41 thoughts on “Korg Volca Grooveboxes First Look”
Better start saving my money for these!
Oh wait, I do not need too. Thanks Korg. Well done!
…where’s the D-beam? 🙂
Holy mother…….Korg are going to sell so many of these, it’s mental!
Incredibly affordable.
Best step up from the Monotron and Monotribe 😛 Kill It Korg!
For clarification, it appears that there is no tap tempo input, correct?
Looks like it. But who needs it? Tapping always gives you approximations that fall out of sync after a few bars… I Prefer midi or sync, which are given.
I like bringing musical contraptions to improv parties. If someone else starts a groove, one needs to able to slip into the mix without killing the vibe due to a jarring tempo shift. Once you slip into the mix, people will end up playing to the machine’s pulse to stay sync’d. We do this all the time with a Kaossilator (which has tap tempo) and I was hoping to do it with these guys, too. Looks like I’ll have to keep the Kaossilator to use as a tap tempo clock source. For $200USD, I ain’t complaining.
Hmmm…. I usually look at the others’ machines or just ask for their tempo (or even measure it, if that is, for some reason, necessary) and after triggering, i nudge with tempo controls to adjust beat phase.. No need to tap, i repeat. : )
You must be a lot of fun at jam sessions … 😉
You do know how to use a midi clock? Barring that, headphones? 😉
Hi, you can use KorgSync Kontrol, or maybe hardware diy hack. I don’t know specs of korg’s sync but I guess, that it gives +5V/+3V on the beats, so it should be possible to wire +5V from battery slot or adapter input via on/off button into sync in. But it’s just an idea. Yea, it’s not so much practical to make synth without tap, but I think it’s still better than synth with tap but without midi in.
Also it’s pretty easy to make midi tapper (or midi everything) with atmega or attiny chip and arduino.
You can use the Korg SyncKontrol app which has a tap tempo that can be fed into any of these machines. It also has a Swing function which can lead to very interesting thing.
I want them all.
~$200 analog polysynth?!?!!?!! SOLD.
also very interested in the Beats!
They are so freakin’ ace!
At first I was like, I want the beats. Then I was like, no I want the bass. After that I was like, man I want that Keys. I’m buying all of these!
One person want’s me to buy other things.
yeh there is a negative nancy going around. don´t mind the sandy vagina though. get all. and then get the one you like most again.
Probably a Roland employee XD
word up! just seen the new video posted up and am really impressed with how good they all sound and actually was thinking the same thing of buying multiples of the keys or bass. Was really surprised at how well the beats sounds, the bottom end is hitting proper over here on my monitors!
Limited supply, can’t blame them. That bass unit is just adorable and if I had the money, I would be all over it.
Can’t wait to see the hacks for these. I’d love to see someone break the sequencer out to MIDI. If I can get the schematics, maybe I’ll take a crack at that myself 🙂 Not to mention all the crazy distortion and filter hacks I’m sure we’ll see!
What’s with the idiot who keeps marking these comments down.
Anyway. This looks great. Time to get back into hardware and enjoy some real analogue action.
yeah, and i bet it´s the same guy rethumbing it over and over.
pathetic really but who cares.
rejoice in the analog renaissance.
Just gave y’all a thumbs down for caring about the little thumb pictures so much. IT’S JUST A WEBSITE.
These new Korg boxes look awesome.
lol
I, for one, really like the thumbs up and thumbs down on comments. It helps other people scan to see what is worth reading. Saves time. Saves us all many palms to foreheads due to morons posting well….moronic things. These boxes are pretty cool though, eh? 150 bucks. Analog. SUPER portable. midi sync. sequencers. I think I’m going to just get all three. Great to see Korg researches what we actually want.
the quality build looks very good too.
Ah.. so those are the same looking knobs as the Electribe Mx and they seem to share some heritage with the electribes on the sequencing front. I think I will buy them to go with my MX…..build a super MX rig.
WWWOOOWZA!!! KORG is def the coolest big company around! Exactly what I want. I’m still cleaning up the drool puddle. Anyhow, they get it! Awesome sound, compact, sync able, affordable, and at this price..it’s so much more fun and meaningful to buy the hardware!! It’s really what it’s all about – getting back to having fun and ‘performing’ using your instruments. I’ll still use soft synths when I want to, but there’s no reason I’m not going to get these new fun instruments. Plus, when my girlfriend asks me what I want for a special time, I usually don’t want to say because what I want is usually embarrassingly expensive. So, now thanks to KORG I don’t have to say I want a pair of socks or a new sweater. I can say I want a Korg Volca Groovebox!!! And not feel terribly guilty about it.
Hoping these will be as easy to mod as the minis…..I’d strangle a puppy for these. A cute puppy. Well done korg
They better be gearing up the factories, this stuff is gonna fly off the shelves! Perfect impulse-buy price.
at this rate i’m excited to see what polysynth korg comes out with by 2015 😀
^^^this
On the volca beats, are you able to pan the individual parts?
I sure hope it supports time signatures other than 4/4 and 3/4
wait never mind looks like you can
I hope sonic state and the others at musikmesse do some better vids with lots of sound and playing with parameters. I’d really like to see these things in action in a non-setup kind of impromptu fashion.
Boring. Awful demos..acid house is over. All u 40 year old ravers can be all nostalgic though. Ill pass.
sounds like you yourself are an older, former raver….u’d be surprised how enthusiastic and thirsty young ppl are to explore the sounds which are mundane for us older folk
I love all of them, I am hoping they have kept their own (superior IMHO) realtime input mode as well as step mode on the Volca Bass ?? I know TB purists lve strolling to a note and then selecting it etc…but I really enjoyin running off a quick riff then just adding the odd step here and there.
Yep, got all three on pre-order 🙂 Can’t wait to crack them open and tinker with their electronic guts!
Only question – which one will I circuit Bend first?
🙂
The ‘Keys’ certainly looks a little limited. I suspect that I will greatly benefit from some additional circuitry and more advanced envelopes.
The ‘Beats’ needs some separate audio outputs, and possibly some ‘Glitch’ type effects for the digital drums. There might even be some useful trigger pulses inside, worthwhile tapping for use with other DIY circuits.
Not sure about the ‘Bass’ yet.. Possibly some kind of screaming FM Filter mod, and something approximating the TB-303’s ‘accent’?
Better start saving my money for these!
Oh wait, I do not need too. Thanks Korg. Well done!
…where’s the D-beam? 🙂
Holy mother…….Korg are going to sell so many of these, it’s mental!
Incredibly affordable.
Best step up from the Monotron and Monotribe 😛 Kill It Korg!
For clarification, it appears that there is no tap tempo input, correct?
Looks like it. But who needs it? Tapping always gives you approximations that fall out of sync after a few bars… I Prefer midi or sync, which are given.
I like bringing musical contraptions to improv parties. If someone else starts a groove, one needs to able to slip into the mix without killing the vibe due to a jarring tempo shift. Once you slip into the mix, people will end up playing to the machine’s pulse to stay sync’d. We do this all the time with a Kaossilator (which has tap tempo) and I was hoping to do it with these guys, too. Looks like I’ll have to keep the Kaossilator to use as a tap tempo clock source. For $200USD, I ain’t complaining.
Hmmm…. I usually look at the others’ machines or just ask for their tempo (or even measure it, if that is, for some reason, necessary) and after triggering, i nudge with tempo controls to adjust beat phase.. No need to tap, i repeat. : )
You must be a lot of fun at jam sessions … 😉
You do know how to use a midi clock? Barring that, headphones? 😉
Hi, you can use KorgSync Kontrol, or maybe hardware diy hack. I don’t know specs of korg’s sync but I guess, that it gives +5V/+3V on the beats, so it should be possible to wire +5V from battery slot or adapter input via on/off button into sync in. But it’s just an idea. Yea, it’s not so much practical to make synth without tap, but I think it’s still better than synth with tap but without midi in.
Also it’s pretty easy to make midi tapper (or midi everything) with atmega or attiny chip and arduino.
You can use the Korg SyncKontrol app which has a tap tempo that can be fed into any of these machines. It also has a Swing function which can lead to very interesting thing.
I want them all.
~$200 analog polysynth?!?!!?!! SOLD.
also very interested in the Beats!
They are so freakin’ ace!
At first I was like, I want the beats. Then I was like, no I want the bass. After that I was like, man I want that Keys. I’m buying all of these!
One person want’s me to buy other things.
yeh there is a negative nancy going around. don´t mind the sandy vagina though. get all. and then get the one you like most again.
Probably a Roland employee XD
word up! just seen the new video posted up and am really impressed with how good they all sound and actually was thinking the same thing of buying multiples of the keys or bass. Was really surprised at how well the beats sounds, the bottom end is hitting proper over here on my monitors!
Limited supply, can’t blame them. That bass unit is just adorable and if I had the money, I would be all over it.
Can’t wait to see the hacks for these. I’d love to see someone break the sequencer out to MIDI. If I can get the schematics, maybe I’ll take a crack at that myself 🙂 Not to mention all the crazy distortion and filter hacks I’m sure we’ll see!
What’s with the idiot who keeps marking these comments down.
Anyway. This looks great. Time to get back into hardware and enjoy some real analogue action.
yeah, and i bet it´s the same guy rethumbing it over and over.
pathetic really but who cares.
rejoice in the analog renaissance.
Just gave y’all a thumbs down for caring about the little thumb pictures so much. IT’S JUST A WEBSITE.
These new Korg boxes look awesome.
lol
I, for one, really like the thumbs up and thumbs down on comments. It helps other people scan to see what is worth reading. Saves time. Saves us all many palms to foreheads due to morons posting well….moronic things. These boxes are pretty cool though, eh? 150 bucks. Analog. SUPER portable. midi sync. sequencers. I think I’m going to just get all three. Great to see Korg researches what we actually want.
the quality build looks very good too.
Ah.. so those are the same looking knobs as the Electribe Mx and they seem to share some heritage with the electribes on the sequencing front. I think I will buy them to go with my MX…..build a super MX rig.
WWWOOOWZA!!! KORG is def the coolest big company around! Exactly what I want. I’m still cleaning up the drool puddle. Anyhow, they get it! Awesome sound, compact, sync able, affordable, and at this price..it’s so much more fun and meaningful to buy the hardware!! It’s really what it’s all about – getting back to having fun and ‘performing’ using your instruments. I’ll still use soft synths when I want to, but there’s no reason I’m not going to get these new fun instruments. Plus, when my girlfriend asks me what I want for a special time, I usually don’t want to say because what I want is usually embarrassingly expensive. So, now thanks to KORG I don’t have to say I want a pair of socks or a new sweater. I can say I want a Korg Volca Groovebox!!! And not feel terribly guilty about it.
Hoping these will be as easy to mod as the minis…..I’d strangle a puppy for these. A cute puppy. Well done korg
They better be gearing up the factories, this stuff is gonna fly off the shelves! Perfect impulse-buy price.
at this rate i’m excited to see what polysynth korg comes out with by 2015 😀
^^^this
On the volca beats, are you able to pan the individual parts?
I sure hope it supports time signatures other than 4/4 and 3/4
wait never mind looks like you can
I hope sonic state and the others at musikmesse do some better vids with lots of sound and playing with parameters. I’d really like to see these things in action in a non-setup kind of impromptu fashion.
Boring. Awful demos..acid house is over. All u 40 year old ravers can be all nostalgic though. Ill pass.
sounds like you yourself are an older, former raver….u’d be surprised how enthusiastic and thirsty young ppl are to explore the sounds which are mundane for us older folk
I love all of them, I am hoping they have kept their own (superior IMHO) realtime input mode as well as step mode on the Volca Bass ?? I know TB purists lve strolling to a note and then selecting it etc…but I really enjoyin running off a quick riff then just adding the odd step here and there.
Yep, got all three on pre-order 🙂 Can’t wait to crack them open and tinker with their electronic guts!
Only question – which one will I circuit Bend first?
🙂
The ‘Keys’ certainly looks a little limited. I suspect that I will greatly benefit from some additional circuitry and more advanced envelopes.
The ‘Beats’ needs some separate audio outputs, and possibly some ‘Glitch’ type effects for the digital drums. There might even be some useful trigger pulses inside, worthwhile tapping for use with other DIY circuits.
Not sure about the ‘Bass’ yet.. Possibly some kind of screaming FM Filter mod, and something approximating the TB-303’s ‘accent’?
Time will tell 🙂
Like I say – Can’t wait!