How to Control Volca Drum with an External Keyboard!

How to Control Volca Drum with an External Keyboard!
Today I'm showing you how to control the Korg Volca Drum with an External MIDI Keyboard! The Volca Drum has two MIDI modes that function quite differently, so it's important to know how to switch between them. Once set up, this is a much more comfortable way to play the Volca Drum's awesome sounds. Enjoy the video!
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Korg Volca Drum: amzn.to/3wt9TcD
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Zoom Livetrak L-12 (audio recorder): amzn.to/3yG0vnv
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[@ColorAgent]

Exactly what I was looking for thanks!

[@tomb-X]

will also work with the Drumbrute. But good Tipp with the Choke Function. Great Video. Thx

[@FreeBeat]

Awesome, thanks for watching!

[@zugel]

Many thanks for clarifying, helped me alot.

[@synthlab]

How cool it would be if it responded to different notes (on 6 channels!) by varying the pitch ....6 melodic parts !!!! Let's hope for a software update that allows that.

[@friedrichedda2403]

Thank you! ❤Greetings from Germany😊

[@iosmusicman]

Thanks very much for a great tutorial. Cheers. Lee

[@FreeBeat]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@Highfiber123]

Thank you, great video as always - info we can use!👍

[@FreeBeat]

Thanks for watching!

[@dukenukem8574]

This helped a lot thanks.

[@FreeBeat]

Glad to help!

[@KeytarKris]

I control my percussion Volcas with an Alesis Vortex. Playing drums with a keytar is a great synth experience to be had.

[@FreeBeat]

That sounds awesome!

[@JAMES427CARROLL]

This also allows you to have an arpeggiator Great video btw Love your content

[@rookmaster7502]

Interesting video! I wonder if some of this can also be applied to my Volca Beat synth. I guess I'll just need to try it and see.

[@FreeBeat]

I'm not sure, I've never used the beats before! Let me know :)

[@jsogman]

This is def great but wish they would/could map keys to pitch/notes! Also yeah doing this with an electric drum set would be awesome! This is easily to me the most underappreciated drum machine out there IMO

[@matteonastasi3761]

seems like it is possible with the retrokits RK-002

[@PaulWhitingQuirk]

Thanks for the video, clear and concise. In single channel mode I'm assuming it's only possible to address one part with midi cc automation from an external sequencer.

[@pabloseven1]

Thanks 🙏🙏🙏🎼

[@FreeBeat]

Thanks for watching!

[@paulmilsommusic]

Theyre very talkative hands

[@traildoggy]

I'd also like to see it triggered with the sequencer and arp functions. Seems like some interesting things could be done there.

[@FreeBeat]

Oh yeah for sure, that'll be a future video!

[@manmaas]

Potentially useful. Just ordered an Arturia Keystep to go with my Volca Sample, so I'll be curious to know if this same function applies.

[@FreeBeat]

I'm interested to know as well, thanks for watching!

[@ianmorton1799]

It would likely be even better, since a sample based approach inherently has scaling issues across octaves. A drum synthesis on the other hand, especially digital, is less likely to run into that

[@dnlphlptt]

NICE ONE!!!!! get you a beer.....

[@gru_day]

Wuld like to see firmware update from Pajen on this one. Pitch on keys will add more musical aproach... like on model: Cycles.

[@pablovazquez950]

Do you know if you can start/stop the sequencer via MIDI? Thank you for making this video!

[@FreeBeat]

You certainly can :)

[@steverichardson8343]

Loved the video m8, I am having an issue controlling my Volca drum with a beat step pro, no matter which midi channel I select I get no sound. I also have a Volca Bass and FM and they work fine but nothing from the drum just wondered if there was something I am missing.

[@FreeBeat]

Hmm, I'm honestly not sure. Do you have the correct MIDI mode selected on the drum?

[@steverichardson8343]

@@FreeBeat firstly thx you for taking the time to reply 😊, if you mean midi mode you mean channel yes, like your video it was set to channel 1to6 and I changed it to 10, I might pick up your video on upgrading the firmware on the volca 😊

[@asmr6773]

What cable did you used to connect the Volca to the interface??

[@repeatdefender6032]

i finally bought a keystep today, i think it's really gonna tie the room together, as it were. i'm super confused by cables and connections for some reason... what does the audio interface connect to? your computer? with a DAW? i'm so bad at this, lol.

[@FreeBeat]

My audio interface is actually an audio recorder, so that's how I record the audio for my videos. You could just plug that same output into a pair of headphones or speakers though :)

[@repeatdefender6032]

@@FreeBeat that's what i was wondering! thank you so much for answering my questions, there have been a few and you've helped me a lot. it's all really exciting to me, i'm 42 and i've been a musician all my life, but i'm just breaking into electronic music and it's a whole new world.

[@joeblow593]

Wonder if you can start and stop drum patterns with this setup. I'm thinking midi Chan 1 for pattern 1, midi Chan 2 for pattern 2, etc. Been looking at the volca sample 2 for this reason.

[@FreeBeat]

I know you can start the volca sequencer, but I haven't looked into it past that.

[@oldasrocks9121]

Does the KS37 record cc data thru midi in when performing motion changes on the Drum itself? I know the o.g. KS does not which is sad, imo.

[@FreeBeat]

I'm not sure, but if I had to guess I'd probably say no.

[@mitadonac91]

I was looking at the midi ccs for the drum and noticed there's no cc for step jump. I'm controlling my volca via a midi keyboard through Ableton. Any way to utilize step jump feature while using midi patterns in Ableton? Tnx

[@FreeBeat]

I honestly have no clue haha, sorry!

[@MrHihowryou]

I'm having issues with connecting the Keystep37 to the Volca Drum via the sync in/out. The Volca seems to go insanely fast no matter how I try and configure it...

[@FreeBeat]

Have you played with the sync settings in the MIDI Control Software for the Keystep?

[@MrHihowryou]

@@FreeBeat thank you for the suggestion! How did I miss this software?? So easy to fix the issue and upgrade firmware. 🙏

[@itsbread4922]

I'm interested in picking up this combo with the intent to loop some chords using the keystone, and sequence some percussion with the volca. Can I toggle between the midi controls (controlling the volca) and the other features on the keystep (like it's own sequencer or arpeggiator) to overdub(?) What is being played on the volca? Then could I audio out that from the volcas headphone jack to hear both things? (Sorry for the long-winded question, I'm new to all these things!)

[@FreeBeat]

What are you using for the chords, and how do you plan on chaining everything via MIDI?

[@itsbread4922]

@@FreeBeat Well, all this stuff is pretty new to me so I'm not even sure I'm asking the right question. But I'm looking to loop a keyboard chord progression using the keystep, while also having percussion loop over it. I suppose I wouldn't even need to have the volca controlled by the keystep, I just need the loops synced... If I'm making sense haha

[@FreeBeat]

@@itsbread4922 So the Keystep is just a controller, it doesn't actually make any sounds. So to use the Keystep to make chords you'll have to have a synth that can play chords too.

[@itsbread4922]

@@FreeBeat that probably explains some of my confusion! I misunderstood it as being capable of stand alone keyboard features 😅 okay thank you, friend! :D

[@itsbread4922]

@@FreeBeat sorry to take more of your time (you've more than earned a sub!) But what would you recommend to get what I'm describing? I noticed volca keys is pretty nice! Would that combined with the drums make a good dawless backtrack, jambox thing?

[@ahteha8010]

So sad that its not corresponds to note pitch(( internal 16step seq is lame....wantes to sequence notes (perc melodies) from external srquencer((

[@FreeBeat]

Yeah, I was really hoping that I'd be able to play the pictures on a keyboard as well haha.

[@ahteha8010]

have you tried program change messages? midi chart says it recieves this commands. seems like you can store 16 presets (sets/banks/ whatever) and switch them from other gear.but not shure...

[@dvuemedia]

You can use MIDI CC messages to change the pitch. You can change almost any parameter using CC messages, even the waveguide resonator.

[@rorz999]

@@dvuemedia that's awesome!

[@Sadiquecat]

Why am I watching this, I don't even have one xD

[@jeffryarchambeau5441]

You will soon!

[@FreeBeat]

You gotta fix that!