KORG volca drum Digital Percussion Synthesizer

For a dawless setup, I can't recommend it to someone who want to make complex drum patterns. But this one's good enough if you just need simple drum patterns, or you program the drums on your daw. Pros: + Build quality, size and looks, and can be powered by battery. Although if you don't want to use battery, you have to buy a overpriced Korg power adapter thats not included. + Good sound, high level of sound customization. For a similar price you can only get a drum machine with eq as controls. + Fun to play with The problem with me is the connectivity: - Basic sequencer, 16 steps for each one of the 16 programs that can be program-changed, very limited pattern chaining abilities. Most hardware at this price range will at least start with 32 steps - No 1/4 line output, and the headphone output is unbalanced stereo, meaning for most interfaces you need a cable splitter. - TINY knobs, that will take time to get used to. - MIDI implementation either takes hardcoded channels 1-6 with full control or one single channel for limited control. This limits your choice of a sequencer. - No midi out / passthru - sync cable takes at most 2 ppq - No fx Basically you get what you paid for. But if you have more budget go get a better one, or pair it with a sequencer.

Not a standout for composition, but fun for practice or jamming. It has a few limitations which stand out to me. The compact interface is always usable, but often awkward. Creating sounds is easy but adjusting them is tedious. Liberal use must be made of a hash in the LCD which marks the saved position of a setting, which is not trivial when using micro-potentiometers assigned to a resolution of 255 in a nested interface. This also obligates you to operate the controls deftly and save a kit after each adjustment to prevent your settings from drifting widely and mysteriously. You get 16 triggers/steps per pattern and 16 pattern slots, which feels claustrophobic. Patterns can be chained to create more complex progressions but with only 16 sets of 16 triggers and no data I/O, memory management is an issue. For instance, creating a 4-bar drum line with 16th-note resolution and a consistent fill on the 4th bar would generally use a quarter of the memory and require you to select the 4 bars sequentially each time you turn on the unit. Then, that memory is consumed until you delete the progression forever. Kits and patterns are marked only by their slot number. The gold-side "Send" physical modeling controls are impressive but are adjustable only per full kit, which in practice limits them to either trippy delays/reverbs and performance effects or to use on only one or a few drums. Time signature can be fudged, but only within extreme limits. This unit is mostly practical for us because it allows us to avoid computers in a few situations during jamming or practice. Far superior performance in every respect can be had from free or trivially cheap software on any phone, tablet, or PC; judged as a component of a modular setup and especially in the context of Volca as a system, I find it useful and likeable, but unwieldy. The sound generator is excellent only in its simplicity, and the sequencer is inflexible. Integrating this unit's stark limitations into a multi-hundred-dollar instrument could be fun but does not seem efficient or practical. However, we are very happy with it. We are not using it as a musical instrument, but as a configurable metronome / backing track. It feels more personal, predictable and charismatic than an automatic drummer, and less sterile than a metronome. The sound generator is a minimalist masterpiece, with only enough moving parts to create a wide array of convincing or pleasing drum sounds and effects. Probability and slicing controls push this Korg over the finish line between toy and tool, but no further.

Alles bestens

Reçu dans les temps.... Petite BAR qui permet de faire des sons bien barrés !