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I have a volca beats & i plan on modding it. The pcb is clearly marked in the same way as the monotron/tribe . It's early days & there's every chance that more elaborately modified examples will surface. Also i don't want to rush in because of the possibility of firmware updates interfering or aftermarket kits which might make certain mods not worthwhile. I've seen a couple of examples already, one has an improvised midi out & the other has a break out box for individual outs & a couple of other functions.

As it is now the points marked on the pcb are thus... 1. TOM, 2. TOM+SNARE, 3. TOM+SNARE+KICK, 4. RING NOISE, 5. PCM, 6, WHITE NOISE, 7. HAT, 8. PINK NOISE.

There's also 3 points that look like midi or the like , TX , GND , & YD. AND there's a point marked RESET ! That's at least 12 obvious usable points for starters.

For the drums, keep in mind that 'TOM' is both low & high toms, 'HAT' is both closed & open hats & there's only 6 analogue sounds total anyway so that's 3 individual outs you get to share between 6 sounds & there's choices too ! Not bad options & then 1 more out for the pcm sounds (3 of)

All things considered, it looks like the volca beats will end up being different animal from its 'out of the box' version. Frankly, i think it's begging for it !

Pictures of the pcb to follow.

....It has to start somewhere....

Sounds great, good luck on your project!

I was going to photo this but someone else beat me to it so here's a pic i ripped from .....Elsewhere.

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Very cool, thanks for posting. I'm not very clever when it comes to this area, but if someone come up with good mod's, I'd be willing to give it a go myself, as long as proper instructions are made available

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Dang, that looks awesome! I might get me one of these, after all!

Havn't tried this yet but here's where the midi 'OUT' is supposed to be. EDIT THAT... Hooked them up to a midi connector & it all works fine.

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My volca beats is now modded. I could do a bit more but for now these mods will do. This is a summary of my findings & some info for anyone who wants to do the same.
For the record, i'm not recommending doing this & it's totally up to the individual . If you open the case of your unit the warranty will be void & then if you break your volca you will lose it & your money. The soldering points are marked & easy to access & with thought & care a tidy job can be done. It's up to you !

Pictures to follow in the next post.

First of all the volca beats has all of it circuit boards & important stuff fixed to its faceplate. The only things in the base or tray are the speaker & the battery compartment...
The original case is practically too small to fit any more parts into. I tried drilling the case & fitting 1/8" jack sockets for the drum outputs & I did get it all in but I had difficulty with internal space. It can be done but it's a squeeze & i don't recommend trying it.

...The speaker is in my opinion not worth keeping. I can't speak for everyone else & some people will want to keep it but anyway, I think it's a waste of space.
The battery compartment is removable. Just a single row of a few little screws underneath & the whole assembly lifts out from the inside easily. For my project I cut the wires.
I'm not interested in running it from batteries.

The plan was to get rid of the base tray & mount the faceplate with all of its circuitry in a new, deeper box. When it came to it though I found it too much trouble for the volca's worth really but something had to be added so I could fit extra parts in.
I ended up buying a length of wood , 46mm x 6mm & instead of a whole new box, I cut the back off the volca case to let the wires out & fixed a pair of sides to the case (Screwed on from inside) & a piece across the back sticking out about 1 1/4" with a cut out & a plastic panel fitted for the jacks & the midi out port.
All of this just to allow space for the extra little fittings but I didn't want an external breakout box because it would be another extra unit on the tabletop with extra wires & all that extra clutter. I've already added up to 5 mono jack cables & a midi cable so I that's enough for me.
Anyway, I did it & it was a lot of messing about. I wondered if the volca beats was even worth it until I finished it & tried it out..... It was worth it !

There's a point worth adding here about it's memory. The unit still operates like normal & remembers the saved parameters exept for the 'part volume'. So basically when i power it up the next time, i have to reset the individual part levels. Sounds like it powers up with all levels on full as a default.

I may have made a mess of the lower case part & it took too long but it was my first attempt & when I plugged that new midi out socket into an old korg electribe ea1 to see what it could do & plugged those extra outputs into my mixer, well it just sounded better.... Check it...

..... http://soundcloud.com/terminal-blox/electrolcaspooky


Don't expect miracles from the volca. It's a bit of fun but not a serious contender really although with the right processing, anything is possible !

The guts. Audio outputs fitted.

The rest of the pics. Some a bit grainy but hey ho !



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Great job & description. Thanks!

Hi man,

Thank you for your usefull description, I'm on the way to do the same mods

Anyway, I've a few question, before I finish the soldering.
Do you know if the separate outputs are exclusive ?
(e.g can I have only the BD if I connect also the Tom and Tom + Snare output) ?

If not, I must to learn how to solder SMD component, and doing this thing.
http://koma-elektronik.com/?p=2345


One more thing, BE CARREFULL WITH THE RIBBON !
Yesterday, I unsrew the ribbon, to see how it works, and now the steps 8 to 12 doesn't light

(still working but I don't see the LED turning on... seems to be a little problem for a live set-up).

Best Regards,

Geux from France
(sorry for my bad english)

You basically get what it says on the pcb. You can't seperate the bass drum from the toms or snare in each case.

Looks like you might have to go down the smd route.

Yeah, Ok, in this case I'll learn to solder SMD electronic component

About the SMT route, have you any idea where it can be ?

Thank you,

Guillaume