Best cheap device for producing electronic music.

It's undeniably the best gateway to electronic music on the market. Volca Sample has a very easy learning curve, and there are many video guides on the Internet. Although limited in some degree, there is an option of installing some pirate firmware to "enhance" your Volca with some useful features, such as step probability, bar filter, additional MIDI implementations, and etc. Uploading your own samples to the device might be quite complicated for the inexperienced user, and the process itself is a very long and boring one... Also it's good to keep in mind that Volca Sample has only 4MBs of memory, and overall length of samples can't be longer than ~65 seconds. But even with all these limitations, It's still a great beatmaking/songwriting tool, that can help you by teaching the basics of production of electronic music.

A punchy little beastie

After messing around with rhythms on software and phone apps, I decided to finally spring for a piece of hardware that could supply my pieces with a necessary 4/4 snap. This little guy appealed to me due to its tiny size and minuscule price tag. As with all the Volcas, you typically get quite a bit of bang for your buck. Nonetheless, there are always limitations and caveats to keep in mind.

As far as the Volca Sample goes, there are lots of appealing factors. It's loaded with 99 presets, and a great many of them are actually quite useful. Unlike a DAW or a modern sampler, this one has a few quirks that really give the rhythms a punch. The relatively low bit rate ensures some grit, and the two analog filters on the left side will guarantee that some warmth will color the tone. Also, the step sequencer is very intuitive and quite responsive. Your finger can glide smoothly as patterns play out, as you go into step mode, or when recording live. It certainly doesn't have cumbersome buttons or complex menus. In addition, notice all those knobs in the center? They can be really helpful in tweaking a sound's pitch, speed, start point, end point, and more. You can even save your real-time twiddles. Next, you can save quite a few patterns and string them up to create "songs." Also, since it comes with a set of batteries and has built-in speakers, you can make beats on the go in seconds flat. That immediacy is certainly more conducive to pattern construction than just staring at a laptop.

Nevertheless, its not perfect. First and foremost, its the Volca Sample and not the Volca Sampler. That's a critical point! If you want to add sounds, you'll need to use your phone or computer. Then you'll need a weird app that will send the sample into the Volca via the headphone jack. Resampling, a feature of basically every other sampler out there, is also non-existent. It's not you like you can actually add effects beyond reverb anyway. It's worth adding that, while a lot of the samples are pretty good, many seem oriented towards genres that I'm personally not really into. I'd venture as far to say that some are just cheesy. Aside from the sample issues, there are other minor gripes to consider (and these are applicable to all Volcas). First, it only has MIDI IN. All the other Ins and Outs are 1/8 jacks. You'll also have to buy a power supply. In addition, while there's not extensive menu diving, you will have to deal with the several less-than-intuitive alternate features generated by pressing the Function button. Nearly every button and most of the steps in the sequencer will do a different thing when you hold down the Function key, and the barrage of options can throw you off if you're making a live rhythm. Finally, there's the issue of all the darn central knobs. It's very easy (almost too easy) to render a sample unusable by twiddling in the wrong direction. This can kill the vibe almost instantly.

In the end, I went on to say goodbye to this little fella. It was a great introduction to tactile rhythm creation, and I'll always love it for that. The sounds one can get from it are massive and have character. However, its limitations became plain enough after a while. I soon replaced it with an old Korg Electribe ES-1. Despite its own flaws, that one is more intuitive, has a multitude of effects, can do MIDI IN and OUT, is able to sample, can resample, and has 1/4 inch outputs. I'm satisfied.

Should YOU get it? Whether you're a beginner or a veteran, you'll find some great things about the Volca Sample. Your recordings will gain quite a lot from its mighty tones. The low-end rumble can be tremendous! You'll have way more fun on this than on a DAW, and your wallet won't be too upset about your choices. Just be warned that you'll end up running into frustrations as you bump into its the limits imposed by its construction.

Really nice device, but bad ports

The Korg Volca is really super fun to play with. The only problem is that it doesn't have any MIDI OUT whatsoever, and it would have been a great plus (even though you can do your own implementation, it's still super sketchy). Another big problems with the ports, is the lack of full-size Jack, and you have to use 3.5mm one, that is pretty constraining.

From Gear Setup

Fun utility tool, needs to be used in tandem with more power bit of gear.

Well-priced little unit. It's build quality isn't the best, but that's what you would expect for something of this price. Perfect for the studio, however lacks a bit of functionality for live performance. I use the volca sample in tandem with the MPC1000 when performing live, and it works really well for me. Perfect for someone starting out, or someone that just wants to inject a bit of fun into their workflow.

Finicky but fun

I bought this to use as drums as the Volca Beats wasn't available at my local music store and I thought maybe it would be more versatile. The whole using an app to load samples to the Volca is kind of irritating and the fact that it needs special Midi cords to work properly with a sequencer like the BeatStep are just a couple of the irritations I had with this thing but when it works it sounds good...not great and the line can be noisy but I do plan to give all my Volcas another look in the New Year to see if I can't do something with them more than impressing the nieces and nephews hehe.

Excellent

No matter how you look at it, this is the biggest steal in the history of music instrument history. No wonder most APC’s are collecting dust... some got smart and decided to learn what this incredible powerhouse can do. Just watch the Korg videos and pay attention to the layering, this is an incredible tool. Yes you can upload you own samples with both desktop and mobile. This is indispensable and I may buy 4 more. IMHO.

From Gear Setup

Too generic

A simple sample player. It CAN NOT sample itself, requires an iPhone or another external device to load samples into volca. The workflow is quite inspiring, but the flexibility of the device is poor. I bought it to add some organic to my Electribe EMX-1 performances and it does the job well. Good for the price, actually.

Best little Sampler

Love to use it together with my IOS transfer APP. I can record anything and put it right into this thing.

crisp as fuck

i sometimes run recorded sounds from my phone thru it cause they's not static whereas any interface would have static shit behind it.

Sampler

Nice beginner sampler, but 16 step sequencer is quiet not enough