Korg Volca Beats

Great fun

I put it together with my Volca sampler 2 and my Novation circuit tracks,

there are no limitations on what you can do, even on its own you can make great beats quickly as its very easy to learn how to use.Perfect for machine for beginners .I have had it for two years now and its still going strong, and its survived some seriously crazy party's.I put four stars for the sound because for some reason its quieter than the other Volca series ,but easy fixed with mixer,I highly recommend it.

Great analog toy

Good one from this korg series. Seems basic at the beginning but the quality of all sounds is really great. I got kinda addicted to the kick and the toms, they are in every song i made!

Onboard speaker for convenience only

This is a fantastic little gizmo. It's pretty feature packed once you figure out how to use them all. The unit sounds way better with headphones or through a monitor, so do that right away after purchasing.

Build quality is excellent, and everything works exactly as designed. Would be nice to have a second set of sounds or a swing feature, but at this price point I cannot complain.

Great little drum machine

Lots of possibilities within this little box.

solid hardware

solid piece of hardware, a bit limiting when it somes to sound creating, but good overall. i think volca drums would be a better option

Not bad

It could be worse for this kind of machine.. but you can have fun and make out nice beat.

Decent little beat box

I got this for the sound. I always loved the very early analog beatboxes so I got what I asked for.

Pros:

- The sound.

- Easy of use.

- Super portable.

- The sounds sit into the mix really well.

Cons:

- This should cost way less for what it is.

- The snare sound. It sounds really ugly. Even mini-pops had a way better snare sound.

- Mono output. Don't expect any panning options. This is really unacceptable.

- The firmware update method is simply ridiculous.

- The sequencer steps are rather limited.

- The structure looks weak.

- No usb connection.

I bought it, sampled it because I couldn't pan individual sounds and barely use it since. The samples produced are great though.

Tiny but Mighty

This little thing sounds really well. It is small almost like a toy and it is not very expensive, but it sounds really great and it is quite easy and intuitive to use. One of the best purchases I've made. The knobs a re a bit small and require a good grip. But it is beyond my expectations especially for the price.

The snare is a bit weak, you have to pair it up with the clap to work really well.

First drum machine

I gotta be honest. I'm a guitar player who's looking to experiment with some different stuff and didn't really know what to look for in a drum machine. So I did my research and my criteria was quite simple:

- Affordable

- Sounds ok

- Enough features to keep me interested, but not be overwhelmed

- Looks good (yeah, call me shallow, but the Volca Beats is now in my living room and my wife and I love the vibe!)

The Korg Volca Beats checked every box, so I decided to pull the trigger.

Sure, it's simple, the built-in speaker doesn't carry much weight (not sure if people expect something else from such a tiny speaker), and it's not filled with crazy sounds, but I'm impressed with the vibe I'm hearing out of it. From hip-hop to post-punk, it sounds great and I'm quite happy with the purchase!

Pros: Everything I mentioned before.

Cons: I honestly miss a speaker output to connect to a PA without having to deal with that tiny and flimsy headphone output; And I wish that the cables were connected from the back, not the top.

Still, solid 9/10 for the Korg Volca Beats!

+ and -

I like

- creative tool to take with you anywhere you go

- sound of kick, hat

- play with stutter (and claves :-)

- record stutter/part

- build quality

To improve

- the big issue is the lack of control of the part volume level . a) you can't save it b) by default the part level balance is terrible and c) some parts are too low (e.g. crash is useless)

- record mute status when saving

- decay on tom, rather useless pod

- note sensitive (at least via midi)

- USB power

For me snare sound is okay, despite critics.