It’s only 5 octaves! 
You are crazy! I would love some gear with that kind of magic in it
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These are not that hard to find in good condition since they were built like a tank. It is by far the easiest to program and most fully-featured original DX synth from Yamaha and you should be able to get one for around €150-€175 pretty easily.
Here’s mine; the keys haven’t really yellowed much at all:
What is hard to find is one of those Yamaha breath controllers that plug into that socket on the bottom left…
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Sure sounds good here - this vid is particularly good in that he explains how to compensate for the Volca FM’s lack of velocity response by mapping MIDI CC from the Octatrack. Also, plenty of examples of lively, responsive percussion sounds that FM - as opposed to analog - excels at:
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Every time I hear the Volca FM doing harder / bass / kick-like sounds, it sounds so very crisp and punchy. I wonder, is this well-defined, punchy and crystalline presence attributed to its flexibility / range (6 operators, 32 algorithms), or are these characteristics possible with the Digitone, with its more ‘streamlined’ FM functionality? I only ask because many demos of the DN sound somewhat warmer and soft-edged. Is the Volca FM better-equipped (complex envelopes etc.) for dry, punchy, woody sounds?
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The Digitone - to some people - is “limited” because it “only has 4-op”. This Yamaha DX-21 video demonstrates that lively percussion is certainly possible on 4-op FM - unfortunately, there’s hardly any kick sounds in the vid, though once in a while he plays a low, woody sounding note that sounds promising.
If of course you develop into a 4-op FM patching god and really need 6-op power, the Volca FM is a low-cost addition to anyone’s rig, and takes little space - so that’s nice. There’s also the Preen FM as another option.
Anyone tried to program a BCR2000 for more hands on control instead of only the CC functionality? Looks like there is some fun to be done.
volca_fm_MIDIImp.txt (24.7 KB)
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Decided to “splurge” on one. Impression after the first five minutes: Wow! This is instant love for me. Hard to believe it’s only $170. It’s a keeper for sure. This and my Monologue are gonna be so nice together. Also got a used Minilogue (only $250) arriving today, so it’s gonna be a fun night. I liked the sound of the Minilogue in the store, so hopefully it’s a keeper after I get to really play with it.
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I’ve been having trouble saving my Volca FM patches to other patches in the machine. The manual states clearly;
When not in EDIT mode, this button saves the FM sound engine parameters.
Press the SAVE/EXPORT button, and then use the PROGRAM knob to select the
save location for the program. Press the SAVE/EXPORT button again to begin
saving. To cancel the save operation, press the EDIT button before pressing the
SAVE/EXPORT button
When I hit SAVE when not in edit mode it just saves the patch where it is (I need to make a few copies with variations. Anyone having this issue?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I’d double check your firmware version (hold record while powering up). I believe the original firmware did not allow you to save patches to new locations but they did add that functionality on 1.02 or 1.03.
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You were spot on with this, thank you so much!
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I admit I’ve put off listening to this particular vid of Cuckoo’s because it’s really, really long, but the length is because he demos just about every patch himself. Some good stuff in there - eg. really nice metallic percussion (C Metlion). He’s nicely provided direct links to each patch in the vid.
Between his patches, Suzanne Ciani’s,etc - I got some work ahead to sort through it all ;).
For who doesn’t have the patience to get into a book like Chowning’s, but who likes to be able to understand a little more what they are actually doing when programming fm synthesis, read this essay:
http://www.sfu.ca/~truax/fmtut.html
It’s complete and has perfect references for further studying.
Stay frosty, semper fei!
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New editor plugin for Volca FM
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That’s pretty fantastic. Stupid question, but how is the Volca FM connecting to a computer for the editor? looking at the specs, i see there’s a MIDI in. is that it? (don’t you need a MIDI out port to send data from the editor to the hardware?)
Right, the Volca FM has a MIDI IN (DIN) port. For my iPad to hardware experiments, I’ve been using my Roland Duo Capture EX, which has MIDI In and Out:
iPad -> USB -> Duo Capture EX -> MIDI DIN -> Hardware synth
This author used a MIDISport 8x8 to control multiple Volcas simultaneously from Ableton.
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we believe in magic 
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pajen came through 
https://www.reddit.com/r/volcas/comments/dj7f7v/volca_fm_firmware_108_unofficial_velocity_on_note
“Volca FM firmware 1.08 [UNOFFICIAL] - velocity on note in, LFO fix, patch transfer, more CCs etc.”
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Patch change via midi cc! Amazing
Get an IPAD, there’s a few that can do it better.