Korg Volca--

Here are some details about the Korg Volca that nathan snyder finds interesting:

All three modules allow for assignable midi channels but the units must be powered off to do so.

The sequence loops are only 16 steps long but the KEYS module alows for half time and quater time steps which lower its speed by half or a quater which allows for varied loops when synchronized with the BASS and BEATS modules.

On all three modules custom sequences can be saved but once they are erased they are gone for good and there is no other way to save them.

The capacitence keyboards are too small to be very playable but their trigger sensitivity is very good so they work well as control buttons.

The flashing lights are cool and the lit control knobs that indicate parameter change are very cool.

The eigth inch audio and sync jacks are a pain unless you use other modular systems that use them. But quater inch jacks would be preferable.

The filters sound pretty good but it would have been nice if the low end of the frequencey control was a bit lower as it is the lowest frequency is still audible.

A filter on the BEATS module would have been cool but there is not one.

The BASS module does not have a sequence motion record function like the other two modules have so the cutoff parameter of the filter can not be sequenced like on the KEYS module. But, the BASS module does allow you to selectively add a slide (slew limiter) to each step of a sequence.

The +5V trigger signal for the sync connection is perfect for many kinds of other modular synthesizers like Paia, Dot Com, and Moog.

Start and stop and tempo sequence functions may be controlled from an external midi sequencer making the sync connections unnessessary.

The manuals are difficult to read, mostly beacuse they are printed small on one piece of paper. However, the manual does give all the important info.

Each of the modules comes with batteries but not a mains power supply.