Korg Forums

Hello everyone, I am new here and new in the world of machines.

I had a Roland TR-8, than bought a Volca Bass and after some (not easy) step they worked together and while I press play on the TR-8 the volca starts too...

Than I bought a volca kick too, so first of all I wanted to try it with the bass, linked them with the jack cable and nothing happened... they don't sync, I looked at the manual but is very simple and nothing is explained good there, is just a short panorama of the buttons and sections... I had a look at the settings section holding the FUNC button while switching on the volca's, I did try all the possible combinations and they don't sync at all... In the manual there are few words about sync polarity in/out and about some midi rx short message, isn't clear what they are about and if I should set something there to have both machines working together...

Thanks, hope to have been clear and hope to find help... Volca seemed to be more easy and versatile, but they don't look to be like that... Some friend bought a midi cable to have 1 in and 2 out, so he linked both volcas there avoiding all this sync trouble shootings, and getting the main time clock from another machine he has, in my case could be the TR-8 as master... do you think it could be a good solution?

PS: if I link a volca to the roland using a midi cable, and the second volca to the first one using the sync cable, only the one directly linked to the roland starts at the same time when I play the roland, the second one doesn't start...

Sync and midi signals work independent from one another as they are not the same thing. the sync signal only keeps the volcas in time bpm wise with one another. It does not send start, stop, or pause data. IF you want to be able to control transport (start, stop, etc.) you be bet it to get a midi through box like your friend had. the 1in/2out should suit your needs for now. personally i have a 1in/4out, i have 4 volcas though.

Sync is a misnomer. It's really only a timing signal to stay in tempo, not to actually "synchronise" the units any further than that.

There is a tricks to start all the units in a synchronised manner utilising a 'sync' cable on the master Volca going into it's Sync In. I've never used it as I use my Volcas via MIDI, so I won't try to describe it, but it's somewhere here on the boards, I read it just the other day so must be in a recently active thread.

Thanks Jeftones, I know they are different signals but I though it was easier to work togehter,but I am understanding is not...I will buy a midi box with 1 in and 4 out and I will solve like that, but now I am not fan of volcas anymore LOL

Hi Megamarkd, I knew that trick, is useless and someone says is even dangerous.... whatever, I don't need to do that trick anytime I need machines to start together... I will buy a midi box or a midi cable to link both volcas to the roland and get the start/stop from there