For those who are new to the Korg Volcas. Volca Sample is a sample player, if you're new to the Volcas, this is probably the one to get first as you can load samples into it to emulate any drum machine, 10 track. Volca Beats is '70s '80s style analogue, quite authentic sounding, 10 track. Volca Kick is a bassdrum analogue synth with lots of waveshaping options. Can also be used as a hard bass synth for dance stuff, 1 track. Volca Drum is a 6 way drum synth. It makes a really wide variety of sounds and noises including drums, percussion and basses, can sound either analogue or digital, has saveable kits that can be swapped, 6 track. To be honest, they're all pretty good for the price, and they're all great fun too.
Thanks for this comment. I want one of these as a drum machine and have been torn which to get, as I am totally new to synthesizers and this would be my first
@@CHR1ST1AN1215 I just got into synths half a year ago. I got the drum and sample. The drum has very nice drum and bass sounds and the sample just does everything. Volcas are great synths for the money
@@LimeEye13 Exactly! As HS said at 1:41, he wanted to illustrate how they sound rather than explain the details of how they're used differently. I loved to hear the difference but I'd still love to know the details!
@@numanuma20 its amazing get it ms 20 poop and scope its a amazing synth built specifically as a kick.. I use i more than my other volcas hard bass kick synth with my minilogue and monolugue beats my volca drum for that bass kick.
I love that i can just type a real random geeky question in google and it finds me a dude that made a perfect video to answer JUST that question. And i love you Grant
The volca drum can make a wide variety of noises, I love the drum, it’s a glitch generating pleasure box that allows me to program and jam on a different sequence every time I sit down in front of it. Once you learn how the layers work together, the possibilities become endless.
What a brilliant comparison and so well thought out and helpful. I'm definitely glad that I bought the Volca Sample and not the Beats. The Kick and Drum came along later and I would never have bought them anyway. The Sample sounds very clean and clear compared to the rest and, of course, it is also much more versatile with its ability to load and play other imported samples. I've even ordered that drum machine patterns book! Thanks so much and please keep up the good work.
Have all 4, volca Drum is the thing now in XXI Century! You can make crazyyy sounds! Others are more "normal" if i can say that. But if you can only hve One go with volca sample
The sample was louder than the rest so I don't think it's a fair comparison. The beats is good if you learn what to use and avoid. The kick is closer to a bass synth than a drum computer.
@@hubblebublumbubwub5215 Kick is a bit more specialist, but like you say, can make an awesome bass synth with massive sub-shaking power, although you really need a good sound system to appreciate it. Personally the beats is still my favourite, although i have all of 'em. It sounds a bit weedy here but it needn't be, and this demo doesn't give you any idea of how they fit into a mix with different styles of music.
Joseph Wright I’m actually not sold on it yet. Seems like a one trick pony with narrow sweet spots, but I don’t know nearly enough yet to make a formal judgement. I probably won’t get it as I don’t use acid bass in any of my tracks, but if you do, it could be a killer.
Daniel Menefrego You’ll definitely love it then. I make darker more drone and noise infused funk/world music and I love it for that. It does experimental VERY well. It honestly surprises me every time I play it. Still a 10/10 for me.
I finally got the entire volca family 3 volca mixs to safes so much space on my main mixer and gives the live performance an immense array of options.they all have their unique design and capabilities. Hook them up to an fx unit/processor and you got yourself a serious amount of power.
@@gnarlysoundscapes7210 the volca mix is actually pretty useful. No volca come with power supply so that’s 10$ a piece and volca mix has 3 including cables. Also has sound options that a mixer does not. This combines them into only one input on a mixer which save a lot of space , cables etc. Also has a built in speaker for ultimate portability.
Exactly what I was looking for! - same beat on each. I've got the (in order of purchase over 4 weeks): FM, Nubass, Bass, Sample, Keys and Modular, in a Fonik stand which allows me to slide them out and use individually too. As soon as I got the FM, I decided I was buying another within 2 minutes and was hooked. The Nubass was an obscure purchase in hindsight, though some day I'll have a use for those limited squelches - maybe when I get an appropriate beat programmed! I use the Sample for drums currently, but I'd like greater convenience and the ability to adjust so I've got the VDrum on the 'To-buy' list, with the intention of using the Sample for the more obscure sounds. Naturally, i'll complete the collection and buy the Beats, then the kick....and perhaps never the Mix. :) You've just inspired me to order that book from Amazon.... Arriving Saturday!
Thanks for doing this I have the beats and if I get another your video has it narrowed to either the sample or the drum I leaning toward sample for its versatility !
Its fun to have them all lol. Each one is really unique, even the old volca beats has a unique sound with largely pure analog sources especially if you don't use the sampled parts like the cowbell. Volca sample uses 12 bits so you get the sound of the old 90s samplers. Everything but the beats can be tweaked to do something besides just drums as well, you could have all of these but actually only use the beats for drums.
I'm a scratch dj and want to get one of these unit to plug in my mixer so I can make scratch beats , which would be better to get ? I produce a bit on pc so have a wealth of samples , I'm torn between the sample and drum or should I get both ( I can afford both ) ....or do I skip them all and get a a drumlouge or similar unit , I will probably use whatever I get in production too as well as a live situations
Sampler is versatile sure, but I'm looking for a drum machine, and to me, the drum seems better purely at doing drums. The versatility of the mixer are things I'm ok with doing in the box. I'm likely not going to track these sounds anyway but use them to control samples in my DAW, or, use as an untracked metronome, as I play much better to a drum track than a metronome.
All Volcas are pretty cool, prolly the most versatile is (if you don't want to mess with sampling) the Drum. Only problem (for me) is that you can't do manual pattern chaining - this is the song mode on the Sample I guess? I reeeaaallllly hope the firmware gets updated to do this. This is the only thing that's missing that would make this device perfect for the price range and above.
The 260 drum patterns book is really cool. It says in the editorial that it's the second of two books, so there must be a predecessor - anyone knows more?
Can the Kong Volca Sample use samples I make myself? Like for instance if I sample my own drum set? Then write something like Postal Services “Natural Anthem”?
Yes, but you can't sample directly into it. There are apps for computers and/or phones for transferring your own sounds to the slots on the Volca Sample. The Sample version 2 has a USB port which is easier, but the old way doesn't bother me.
Poor kick, you just left him die out there... Should have gone straight to sustain, multiple button Touch efx and heavy use on the octaves! But really fun to watch.👌
Thanks -- a very nice demo! A technical note: I found the gating of your voice really distracting. I know why you did it, but I'd rather have constant, low-level background noise.
Glad you liked it & thanks for letting me know! My goal with noise gating is that it shouldn't be obvious to listeners, so if you found it distracting I will want to try more subtle settings next time.
Hi. Thanks for the video. Damn, I'm going to return my Volca Drum because you just proved it's not good. I'll go with the Sampler. I have the FM and love it, but man I thought the Drum was going to be way better.
Not sure why you put the sample and kick in this comparison. The kick is built with the ms 20 filters so its really just built around a kick. The sample plays with samples. I understand beats because its anal og sound and drum is a digital drum . But maybe that's me being a noob?
errr except that you need to source your kicks from somewhere. Kick gets you custom kicks. And Sample is 32kHz so it can't possibly re-create Kick when sampled. Drum can get you some custom kicks, but it's virtual analog and so won't get you the same depth as kick either.
The volca beats was the first of it's kind so it may seem primitive compared to the more recent versions but the performance settings are still very immediate and inspiring. The kick on the beats is definitely the favorite and gets pretty massive if dialed in right, but it's kind of a one trick pony since it only really sounds good in a certain tuning range. I could certainly see that being the inspiration behind the volca kick. I never really took the volca beats seriously until I played one in person with some proper monitoring and that kick blew me away.
With or without the ms20 logo the kick sounds horrible. On the other hand the drum is fantastic, it’s really a 6 part synth with 2 layers per part. I got my hands on one and I was shocked how good it is. The digital side of the volca range is outstanding.
kick sounds "horrible" because of the way he's using it, playing all parts of the sequence through it rather than just the kick. What you get out of kick is some truly customizable kicks. Having said that, the kind of person who typically buys volcas will likely think the same as you.
The Kick can sound awesome if you use it right, though it is very limited in what it can do compared to the others. The key to making it sound good is never put a long pitch decay on it like he's doing. Either have no pitch decay at all, or have it super short with the drive cranked up to make a nice thudding kick sound.
The sample is my favorite and better with Pajen's firmware to fix some of the behavior and add a few more tricks. The main thing I miss are some of the controls on the Beats seem better for a performance, like the stutter.
Take whatever I say with a grain of salt but Vocal production needs some work. The gateing and eq is pretty harsh. It quite difficult to listen to. Just my 2 cents
@@mpmi7588 The Volca Kick is a beast, not as a synth, even though it's a pretty decent mono synth, nor as a drum machine, but as a kick generator, pretty much what it says on the box.It's a monster at what it does, I love it.
@@LFC303606ACID I hear u. From what get out of reviews and compared to the other Volcas, it just seems like A waste of money just for a variety in kicks.
It's not a drum machine, it's a kick machine. I don't think it really compares here considering it only does kicks and the rest have many options. If all you have a modular system a volca kick is a decent replacement for a kick module
![[Eng Sub] KORG Volca Kick, Volca Beats и Volca Drum. From analog to digital](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/uwWejj-vVXc/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Eng Sub] KORG Volca Kick, Volca Beats и Volca Drum. From analog to digital](/img/tr.png)
For those who are new to the Korg Volcas. Volca Sample is a sample player, if you're new to the Volcas, this is probably the one to get first as you can load samples into it to emulate any drum machine, 10 track. Volca Beats is '70s '80s style analogue, quite authentic sounding, 10 track. Volca Kick is a bassdrum analogue synth with lots of waveshaping options. Can also be used as a hard bass synth for dance stuff, 1 track. Volca Drum is a 6 way drum synth. It makes a really wide variety of sounds and noises including drums, percussion and basses, can sound either analogue or digital, has saveable kits that can be swapped, 6 track. To be honest, they're all pretty good for the price, and they're all great fun too.
Thanks for this comment. I want one of these as a drum machine and have been torn which to get, as I am totally new to synthesizers and this would be my first
@@CHR1ST1AN1215 I just got into synths half a year ago. I got the drum and sample. The drum has very nice drum and bass sounds and the sample just does everything. Volcas are great synths for the money
Someone needs to make a video that covers what this comment says so clear. Thanks for this!
Which one is the best for glitchy drums and randomize patterns and stuff like that?
@@LimeEye13 Exactly! As HS said at 1:41, he wanted to illustrate how they sound rather than explain the details of how they're used differently. I loved to hear the difference but I'd still love to know the details!
I love this the volca kick is trying it's best, look at it go
Lol A for effort right
Serious?
I don’t see that the point of the Volca kick is. I am a Volca collector so I may need to go ahead and buy one.
@@numanuma20 its amazing get it ms 20 poop and scope its a amazing synth built specifically as a kick.. I use i more than my other volcas hard bass kick synth with my minilogue and monolugue beats my volca drum for that bass kick.
@@tactickleturnip4382 Maybe if you want to add more sub for a trap song.
I love that i can just type a real random geeky question in google and it finds me a dude that made a perfect video to answer JUST that question. And i love you Grant
The volca drum can make a wide variety of noises, I love the drum, it’s a glitch generating pleasure box that allows me to program and jam on a different sequence every time I sit down in front of it. Once you learn how the layers work together, the possibilities become endless.
The Volca kick is an under appreciated device. Prove me wrong.
THANK YOU! Answered my questions about the differences of these machines.
What a brilliant comparison and so well thought out and helpful. I'm definitely glad that I bought the Volca Sample and not the Beats. The Kick and Drum came along later and I would never have bought them anyway. The Sample sounds very clean and clear compared to the rest and, of course, it is also much more versatile with its ability to load and play other imported samples. I've even ordered that drum machine patterns book! Thanks so much and please keep up the good work.
Have all 4, volca Drum is the thing now in XXI Century! You can make crazyyy sounds! Others are more "normal" if i can say that. But if you can only hve One go with volca sample
The sample was louder than the rest so I don't think it's a fair comparison. The beats is good if you learn what to use and avoid. The kick is closer to a bass synth than a drum computer.
@@hubblebublumbubwub5215 Kick is a bit more specialist, but like you say, can make an awesome bass synth with massive sub-shaking power, although you really need a good sound system to appreciate it. Personally the beats is still my favourite, although i have all of 'em. It sounds a bit weedy here but it needn't be, and this demo doesn't give you any idea of how they fit into a mix with different styles of music.
Is the Sample easy to manipulate "on the fly"?
@@Fonkemman only if you have small fingers and can memorize conttols (or easily read black on gray text lol).
the volca kick trying to do a disco beat was I think my favorite. it definitely has the best KICK....
At least the Volca Kick tried, that was cute.
I really liked that last pattern. Very groovy.
Great job showing all off at the same time.
Got a Volca Drum recently and man it’s so great. Best Volca, imo.
Haut Strange Volca NuBass looks great too
Joseph Wright I’m actually not sold on it yet. Seems like a one trick pony with narrow sweet spots, but I don’t know nearly enough yet to make a formal judgement. I probably won’t get it as I don’t use acid bass in any of my tracks, but if you do, it could be a killer.
Haut Strange have you used the volca for trip/hop or dub style ? Or is it recommended more for up tempo EDM stuff
RealSTYLISHx I don’t make either one of those but it’s capable enough that I think it could handle anything you throw at it.
Daniel Menefrego You’ll definitely love it then. I make darker more drone and noise infused funk/world music and I love it for that. It does experimental VERY well. It honestly surprises me every time I play it. Still a 10/10 for me.
Eventually, I will have all of the infinity stones (all the volcas)
Unless they keep making new ones until the world ends
Should skip the mixer one though... you can get a proper mixer with more inputs and features for less money.
I finally got the entire volca family 3 volca mixs to safes so much space on my main mixer and gives the live performance an immense array of options.they all have their unique design and capabilities. Hook them up to an fx unit/processor and you got yourself a serious amount of power.
@@gnarlysoundscapes7210 the volca mix is actually pretty useful. No volca come with power supply so that’s 10$ a piece and volca mix has 3 including cables. Also has sound options that a mixer does not. This combines them into only one input on a mixer which save a lot of space , cables etc. Also has a built in speaker for ultimate portability.
Hahaha nice!
Exactly what I was looking for! - same beat on each. I've got the (in order of purchase over 4 weeks): FM, Nubass, Bass, Sample, Keys and Modular, in a Fonik stand which allows me to slide them out and use individually too. As soon as I got the FM, I decided I was buying another within 2 minutes and was hooked. The Nubass was an obscure purchase in hindsight, though some day I'll have a use for those limited squelches - maybe when I get an appropriate beat programmed! I use the Sample for drums currently, but I'd like greater convenience and the ability to adjust so I've got the VDrum on the 'To-buy' list, with the intention of using the Sample for the more obscure sounds. Naturally, i'll complete the collection and buy the Beats, then the kick....and perhaps never the Mix. :) You've just inspired me to order that book from Amazon.... Arriving Saturday!
I actually really liked the sound of all Volca’s at once! Sounded very modern Trent Reznor-y.
Thanks for doing this
I have the beats and if I get another your video has it narrowed to either the sample or the drum
I leaning toward sample for its versatility !
Its fun to have them all lol. Each one is really unique, even the old volca beats has a unique sound with largely pure analog sources especially if you don't use the sampled parts like the cowbell. Volca sample uses 12 bits so you get the sound of the old 90s samplers. Everything but the beats can be tweaked to do something besides just drums as well, you could have all of these but actually only use the beats for drums.
I'd say the beats can get melodic.
Wow, wow, wow..... wow. Thanks a bunch, man, Very, very good comparison. This really helps!
Awesome demo, so cool to use the drum pattern book.
Great video! I want to buy the Volca Drum.
Great vid!
In 2023 what is your favorite Volca? I can't say because I haven't got the nuBass, FM, or the Mod volcas' yet. Thanks for the informative video.
I'm a scratch dj and want to get one of these unit to plug in my mixer so I can make scratch beats , which would be better to get ? I produce a bit on pc so have a wealth of samples , I'm torn between the sample and drum or should I get both ( I can afford both ) ....or do I skip them all and get a a drumlouge or similar unit , I will probably use whatever I get in production too as well as a live situations
Great comparison kid !
Sampler is versatile sure, but I'm looking for a drum machine, and to me, the drum seems better purely at doing drums. The versatility of the mixer are things I'm ok with doing in the box. I'm likely not going to track these sounds anyway but use them to control samples in my DAW, or, use as an untracked metronome, as I play much better to a drum track than a metronome.
All Volcas are pretty cool, prolly the most versatile is (if you don't want to mess with sampling) the Drum. Only problem (for me) is that you can't do manual pattern chaining - this is the song mode on the Sample I guess? I reeeaaallllly hope the firmware gets updated to do this. This is the only thing that's missing that would make this device perfect for the price range and above.
was it solved already with a firmware?
Hey! I've got that book.
nice comparison, thx! :)
Great video, thank you. Note: Compressor/Gate on your mic sounds quite harsh.
Would probably be asking too much if they just made one with all the sounds.
great video!
The 260 drum patterns book is really cool. It says in the editorial that it's the second of two books, so there must be a predecessor - anyone knows more?
The description is super misleading. The second book contains everything in the first book, plus some more patterns.
I’m looking to buy one of these, which one should I go for?
Can the Kong Volca Sample use samples I make myself? Like for instance if I sample my own drum set? Then write something like Postal Services “Natural Anthem”?
Yes, but you can't sample directly into it. There are apps for computers and/or phones for transferring your own sounds to the slots on the Volca Sample. The Sample version 2 has a USB port which is easier, but the old way doesn't bother me.
thx for this review
Poor kick, you just left him die out there... Should have gone straight to sustain, multiple button Touch efx and heavy use on the octaves! But really fun to watch.👌
Thanks -- a very nice demo! A technical note: I found the gating of your voice really distracting. I know why you did it, but I'd rather have constant, low-level background noise.
Glad you liked it & thanks for letting me know! My goal with noise gating is that it shouldn't be obvious to listeners, so if you found it distracting I will want to try more subtle settings next time.
Same here.
Woah.
This Channel is CHOCKA VOLCA!
Subbed 👟👨💻
Ha ha! I have that Drum Machine Patterns book, too!
Joseph Wright what book?
@@jodo985 260 Drum Machine Patterns, by Hal Leonard.
Volca Drum First 🎉 best Gear
Is the book you mention still available to buy?
Yeah, it’s called 260 drum machine patterns, last I checked it was fairly cheap to get used
@@HyperObjeckt Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
nice video
Who's that knob at 11.19
He's a professional twice over!
I think the volca beats wins.
Hi. Thanks for the video. Damn, I'm going to return my Volca Drum because you just proved it's not good. I'll go with the Sampler. I have the FM and love it, but man I thought the Drum was going to be way better.
Sample wins.
Cool!
Not sure why you put the sample and kick in this comparison. The kick is built with the ms 20 filters so its really just built around a kick. The sample plays with samples. I understand beats because its anal og sound and drum is a digital drum . But maybe that's me being a noob?
Hey man, great video although I think you should rename it for Volcas Drums Comparison, it will be much easier to find, thanks!
good idea, just changed the wording
Volca Kick sounds like a Monotron cousin.
It's a Megatron!
imho you only need the volca drum and sample for all your volca percussion needs. The kick and beats are somewhat redundant.
errr except that you need to source your kicks from somewhere. Kick gets you custom kicks. And Sample is 32kHz so it can't possibly re-create Kick when sampled. Drum can get you some custom kicks, but it's virtual analog and so won't get you the same depth as kick either.
The volca beats was the first of it's kind so it may seem primitive compared to the more recent versions but the performance settings are still very immediate and inspiring. The kick on the beats is definitely the favorite and gets pretty massive if dialed in right, but it's kind of a one trick pony since it only really sounds good in a certain tuning range. I could certainly see that being the inspiration behind the volca kick. I never really took the volca beats seriously until I played one in person with some proper monitoring and that kick blew me away.
@@alexwestconsulting very true i was only able to sell my kick when i got a drumbrute.
Maybe from a strictly studio production perspective, but IMO live jams are where Beats and Kick shine.
That book looks sweet
With or without the ms20 logo the kick sounds horrible. On the other hand the drum is fantastic, it’s really a 6 part synth with 2 layers per part. I got my hands on one and I was shocked how good it is. The digital side of the volca range is outstanding.
kick sounds "horrible" because of the way he's using it, playing all parts of the sequence through it rather than just the kick. What you get out of kick is some truly customizable kicks. Having said that, the kind of person who typically buys volcas will likely think the same as you.
The Kick can sound awesome if you use it right, though it is very limited in what it can do compared to the others. The key to making it sound good is never put a long pitch decay on it like he's doing. Either have no pitch decay at all, or have it super short with the drive cranked up to make a nice thudding kick sound.
The sample is my least favorite ,i have the other three but id def like one and will prob eventually end up owning one
The sample is my favorite and better with Pajen's firmware to fix some of the behavior and add a few more tricks. The main thing I miss are some of the controls on the Beats seem better for a performance, like the stutter.
i fuckng love u
I'm just gonna buy em all and call it a day ..... save my money for a couple weeks pay my bills and then buy these problem solved
Kick is not a drum machine
Kick is the only drum machine
The rest are drums machines
@@jorgepeterbarton touche
Too much gating on your vocal mic.
Yep
I think volca beat sounded weird. Volca drum probably work with live inputs. Kick sounded obnoxious, sample sounded fuzzy.
Take whatever I say with a grain of salt but Vocal production needs some work. The gateing and eq is pretty harsh. It quite difficult to listen to.
Just my 2 cents
Nice demo, but the gating of your voice really tiresome
They all sound weak af. No proper snare sound and thin tinny little hi hats
Volca kick is s waste of money.
Nope
@@LFC303606ACID oh
@@mpmi7588 The Volca Kick is a beast, not as a synth, even though it's a pretty decent mono synth, nor as a drum machine, but as a kick generator, pretty much what it says on the box.It's a monster at what it does, I love it.
@@LFC303606ACID I hear u. From what get out of reviews and compared to the other Volcas, it just seems like A waste of money just for a variety in kicks.
It's not a drum machine, it's a kick machine. I don't think it really compares here considering it only does kicks and the rest have many options. If all you have a modular system a volca kick is a decent replacement for a kick module