Korg Volca FM

The Lounge Other Gear
#206

Push 2 is just too expensive for me when I don’t like being at the machine, but I have been thinking of finally upgrading my neglected Live 8 license to Live 9 Suite primarily for Operator and M4L (even though I also have a full Max license that I’ve also been neglecting).

Operator does have a filter built in and it has those drawable waves… “Only 4 Op FM” but it seems quite capable with them and a bit easier to understand. I also own FM8 but totally struggle trying to come up with new sounds. Volca FM hasn’t been terribly easy either in this regard but I’ve got a good foothold now to start making the stuff I like… (I just can’t stand the thousands-of-presets in FM8. I would rather have ‘some good demos and a bunch of useful basic starting points’ like the Monomachine or OP-1).

When comparing things, Volca FM wins - for me - on its price, ease of use (relatively), depth, and availability. I hear good things about PreenFM 2 but I’m not a builder and I see very few built ones up for sale. But also the PreenFM 2 doesn’t have a sequencer (or if it does it’s not as easy as the Volca) built in and I like the sequencer / motion sequencing on the Volca. But eventually I’ll probably hand sequencing of it off to the Monomachine or eventual OctaTrack anyways.

My dream box is still the DX200 groove box. Sound engine direct from Yamaha themselves. Groovebox functionality. Some interesting sequencing options. 6 OP FM plus a filter plus heavy automation/motion sequencing/p-locking. Volca FM with Volca Beats/Sample or Pocket Operators comes close to the DX200 setup for about half the price I see those going for. And I think I’m going to have some mad fun pairing it with the Volca Kick when it comes out as a small noisy kit.

#207

I owned a DX200 for years, great machine and has serious low end. Great to sequence external gear but also lots of tricks onboard and although the drums were limited they could be edited in the sequence enough to get good mileage.
I remember being slapped round the face by it when I tried it out, a truly gorgeous sound…

#208

oh man, yeah I really want a dx200. I have too many grooveboxes or similar already (es-1, circuit, mnm, md) but the dx just seems super cool

#209

Most later FM synths were also only 4 operator. The main reason is that with more complex waveforms you already have additional harmonics which are available from the outset. With the DX7, which only had sine waves, you needed to use two operators just to generate the equivalent of a square or saw or whatnot.

5 Likes
#210

It felt like the FM arguments/interests the past few months dealt with operator counting (who has 4, who has 6, ooo look at the Montage with 8, etc), so that’s interesting to hear. I’ve had fun with the 4op on the Monomachine once I started to learn how to tame it a little bit.

Part of the arguments seemed to stem from Yamaha’s Reface DX only being 4 op. Were people just upset that it couldn’t load old DX7 patches? Or is it only 4 op but still limited to just sine waves?

#211

Yes reface dx is 4 op with sine waves though they each have variable wave shaping in a sense morphing them into more like saw waves.
It sounds good but I sold mine as the interface is annoying, the touch slider thing sux in my opinion. Just put knobs or proper sliders on for christs sake.

#212

Yeah, I tried one in stores and I really liked the sound and the overall programming system, but the touch sliders were super annoying.

The morphing is essentially the same as having an operator with feedback. A saw wave has very similar harmonics to a self-modulating sine wave.

#213

Monomachine only has 2 and 3 OP FM, actually.

And I do recommend giving the Montage a spin if you can. The depth of the sounds you can get out of that thing is unreal. Planning to spend very little on gear next year, but somehow the Montage will be in there (fingers still crossed for a desktop/rack version tho).

#214

I’m hoping Yamaha will be wise enough to take the FM-X engine from the Montage and make a killer standalone polysynth.

2 Likes
#215

They’re not. They’re probably focusing on motorcycles, snowmobiles, and pianos instead.

3 Likes
#216

I’d be perfectly happy with that as well, but I’d use the rest of the engine if it was there. I just have a hard time justifying the space and expense of the keys…but if Yamaha don’t follow up with another revision of the Montage in another form, I’ll take it as is.

#217

The Montage6 doesn’t look too bad at 61 keys.

#218

So after some frustration with patch saving last night, I discovered that Korg has released a 1.02 update which allows you to save a modified patch to a different slot! A nice improvement, but… it always retains the same name! Now all my patches are called “Volcanic” …

#219

You can change the patch name. In “Edit”, go to the ‘All’ page and use the parameter selector to go to the very end (past ‘trSP’). You’ll see the patch name there. You can then use the arrow buttons to start selecting letters and the transpose/value slider to edit them.

I stumbled across this totally by accident the other night.

2 Likes
#220

Nice! good find. That wasn’t mentioned anywhere at all.

1 Like
#221

Can’t get enough of this…

9 Likes
#223

Trying not to buy this friggin’ box but has anyone tried it for Drums yet? I love FM drum sounds, I know there are other things out there blah blah but I’d like to know if the Volca can be used to build a great wealth of drum samples from.
Something along the lines of the beginning of this track ‘Pill Syrup’ by Vytear

Thanks anyway

#224

I don’t have any Volca FM percussion examples to share, but this made me think that a Volca PM (percussion physical modeling, like a Nord Drum with more knobs and a sequencer) would be great. Knowing Korg, it’s in the pipeline.

3 Likes
#225

I haven’t used mine to make any drums yet, but just get it anyway :slight_smile:

It’s just soooo good for the price.

1 Like
#226

Hah! Thanks for the ‘help’!
Seems like the best bet though, just no dosh at the moment!

1 Like