These are meant for realtime jams.
Still, 16 is twice as many as the Volca Beats, Keys, or Bass.[/quote]
The thing is, after you’ve added your motion sequences to a pattern, you’ve basically created a patch with unique modulations. It’s a shame you have to save over a patch you might really like in order to save a new one. And if you wanted to create the same motion-sequence again, it might be difficult or impossible to do. How much more would it really cost Korg to increase the pattern memory to at least 64? Is it like 10 more dollars?
These are meant for realtime jams.
Still, 16 is twice as many as the Volca Beats, Keys, or Bass.[/quote]
The thing is, after you’ve added your motion sequences to a pattern, you’ve basically created a patch with unique modulations. It’s a shame you have to save over a patch you might really like in order to save a new one. And if you wanted to create the same motion-sequence again, it might difficult or impossible to do. How much more would it really cost Korg to increase the pattern memory to at least 64? Is it like 10 more dollars? [/quote]
It’s irrelevant what I think as i won’t be getting a volca any time soon, and it’s largely academic if it is what it is anyway - but i really Really applaud Korg if they’ve decided to encourage people to play/program these things - live in the moment, electronic instruments are a tiny tiny subset of the musical landscape where this is even possible ! Sure i’d be bummed out if Elektrons suddenly only stored 16 sounds (zero complaints if it were 16 patterns though) but tbh - i’m happiest in front of the MS20mini or Telecaster, no presets or playbacks, just living in the moment. These Korgs are made to be tweaked surely. My 2p Ducks
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Akemie’s seems like a different beast though, 4-op, limited algorithms, NOS components, and IMO a little expensive.
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I dunno, Ask Roland why their $499 TR-8 is also cut off at the knees in the exact same way.
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They really got me at “fully dx7 compatible”. That is amazing.
I dunno, Ask Roland why their $499 TR-8 is also cut off at the knees in the exact same way.[/quote]
It seems insane/stupid to me
I dunno, Ask Roland why their $499 TR-8 is also cut off at the knees in the exact same way.[/quote]
It seems insane/stupid to me[/quote]
Agreed! One of the main reasons I love Elektron is the vast pattern memory in a single project (and 128 projects in a machine!)
Also the Acidlab Miami and Drumatix both sport 12 banks of 16 patterns. Love it.
Volcas are great for just dicking around and exploring and having fun while doing it. I love all the happy accidents I’ve been able to get with my Volca Bass. It’s really fun just messing around and somehow come up with something really musical and cool .
If I come up with something I really like , I just sample it so having a limited patch memory is no biggie for me.
It makes great sample food for the Octatrack.
I’m looking foward to trying out the new Volca FM the same way.
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Agreed.
And the small program memory is a little bit strange, but I plan on using Dexed for programming it anyways. That will let me store the bulk of my patches on my PC / cloud, and then if I ever take this thing to a live performance I’ll just load up the relevant patches into the internal memory, and be on my way.
I’m constantly having to sample Volca keys patterns that I like so I can program new stuff. It’s OK workaround like you say, but not great if you decide you later want drastic tempo change etc. Plus you lose live parameter tweakability and sometimes you have to record a bunch of loops then slice in to those so you have clean start option and also loops that begin with the delay/reverb tail from the end of pattern. Memory is cheap, especially the amount needed to store presets/automation. not sure why korg scrimp so hard on it on all their boxes, not only Volcas…
sounds good in the video, let’s hope the sound is not “too modern” like with the reDX! The fact that it supports dx7 sysex really opens this up as there are a lot of editors for it already. If the sound is on point, even with the 3 voice limit this will be a must-buy after all!
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3 voices kinda kills this for me. Completely excludes all those nice pads that are half the fun of FM.
Eh? Sure FM can do cool pads, but what about the great basses, percussion, and fx? I’m pretty stoked just to do monophonic & chord mode with this guy.
Must cop. Glad I didn’t cop the reface DX.
Re the pattern memories, personally I think that on devices such as these tons of memories are not needed, it would add more clutter to the UI and detract from the immediacy when using them live, the idea is to get stuff recorded then move on IMHO - which in itself can be a good motivator, and having to choose which stuff you overwrite may also be a blessing in disguise.
Also it can help to really get to know a machine not having tons of memories, for me having them can make me lazy but of course YMMV 
It is nice I think to have a mixture of things too, some stuff with tons of memories and stuff with none too, like a modular or SH-101.
Anyway, Volca FM is an instant buy for me!
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I don’t really see how more pattern memory would add any “clutter.” Especially, considering there’s a display too. If there were enough memory for 64 patterns, nothing is stopping a person from limiting themselves to as few of patterns as they desire. With the nature of FM synthesis in particular, considering how drastically a sound can change with a minor shift of a parameter; along with how the motion-sequencing aspect ties into actual patch creation in a sense, it would have been a really good idea to invest the $5 extra for memory to allow us to build a library of our complex creations without having it tethered to a computer to constantly transfer files back and forth.
Tried this today - really fucking good! Got some bizzare sequences instantly. It was fun and surprising. Definitely want one.!
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@Prints - what I mean by clutter is how will you access the additional banks? So an extra few buttons or rotary encoder would need to be added, so there are panel space considerations, and more importantly pcb layout considerations - where do you place the extra controls without sacrificing something else? On larger machines these are not big hurdles but the form factor of the Volcas mean that things like this can be tricky.
Also the midi in means that external sequencing is a fair compromise.
that’s great news! and how is the sound? is it comparable to the dx?