Korg Volca Beats Reviews

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.

Backing Treasure

If you're on a budget and looking for a backing drums analog machine, then this is your thing. Sweet kicks on a portable machine.

Great value

For the price point, a great drum machine. The features are limited though and the live use is not so comfortable because of shift buttons etc. Nevertheless, it's a good entry-level drum machine and it's resale value is ok too.

This small drum machine is actually very powerful. I use mine linked with my other studio machines and works perfect. The kick is the best.

This module doesn`t occupy a lot of studio space so it`s great to have and to have fun with.

I strongly recommend it

Korg volca beats

It is very portable, the built in speaker is not the best quality but if you connect it to a mixer or amplifier the sound quality is good. Quality is ok, for the price you cannot complain.

This product is ideal for those who want to hear the analogue sound of a drum machine. It never gave me problems, I have it for about two years.

It's a cool and fun simple analog drum machine, but the snare... The snare doesn't sound good at all. It can be fixed by fiddling with the electronics, but that's no excuse, it should have come fixed already.

Great for sketching ideas, poor snare sound.

I've seen other people with this same complaint but it's gotta be said, the snare on this thing is very strange. Now with that out of the way I do like it a lot! The stutter function really is fun to use, the sleek look of the beats appeals and I hope to mount it in a eurorack along with the volca keys I own!

The PCM samples sound nice and you can get some really wonky sounds out of them without too much patience. Motion sequencing is straightforward and sounds good if done right.

Paired with an distortion or overdrive pedal this thing can really blast the kick and tom sounds.

Of course it syncs with the other volcas and makes a pretty light show. I do feel that most of the Korg volca lineup will remain a staple in cheap and relatively high quality little noise machines. They look like toys but they play well and they're fun for jamming with friends since almost anyone can figure them out. Bringing a couple on stage can actually add a very cool sound to your set.

Low budget, good sounds

Keeps impressing me with their quality build synths, semi-analog, that are fully affordable to a starting out musician like myself. I loved the way I took my beats out of the box, pressed the power button and was lost for two hours in playing with the little thing. It took me somewhere else for sure. I haven't used it in any of my songs though, mostly because I've had a hard time figuring out what kind of music I want to make. But someone who doesn't know anything about synthesis I think it's a kind of a way to start - especially if on a budget. But eventually I think it's safe to keep the money and collect for something bigger. Because the honeymoon phase with volca honeys didn't last very long.

Great analogue drum machine

This little drum box is awesome. Cool analogue sounding beats on a good looking case. You can sequence, add effects, change the color and texture for every drum piece.

If you own some other volca series boxes, you can synchronize them altogether.

With the volca beats you get a very intuitive and produtive way to make music.

Volca Beats

I have Three Volca's and really enjoy working with all of them. The Beats unit is good fun and for the price there is are very few other products which compare well. The kick drum sound is excellent, as are the toms (albeit with a rather narrow tuning range). The snare however is pretty bad, there are lots of rumours on line as to why this is the case and plently of simple mods which can change the sound but ultimately it's just a bit...distorted. If you want your snare to sound a little wonky then it's an interesting option but don't expect a nice sounding 808 snare, because this is much more like a slightly odd Korg Minipops.

Ultimately you get way more than you pay for, this is a great little drum machine.

Great little drum machine!

The Volca Beats is so much fun to play with and record. A nice, versatile set of sounds (bearing in mind their limitations) and a very easy to use interface make this a winner. The kick drum and clap sounds are particularly nice, along with the toms. The sequencer will accept MIDI notes for control from an external DAW, also MIDI sync is provided; I tested this with Logic and it was pretty solid! Also, if you have the Korg MS-20 Mini, it seems you can use the PSU to power the Volca, as they are rated the same (9v DC, centre-positive). As we have already seen from watching online videos, people have already been getting creative with mods and hacks - to be honest, though, I love this as it is. It really does feel quite solid and very nice to use. Thumbs up.