At the 2019 NAMM Show, Korg introduced the new Volca Modular synthesizer.
Here’s a hands-on demo from Korg’s Nick Kwas.
14 thoughts on “Korg Volca Modular Hands-On Demo”
I’m still on the fence w buying one for 199.00! Wish it had CV out. It’s nice
But limited because of no CV out. Does Anyone else feel that way?
All modulars (including this one) have CV out, otherwise it wouldn’t be patchable. It might not go straight to Eurorack but then neither does my Music Easel and that doesn’t cause me any problems. I’ve ordered one straight away and can’t wait to take it along to my local noise jam.
Having read on the Korg Modular Specs it says ‘CV in only’…or did I read that wrong?
Ok I understand what your saying…cheers!!
I think it’s limited because it just doesn’t sound too good. With that type of synthesis it’s easy to lose the carrier and any low end without building low-pass filters and bass boost into the op-amp and buffer configurations. Make Noise obviously did their homework in that regard, I’m not sure Korg did.
I’ll wait till I hear someone who knows what they are doing does a proper review or until I get my hands on it before I make a judgement. I hear a lot of potential so far and a lot of people ready to criticise a $200 synth for not sounding like a $500 one which in turn does not sound like a $4000 one. To me this is like a Kastle on steroids which means I can probably make some great sounds with it.
This exactly. Even the Music Easel can sound awful if you don’t know what you’re doing. I think there’s a ton of potential here for such a small cheap synth, and it’s going to be seriously fun.
If you are looking to make huge bass sounds, a west-coast style synth is probably not what you’re looking for anyway (although, you’re right, the 0-Coast is definitely an exception). This guy opens up an interesting style of synthesis that was previously inaccessible to most people. And the feature set is pretty rich for $200. It’s not going to be a swiss-army synth, but there are some interesting sounds in there for sure. I say: good on Korg for taking a risk.
im digging the basic elements on this synth, but the tiny knobs&box kill it for me. i’d be interested to see Korg take this concept a little further in a full sized desktop format.
+100%
If Korg could package the same functionality in a unit with Eurorack size knobs and jacks without tripling the price, I would be much more interested.
I think that most people that say it doesn’t sound too good mean it doesn’t sound too good for a west-coast synth. That’s what I hear as well. It gave me the MiniBrute feeling. Everything sounds really raw and saturated, as if there is hardly any headroom. I don’t think this has anything to do with the synth being $200. It could of course be that these floor demos do it any justice. Let’s hope for that.
Sounds pretty good to me for a $200 portable synth with FM and waveshaping in the Korg tutorial videos. What other west coast synths can it be compared against for sound purposes?
Have a listen to Baseck and Cukoo’s Teenage Engineering 400 demo to hear how the skill of the user can make a huge difference in how a synth sounds too. I want to hear the Volca in the hands of an expert – give it to Todd Barton to start with.
After watching more videos on the Korg Modular I’m leaning more towards buying one.
The Modular Would lend to late night creative sketching in bed or on the couch…can’t argue with that…! I Would like to see a few more videos done with emphasis on the 2 LPGs.
West Coast Synthesis:
Revolves around the idea of Additive Synthesis, Wave Shaping and Dynamic Depth FM (Frequency Modulation) Synthesis.
Features Low Pass Gate (LPG)
Essentially a Voltage Controlled Filter Amplifier (VCFA)
AD/AR (Attack-Decay/Attack-Release)
Unique Touch Based Sequencer
Experimental Sequencing Capabilities
East Coast Synthesis:
Revolves around the idea of Subtractive Synthesis oriented around a filter that removes specific frequencies to get the desired result.
VCO-VCF-VCA with ADSR Envelope Generators.
Simple Waveforms such as Sawtooth, Sine or Square
Designed to be utilized by a black/white keyboard
Classic Step Sequencer
I’m still on the fence w buying one for 199.00! Wish it had CV out. It’s nice
But limited because of no CV out. Does Anyone else feel that way?
All modulars (including this one) have CV out, otherwise it wouldn’t be patchable. It might not go straight to Eurorack but then neither does my Music Easel and that doesn’t cause me any problems. I’ve ordered one straight away and can’t wait to take it along to my local noise jam.
Having read on the Korg Modular Specs it says ‘CV in only’…or did I read that wrong?
Ok I understand what your saying…cheers!!
I think it’s limited because it just doesn’t sound too good. With that type of synthesis it’s easy to lose the carrier and any low end without building low-pass filters and bass boost into the op-amp and buffer configurations. Make Noise obviously did their homework in that regard, I’m not sure Korg did.
I’ll wait till I hear someone who knows what they are doing does a proper review or until I get my hands on it before I make a judgement. I hear a lot of potential so far and a lot of people ready to criticise a $200 synth for not sounding like a $500 one which in turn does not sound like a $4000 one. To me this is like a Kastle on steroids which means I can probably make some great sounds with it.
This exactly. Even the Music Easel can sound awful if you don’t know what you’re doing. I think there’s a ton of potential here for such a small cheap synth, and it’s going to be seriously fun.
If you are looking to make huge bass sounds, a west-coast style synth is probably not what you’re looking for anyway (although, you’re right, the 0-Coast is definitely an exception). This guy opens up an interesting style of synthesis that was previously inaccessible to most people. And the feature set is pretty rich for $200. It’s not going to be a swiss-army synth, but there are some interesting sounds in there for sure. I say: good on Korg for taking a risk.
im digging the basic elements on this synth, but the tiny knobs&box kill it for me. i’d be interested to see Korg take this concept a little further in a full sized desktop format.
+100%
If Korg could package the same functionality in a unit with Eurorack size knobs and jacks without tripling the price, I would be much more interested.
I think that most people that say it doesn’t sound too good mean it doesn’t sound too good for a west-coast synth. That’s what I hear as well. It gave me the MiniBrute feeling. Everything sounds really raw and saturated, as if there is hardly any headroom. I don’t think this has anything to do with the synth being $200. It could of course be that these floor demos do it any justice. Let’s hope for that.
Sounds pretty good to me for a $200 portable synth with FM and waveshaping in the Korg tutorial videos. What other west coast synths can it be compared against for sound purposes?
Have a listen to Baseck and Cukoo’s Teenage Engineering 400 demo to hear how the skill of the user can make a huge difference in how a synth sounds too. I want to hear the Volca in the hands of an expert – give it to Todd Barton to start with.
After watching more videos on the Korg Modular I’m leaning more towards buying one.
The Modular Would lend to late night creative sketching in bed or on the couch…can’t argue with that…! I Would like to see a few more videos done with emphasis on the 2 LPGs.
West Coast Synthesis:
Revolves around the idea of Additive Synthesis, Wave Shaping and Dynamic Depth FM (Frequency Modulation) Synthesis.
Features Low Pass Gate (LPG)
Essentially a Voltage Controlled Filter Amplifier (VCFA)
AD/AR (Attack-Decay/Attack-Release)
Unique Touch Based Sequencer
Experimental Sequencing Capabilities
East Coast Synthesis:
Revolves around the idea of Subtractive Synthesis oriented around a filter that removes specific frequencies to get the desired result.
VCO-VCF-VCA with ADSR Envelope Generators.
Simple Waveforms such as Sawtooth, Sine or Square
Designed to be utilized by a black/white keyboard
Classic Step Sequencer
https://nerdaudio.com/blogs/news/tips-techniques-tuesday-west-coast-vs-east-coast
Don’t knock it till you have personally tried it
Especially for this cheap of a price