Volca FM

lol

^ lol

  On 7/27/2016 at 11:34 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

they're fuckin great btw. not lofi like i was expecting, very clear fm sound like late 80s yamaha. can't imagine people will be let down at all. bellissimo

If it had been say 6 or 8 voice multi-timbral you could turn it into a cool as fuck drum machine....

16 patches..... Choose them wisely before going on that holiday!

I don't feel 'let down' in any way but do feel like it's deliberately 'light'.

I predict a bigger, higher spec fm device from Korg will be launched soon.

  On 8/3/2016 at 5:39 PM, Grain Bastard said:

 

  On 7/27/2016 at 11:34 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

they're fuckin great btw. not lofi like i was expecting, very clear fm sound like late 80s yamaha. can't imagine people will be let down at all. bellissimo

If it had been say 6 or 8 voice multi-timbral you could turn it into a cool as fuck drum machine....

 

16 patches..... Choose them wisely before going on that holiday!

 

I don't feel 'let down' in any way but do feel like it's deliberately 'light'.

 

I predict a bigger, higher spec fm device from Korg will be launched soon.

 

Never tried the other synths from the Volca series, but I don't feel let down by the patch limitation because well, I expected a "light" machine. I think the small number of presets isn't a bad thing as a first encounter with FM synthesis for beginners - I never took the time to fully understand the FM thing, and the Volca is very helpful for this.

And the best thing is, I'm having a blast like I haven't had for a while with a piece of audio equipment. Makes me wanna get another Volca (maybe bass ?)

Bass I thought looked really good on spec (its the korg 700 filter, right?  id like it just for that alone if so) but the filter cutoff cant be modulated by cc ??????  

its the thing I wanted it for 

Yeah it seems that each one has a weird unexplained limitation. The Keys' cutoff can be controlled by CC, but not the resonance.. WHY

  On 8/5/2016 at 3:11 PM, lala said:

Bass I thought looked really good on spec (its the korg 700 filter, right?  id like it just for that alone if so) but the filter cutoff cant be modulated by cc ??????  

 

 

its the thing I wanted it for 

Each Volca has a knack of not having the most wanted feature. You can control the LFO rate and intensity on the Bass to do some wacky filter stuff though.

http://media.aadl.org/files/catalog_guides/1444141_chart.pdf

  On 8/5/2016 at 3:11 PM, lala said:

Bass I thought looked really good on spec (its the korg 700 filter, right? id like it just for that alone if so) but the filter cutoff cant be modulated by cc ??????

 

 

its the thing I wanted it for

It's newly designed apparently but you can't route external sounds thru it anyway

Thats another massive oversight.

I would be happy with just the synth if you could at least control the filter somehow externally (cv or midi would be fine)  Just cause ive heard those filters are badass & the volcas are pretty cheap right

Volca FM came in and it's great. Menu diving for editing patches is done relatively well for the size of it. It's pretty much a DX7 with 3 note polyphony and no aftertouch. However, you can send CC to the velocity parameter. 

Is this decent without hooking it up to anything else for editing patches?

I want a relatively cheap synth for learning FM synthesis with knobs on my couch not at my desk.  Is this it?  

  On 8/27/2016 at 5:00 AM, Zeffolia said:

Is this decent without hooking it up to anything else for editing patches?

 

I want a relatively cheap synth for learning FM synthesis with knobs on my couch not at my desk.  Is this it?  

Not for learning. If you want to edit patches you'll need the little placard or a manual to know what all of the parameters are for the Volca. The Yamaha DX series had the algorithms and abbreviated parameter information directly on the keyboard itself.

But I mean if you have the placard and the volca FM can you change the parameters on all the operators, and change algorithms, portably?

I essentially don't care about actually making music with it or any features except playing around with the parameters on the operators to get a decent feel for fm

  On 8/27/2016 at 5:20 AM, Zeffolia said:

I essentially don't care about actually making music with it or any features except playing around with the parameters on the operators to get a decent feel for fm

Tried Dexed?

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/dexed-by-digital-suburban

  On 8/27/2016 at 5:20 AM, Zeffolia said:

But I mean if you have the placard and the volca FM can you change the parameters on all the operators, and change algorithms, portably?

 

I essentially don't care about actually making music with it or any features except playing around with the parameters on the operators to get a decent feel for fm

Yep should be fine. 

I've been really enjoying the Volca FM. I made a really good snappy snare on it to accompany the volca beats with it and being able to automate algorithm changing, the arp (both type and speed) and the LFO parameters all at once leads to some really cool dynamically changing rhythm and melody. Very impressed.

I still haven't gotten mine yet, was told I'd get it by the end of the month. Glad you guys are having fun with it though, looks promising!

dang, i've been wanting to get one of these for weeks...trying to hold out for a 2nd hand one....but i can only bite my hand for so long...

If I didn't already have a yamaha dx7 I'd want a second one, tbh.

I'm highly tempted to get one of these, but then again DX7s keep coming up at my local secondhand instrument store.. I've always wanted a DX7 just as a keyboard to play

Yeah if you want more than 3 voice polyphony and velocity sensitve keys (this is a big one. velocity is just a lever on the volca fm :( ) then go for a dx7. Volca FM is essentialy a Volca keys with an FM engine inserted into it but with an arpeggiator and a 16x16 step sequencer.

Girlfriend bought me one as a surprise gift this week. Only given it a brief twiddle so far but immediately lots of fun. I know fuck all about the technical side of FM and I doubt I'll ever really get my head around it, but I'm going to take a dive in properly soon so I can really get a feel for how it all fits together. Excitement ahead.

Dexed is pretty great for learning the DX7 architecture visually. It's still pretty obscure when compared to subtractive synthesis but having one control per function all laid out on a screen is very helpful. Plus it can apparently export DX7 sysex patches..

Dexed gives me a headache. Sometimes I change about five things and the sound stays the same.

ha, fair enough. I found it pretty brutal at first but eventually got used to it somewhat. A lot of it is still down to trial and error for me at the moment, heh.