10 years of the Korg Volca: Which is the best? Let's rank the range...

they really could do a Volca+ series of bigger ones, I'd get a large fornat Drum or Modular in a second. give us 1/4 inch outs, multiple outs for the drum machines, maybe onboard rechargeable battery? 1/8 inch connectors for the Modular, done.

Underwhelmed by the Kick, it's a one kick pony. No keys? Shocker. Always thought the Sample 1 should have been called Romple. Still waiting for a DW8000 in a volca box.

Volcas are great for everyone who looks to start the music production journey.

I own all except kick, nubass and mix.

Started with vBass and Beats. From a total noob in the music area, still at noob level, but with hours of fun and stress relief 😅.

Later got Keys, Sample, Modular and Drum.

Created a lot of hip hop, techno, house, ambient, electro swing, dubstep, gabber... basically everything is possible with them. Perfect for experiments.
Used some sounds in DAW as also works great with various effects.

If I had to rank them, probably vSample would be nr 1. Tons of awesome lofi and boom bap beats, rewarding yet simple workflow, beautiful filter, granular synthesis. Still use it even after I got myself SP404mkii.

2nd for me is vBass.
3rd vDrum
And 4th vKeys

These are used the most. I link them with other synths in various setups.

Cheers

For the sake of a tiny mic or a mic in socket with the necessary firmware, the sample will forever remain flawed. I think the judgement of “not top-5” is a bit harsh when the main complaint is “it’s not ableton” and “doesn’t fit my workflow”. Some guys and gals make amazing tracks with only a Sample.

In fact, each Volca is fundamentally flawed in some way.

If you’re being generous to Korg, you could say they worked really, really hard to hit a budget price point. Alternatively, you could say the Volcas are designed not to cannibalise sales of higher-end hardware and in some way, they act as a gateway drug into the more profitable, more capable and higher-priced Korg synths.

Either way, the Bass rules. 😂

Well, you’re wrong on the Sample.
And what we need is a Volca Modular East Coast.

Oh, and recently I bought the Volca Mix.
I completely forgot about the fact that the two mono channels can’t be panned. That was dumb.
Anyway I experimented and decided on the Volca Drum for the stereo input.
And in the two mono inputs I have the Beats and the Kick. Seems to work well and using the fake stereo fx and the dynamics pumper thing you can get some wild sounds.🎉

Korg Volca Cowbell!!!

The Beats/Keys/Bass can’t chain patterns, and they’re missing the config setting for 4 PPQN sync so you can’t use sync in as a trigger input. So the Nubass is a lot more usable than the Bass for some people. But my favorites are still the Bass/Drum/Nubass. The Drum is kinda based off the Electribe ER-1. And it’s pretty awesome that the Bass can play three different 16-step patterns simultaneously.

If you have a Volca with 4 PPQN sync (or any of the Roland Boutiques with EXT CLK IN) you can step the sequencer with a trigger from a drum machine. You can get an SQ-1 or a Dark Time and do all the nerdy polyrhythm jams you want. Or use any drum machine with a trigger out like the TR-606/707/727 or TR-08/TR-09 or whatever. I think if more people knew that it could save some of them from eurorack!

I love my Nubass - sure it’s a one trick pony but it’s creates some seriously dirty acid bass sounds. Accented slide gives you some good results too.

I love my Nubass - sure it’s a one trick pony but it’s creates some seriously dirty acid bass sounds. Accented slide gives you some good results too.

About the Volca Beats and (necessary?) processing; just run it through a mic input and crank it up a little :-)

Bass is easily the best, having 3 different oscillators that you can create 3 different sounds is mental.

Wait… it’s Christmas?!

I agree with this ranking, except I'd swap the Keys and Modular. Love the Bass for lead sounds.

lovechild of ben shapiro and jude law

Yes! Been waiting for a bigger Volca Drum for years and I was hoping the Drumlogue would be that, but sadly no.