Korg Volca Bass - SonicLAB Review

[@sonicstate]

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[@Yourveryowncarrot]

Is it just me, does anyone else see the volca range becoming beloved future classics? A bit like the 303 once was? Great sound, a ton of features, analogue, super small, crazy cheap. I'm telling you, these are going to be really cool once they age.

[@Friend-]

You know, at first, I though they would end up just being forgotten, I keep seeing them pop up in photos of people's studio rigs more and more. I think you could definitely be right!

[@cvzndr]

...nope, they are too famous already. There is too many of them around. Great product thou...

[@Friend-]

cvzndr Being popular now doesn't mean they can't be classics in the future. On the contrary, it just increases their likelihood of becoming classics.

[@brianlee6709]

They are pretty decent, but I do like the beats a lot.

[@algorithms66]

not for me. too wee

[@Stadsjaap]

@4:20... the LFO can be synced by pressing Func and adjusting Rate. ;-) Apparently it was a last minute addition after the documentation was already finalised. So, yeah, fun to be had with that!

[@Jchot]

that's good info.

[@AcidTechnoMan5000]

John Verchot really good info sonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

[@AnthonyShuker]

thanks for this

[@gnarlysoundscapes7210]

I'll be damned, you're right. Thanks for the tip!

[@sunpak4898]

WGAT THE FUCK IVE HAD THIS FOR 8 years

[@dantelighter9470]

Unbelievable value for beautifully filthy analog sound.

[@graceg0w]

LFO sync by holding down function and turning the rate knob.

[@icareg]

ok good

[@idiotschmidiot]

I discovered this by accident the other day

[@patrickbodine6010]

Here we are in September 2020 and the prices of the Korg Volca line is around $140-$200 USD. You can get them used on eBay for a bit less, but, they are still popular units. I have the Keys as well as the Bass. Come payday, I will be getting the Modular and then the Sample. Yes, I got it bad!😁👍

[@daanhaeyen]

A review from the future! (12:24) ;)

[@schepler2]

The VB sounds absolutely huge and the sequencer is great. It's the best synth you'll ever buy at that price. Just get it.

[@rg7120]

It has knobs and you don't have to wait for a computer to turn on, the DAW to load, and open a soft synth. It also has knobs, it sounds better than any soft synth I've ever used for around the same price, it has knobs, it can be modded and circuit bent, it has knobs, and no stepping because it has analog pots. Did I mention that it has knobs?

[@javiceres]

I love this guy's way of reviewing and demonstrating.

[@Cheeseoverdose]

I’ve got a few volcas and as far as sound itself, this is my favourite one

[@maonts]

you can sync the LFO to the internal clock or incoming midi clock by holding shift while turning the lfo rate knob

[@ericdanjah]

you can also record oscillator modulation as a sequence. press record and tweek the oscillator knob as you're playing notes and it'll record the modulation... you can also step record each oscillator in a different octive (i'm pretty sure... but i could be wrong.) i don't think you can record LFO modulation or Filter modulation with it...

[@KitsuneCentral]

I was going to buy a Monotribe, but this looks much better!

[@martinofenzi858]

l own 2monotribe and those 3volcas. l swear you that the monotribe has a very different taste and is more raw (anologue lfo, much powerful vco square, noise osc, gate length on the seq and many other feats that the volca set just hasn't). They are made for different-complementary applications.

[@paweldun]

with some pedal effects that little box can do a lot of damage

[@sonicstate]

Hey Marc, your right, although noise has not been an issue, I would have mentioned it if it had, they are quieter than the Monotrons. Build quality is better than those though. But for this price I dont think anyone is expecting them to be built to milspec. And, I must say your implication that I am accepting bungs to pay for my lavish lifestyle (laughable) is pretty insulting, perhaps you should consider your words before putting them in a public forum.

[@Jchot]

"I'm going to use midi so I can play something a little more meaningful" me: okay yeah that's cool, those are tiny buttons, I get it (proceeds to play a 2 note pattern) me: wait, what?

[@DudeeSweet]

so what, it's a review, you get what he's trying to say. he's basically telling the people with not many synth's/midi's/etc that they should use an external midi and not the built in midi because you can play something more "meaningful" or abstract.

[@NOIZ-]

@J Chot Were you expecting a Piano concerto?

[@Jchot]

if you're going to take the time to hook up a midi controller mid-demo, yes...

[@NOIZ-]

J Chot well here's your chance to show everyone!

[@Jchot]

naw bruh. I was just questioning the logic of actions taken, not the keyboard chops. I ain't got none.

[@TooSlowTube]

Maybe he said it, and I missed it, but what's with the keboard strip having keys all the same size? How does that work? It is fullly chromatic, or does it just play a major scale? I have the Volca Keys, which has a normal keyboard layout, just Stylophone style. I don't understand how it's supposed to work on the Volca Bass, and no one ever seems to feel the need to explain it in a review.

[@kemasolar]

TooSlowTube Yes, but the black notes are the white notes in a piano. it starts with an A. it also took me some time to notice ^^

[@dinogoldie9716]

How come there's no "Motion" on the Bass but there is on all the other Volcas? Is there any way of expanding the sequencer duration (all my favourite basslines/riffs are 2 bars/8 beats long)? Is Korg likely to bring out MKii versions of the Bass/Beats/Keys in the near future (it's been a couple years)?

[@JasonDeeCaldwell]

i want one of these so bad with ableton this would be a blast. i read that they are only 150$

[@mattsynth]

Maybe great for you but when I am on stage I don't have the time to set a patch for the next song. Patch storage is very important to me even in the studio so I don't have to waste time trying to get that great sounding patch I had yesterday. Time is money today, programming synths on the fly is too 70's for me. Bob Moog knew this problem and started equipping all his synths with patch storage. This helped musicians save time & money in the long run. Thanks Bob, we miss you.

[@mattclark5745]

always glad to see this guy

[@astrophysicistatplay6061]

Get the Volca Keys - it does all of this. I use it for bass.

[@Biophob]

Great review. The BASS one is the first Volca i'm going to get.

[@groucho242]

Is there something similar that has also the MIDI output so you can put all in ableton?

[@illdream7125]

you can change the portamento length by adjusting the tempo. there is a way to set the tempo to a wider 10bpm - 600bpm range. but its only useful if you are playing notes and not using the sequencer. at 10bpm you can get a fairly long slide.

[@AndreyLebedintsev]

Hello! Can you please tell me what can Volca Bass do that Volca Keys can't? Because on paper Keys look superior in pretty much everything except for ability to tweak each oscillator's pitch individually, and Keys still have most popular modes anyway, like unison, octave, fifth etc.

[@s3nsec0rruptr80]

From having had both, it kinda depends what you want and largely comes down to sound quality. If you want a beefy low end to anchor a track, you want the vBass. The filters and oscillators are different and this one is far better for the low end.

[@planetisethehornets7035]

THAT SOUND AT 4:20 IS COMPLETELY DIABOLICAL AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. How do you actually get it to sound like that?

[@-x21-]

That's the LFO controlling the pitch.

[@noiselabproject9659]

hmmm I can see one of these as perhaps an extra OSC for my Moog Minitaur via it`s audio in . . . . or even 3 extra OSC`s perhaps, that could sound massive !

[@CodyCoates]

I was trying to figure out how to get this into my setup without a mixer, but you just reminded me that the minibrute 2s has an ext input... thanks for giving my head a shake!

[@sonicstate]

According to both the manual and Korg UK its the bass which has the 700S filter.

[@sonicstate]

Well 70/80 for somewhere nice around here, including wine (we are not teetotallers) babysitter, and taxi there and back and your are not far off.

[@shrksnspc]

September 2103, right? Great review, helps while waiting for my delivery :)

[@TheParanoidAndroid79]

I wish more synths used this filter design. It's really musical.

[@denestothmusic]

great vid Nick! been waiting for Sonicstate review of the Volcas since they introduced them!

[@ghee5683]

What's the deal with the keys on this one? The FM and keys have a different keyboard.

[@wangus]

You're partly right. The bass does apparently use the 700s filter, but tweaked some to suit acidy sounds more, in contrast to the keys.

[@thelitelbiggman]

How do I add slides with using just the volca bass

[@acidphaze]

I recently purchased the Bass and the Keys, and both are very good Synth's for the money. They both sound better than a software emulation, with incredible phat sounds on both units. And the Keys can certainly growl on the lower notes. I must admit the Bass is the most fun to use, and making funky basslines are so easy to do. These Volcas do have limitations, but as the saying goes. "Less is more". If you are interested in buying these modules, then go for it. I wasn't disappointed with mine.

[@Goth108]

but... there is another demo saying and showing the LFO syncs when you press function while turning the speed knob, what's up with that?

[@MarctheDarc]

My sincerest apologies. I must confess my comment a cheap ploy to have my question answered. I actually hold your opinion in high regard, which is why i was hoping for your take on some general and usually valid concerns. I hope you can accept my apology. But it's good hear that Korg stepped up their game, 'cus the noise from the Monotrons is imho a dealbreaker. So is designs that feel like they'll inevitably fall apart - no matter the original cost.

[@thepianosings]

regarding the inability to seperately control the cutoff and res for each oscillator - is that possibly because korg never really meant the different oscillators to work seperately from each other but to play at the same time?

[@wangus]

Does the LFO not even sync to the tempo when holding shift? Like the stutter speed on the beats?

[@Goth108]

no problem mate, in case you still got them i'd be glad if you can confirm or deny it, but however that works the volca bass seems to be the greatest synth for little money since a really very long time. again, excellent demo! :)

[@esjoeproductions]

I have the volca keys and its pretty good, the bass will be added to the setup probably soon.

[@Goth108]

It's a great thing that there is no patch storage, because it means in this case that you got the direct control with nothing reducing the positions into limited steps, same as the filter on the volca bass here! as soon as there is patch storage on some analog synth for a price like that, it means you have limiting and noticeable stepping. when loving to experiment with high resonance values and similar it can be a hell of annoyance ;)

[@wangus]

So MIDI is routed to whatever oscillator is currently selected? And from there it can record to whatever sequence is currently linked to that oscillator?

[@jaxager]

As soon as he played Train by Goldfrapp I went to sweetwater and ordered one. Lol.

[@Synthematix]

Got my Volca bass on order cant wait!

[@sonicstate]

not that I can find, I did run this by Korg for a fact check and that wasnt picked up.

[@lacherlichcateaster4538]

Marc - my Volca Beats is very thin and reedy once I plug it into my studio - weirdly sounds better through the speaker, which is plain wrong. Quite noisy too. Have you found this, or is it just me?

[@Undergroundpa]

Your jam at 7minutes is fire man! great tutorial.

[@illdream7125]

the square wave lfo retriggers with each note. so if you have sequence with a bunch of notes it can sound like its synced. the triangle lfo shape doesn't have this function.

[@Rosso456MGT]

Pre-ordered all three yet only the beats has arrived so far. Headphone socket is hella noisy so what is this like?

[@glassblender]

The lfo is syncable press function while turning the rate knob to achieve this

[@H4NDCRAFTED]

I see your points, but do not agree with wobbly knobs equaling bad quality. I used to have a Monotron that had wobbly knobs, but the build was very good for the price point. I think we just get used to more expensive synths having there knobs bolted to the face plate, as is with my new Bass Station 2. But it really isn't an issue to me if you are sensible with them at this price point.

[@Yateveo]

How edgy of you , Marc. I'm getting incredibly tired of people accusing Nick of being in the pocket of synth manufacturers and tearing him down in general. Sonicstate reviews are consistently the most complete, well-conceived reviews on KZbin and they're always my first stop when considering gear. BTW, he did mention shortcomings: LFO cannot sync to MIDI clock, cannot assign the oscillators to different MIDI channels, etc. But this is a 3-VCO analog synth for $150! Lighten up or save up.

[@xv750nz]

Ive been having a blast with the range, but the biggest annoyance for me with the Bass as Nick noted is the lack of being able to control the level of each oscillator. Even a simple keytrack to volume option would have been a solution. The other is the LFO is not clocked, but quantized unlike Monotribe - even a wave restart option like the keys could have more usable. Still, Monotribe did V2.0 software, lets hope Takahashi-san has features up his sleeve!

[@Synthematix]

on the korg website it says you can record motion of the filter cutoff

[@mattsynth]

Great idea Goth the MiniBrute would also work better with my modular system. The Brute has a CV pitch & gate output. It is a shame there is no patch storage in the Brute.

[@JamieClark]

So this has headphone out that we'd use for recording - is there a headphone amp in the circuitry that affects the sound, or does it function as a line out?

[@karloff007]

Great review chap , very comprehensive , got one winging its way too me has I`m posting this !

[@anniedarkhorse6791]

I love mine but I wish it had more outputs than just the Midi Din. I love the ease of programing and the classy look of this unit. Great value, I think. Sounds great.

[@streglof]

Hi Nick, any idea when the Volca Keys will be reviewed? looking quite forward to it. Great reviews!

[@raygrooves2666]

I want to sync the bpm of the volca audio with the bpm of a drum beat in acid pro on my pc I want to do all the effects and acid lines live so its not midi as such how can i sync bpms how do you know the bpm of the volca track ?

[@BenNixBradley]

Could you perhaps explain your ipad camera coverage rig? I noticed that you've been rather true to that approach for a while and I think it's rather brilliant. So... how do you do it? What does it take ?

[@limeyamos]

Johnny Jewel is also a big korg/unk 700s fan, he used two when I saw chromatica

[@ultraseb1956]

i would like to buy a bass synth , between minutaur and volca bass or novation bass II , what is better ??

[@Chronovengers]

If you were to choose one volca for use as a analog synth module for a DAW which would it be?

[@Scotty_Russell_Music]

good review,i'm much less inclined to buy one after this review :-) also i wouldn't rust any specs from korg as they change them then either refuse to apologise or just don't answer your queries,specifically the non existent external audio processing on the monotribe (it only works while the oscillator is on)

[@sonicstate]

Korg UK sent me out the units, they are still in short supply I beleive

[@F-Andre]

Thanks for this review! Are you going to go in detail on the other two?

[@algorithms66]

Sounds great but 100 quid for a reason or two. No C.V being a biggie. Played on it and found it more than just a bit small. Insanely small! Part of the fun of synthesis is having hands on in this case it's a bit too cramped for my liking but 100 quid's a £100

[@gnarlysoundscapes7210]

12:07 Whether you can get away with it depends on how much your loved one enjoys the music you create.

[@Synthematix]

Try TGI Fridays in Bristol, jesus you wont have 10p change out of 150 quid for a good night with 2 people

[@phk70]

Nice review Nick, looking forward to the Keys review...

[@chedleicester535]

I thought he was gonna do the hotline miami theme, hydrogen, at 8:03

[@highpeakrecordings]

Sonic State is so 'of the future' they review in 2103! (sorry, couldn't resist. Great review. Looking forward to the Keys review)

[@joels1184]

I own an EMX and am considering one of these, would be interesting to hear if there are any differences in how the sequencer works though. Looked like there was a 303 style slide button there (but since he didn't use it during the review I'm not sure about it's functionality), does it allow you to do 303 style per-step slides, or is more like the EMX where you have to do it kinda awkwardly by setting the gate times for each step, making it longer than one step for it to slide into the next note, or shorter than one step to not slide? Also, looks like it doesn't have an accent feature, which the EMX did, albeit a limited one. He mentioned it being velocity sensitive when playing with MIDI, but also that it doesn't record motion data - can you simulate accent by recording a pattern using velocity for the accented steps, or does it not record velocity data?

[@wangus]

I'm glad they didn't try to do the same cutoff MIDI control as on the keys. The steppy control would have killed this synth... No surprise on the resonance, voltage controlled resonance isn't too common.

You can record pitch bends by holding shift and tweaking the pitch knob, has to donr in record mode..

[@gvp999999]

Is the filter on this steppy like on the Volca Keys? Cheers.

[@H4NDCRAFTED]

Aww I think deserves a 'Lavish' lifestyle. He synth reviews are generally first class. I think he gets the balance between honesty and not alienating companies so he never gets sent review products just right. I find his positive look at even some of the more questionable items worthy. I highly doubt he asks to review 'bum' items in the first place tbh, what would be the point ?

[@H4NDCRAFTED]

Also wish you would mention the noise lfloor again, as others have asked. It is an issue with Korg products of this type.

[@mattsynth]

I have heard that the Bass Station does not sound that good. What a shame because it has everything I need (except CV outs) for a studio bass synth. Did you own one?

[@Synthematix]

Thanks very much mate for posting this review its excellent. PS Nick regarding your minijack to phono lead, did you get it from poundland? lol I got the same one for testing equipment with.

[@jgk381]

Do pitch bends work if you use a midi controller? Also, where's the modulation or isn't there any?

[@malatia7575]

And how many notes of polyphony is it? 2 or 3.

[@MrSynthesizerpatel]

I think it's just the volca keys' filter that's taken from the 700s. The volca bass has a specially designed filter I think - probably to get that sort of acidic 303 sound.

[@leepicciotto695]

The best thing about all the cheap analog synths released or about to be is people selling off quality pieces to try and scrounge up the money to get their hands on them,and its making everything a lot cheaper than usual. It also has people overlooking classic pieces which keeps their price down as well. Buy it all up now, then grab this other stuff once they all go to sell it.

[@Goth108]

minibrute! a great mixture of them all! only one oscillator, but very thought through features, hidden features are close to ignoreable etc.! ;)

[@Wirebrushedwild]

I think that note you hit at 11:14 is the same as the first note for the opening of Animal Collectives "water curses".

[@mootbooxle]

Great work as always Nick!

[@Synthematix]

Where did you get it from nick? im gonna have to order the bass its definitely my favourite out of the three units, its got amazing sound for such a small unit.

[@yarosystems]

Does this allow playing both waveforms together? For example saw on osc 1 and square on 2 with individually applied volumes?

[@imnotgovernorwatts]

yes you can set say osc1&2 as say a saw for a bass then set osc 3 to swuare an use it as a lead

[@mattsynth]

They keep the price down so much it looses its appeal to me with the lack of important functions. I need all the bells & whistles when working in the studio or on stage so maybe the Minibrute is not the right synth for me. I am still looking at the Sub Phatty. I have a Moog Voyager now and it is my favorite analog synth with no stepping problems and patch storage.

[@OGGalleryCrew92]

Hi what app you using on ipad ? Were does the midi in cable go thanks.

[@TYRONEBIGGLES]

its the keys with newly designed filter, cause its got onboard Digital delay. where the bass haves no "effects"

[@raeltalt]

Not sure I'd buy this (electronica is not my thing I quess), but this guy gives great reviews.

[@DasHesslon]

5:05 reminds me of Vsauce :D

[@BigMTBrain]

You mean the same or better fidelity and fun as with a plug-in? So, where's the benefit? A better answer would be specific tactile interface.