Late last year we collaborated with Ableton Liveschool on an Ableton Live pack featuring the Korg Volca Beats. For those that aren’t using Ableton Live, we now have the raw .wav samples available for download.
Also see below for a special offer on the purchase of any Korg Volca…
The Volca Beats Drum Machine
Despite its tiny size (and tiny price to match), this machine packs a lot of weight. Particularly the kick drum, which is as big as anything many times its size (and weight, and price). The design philosophy is similar to the original Roland TR-909, whereby some of the drum sounds are analogue (e.g. kick and toms) and others are pcm samples (e.g. crash). Also similar to the Roland TR units, there is some control over each of the sounds which allowed us to get some variety from the samples we made.
The Signal Chain
The signal chain for this sampling session was rather simple:
Volca > API 512c pre (DI in) > SSL9000k channel (line in) > Apogee Rosetta 200 AD convertor
Apart from the Volca, there were very few tweaks done on the other gear, once we got the gain right for each sampling pass into the computer. The colour in the signal chain really came from the API pre, which is known for packing a bit of punch.
Why is it so punchy? We put it down to API’s own discrete op-amp and transformer combination, which can be found in many of their units.
Special offer on purchasing 1,2 or 3 Korg Volcas
With thanks to Korg, CMI and Sounds Easy, we are able to share special pricing on any of the Korg Volcas:
AU$189 for any 1 x Volca series (Beats, Bass or Keys)
AU$370 for any 2 x Volca series (Beats, Bass or Keys)
AU$540 for all 3 Volcas (Beats, Bass and Keys)
This offer is only valid until 30th April 2014!
To redeem, contact them via their site, via email on sales@soundseasy.com.au or via phone on 02 8213 0202