Jiří Smolík

I bought the Sample 2 with an intention to use it primarily as a sample-based drum machine in my DAW setup with an occasional dawless lo-fi jamming in mind. But after some experimentation, it turned out to be more than just that. With simplifed sample loading, chromatic pitch scaling (hold func button and then twist the speed knob), and midi over usb, the Sample 2 can achieve more than expected. In fact, with some tricks and DAW, you can turn the Sample 2 into fully fledged monophonic synth / chromatic sampler and create full blown songs with just this Volca. One thing that bothers me about it (this applies to the Volca Drum as well) is a lacking manual, which does not show all features. In fact, when I tried to learn how to control it, I abandoned the manual and checked youtube tutorials instead. And I wish it could play samples chromatically with a keyboard out of a box without any DAW trickery, which is the reason why I am searching for the first iteration in order to get the pajen firmware into it.