use to anyone else.

Both Beats and Bass templates can run at the same time on the iPad.
The Beats MIDI implementation is better than I expected for such a cheap unit.
Be really nice if a couple more of the front controls were added to the midi implementation though, in particular the bass /snare decay, snare snappyness and the bass & toms tuning.

Still, it's quite usable even with the limited things currently accessible over MIDI. The Stutter feature is fun on the X-Y controller pad

I'm undecided to get any more of the range, I've already other analog polys and samplers, but if anyone else wants to complete the MIDI templates for the range I'm sure some users will find it very useful. If I do end up aquireing any more of them, I'll be sure to post up the additional templates.

Have fun.

volcaPaul · Post by **volcaPaul** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 7:01 pm

Be really nice if a couple more of the front controls were added to the midi implementation though, in particular the bass /snare decay, snare snappyness and the bass & toms tuning.

those are all parameters for the analog instruments, so I don't think there's any hope of that being possible without some pretty serious hardware mods.

LouisJB · Post by **LouisJB** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 9:14 pm

true, but the toms are fully analog and they've implemented control over tom decay from MIDI CC, so there must be some interfacing there, although how extensive it is I don't know. Also the hat's 'grain' param is accessible, hats are analog too. That might be the extent of what is easily accessible. Still to crack mine open yet, but it all begs the question what else can be done with these little boxes. Need to do the basics first though, including multi-outs, MIDI outs and maybe audio in, etc