The Korg Volca Sample is a super portable, super easy to use, a fabulous sounding beat machine that has even more features packed into it than the Volca Beats. This Review was created by Alex from Consordini Musical instruments.
If you are an audio engineer that is always looking to do more with less, the Korg Volca Sample is the ultimate, portable, beat making machine. Side note, while the white case looks very sharp, it discolors very easily, especially after carrying it around with you all the time. And let’s face it, you WILL be carrying it around with you ALL the time.
In addition to “regular” drum machine sounds (i.e. kick, hats, toms and the like) The Korg Volca Sample uses (you guessed it) samples. You have full control over these samples and can manipulate them to fit your grooves. The Korg Volca Sample is incredibly versatile. There are no analog circuits here! Instead, Korg has packed an incredible amount of features specifically for digital, linear samples.
Across the bottom are 16 resistive input touch controls, 10 of which are preloaded with samples. It’s easy to scroll through the sounds and customize each channel, all in stereo sound. And boy can you customize! There are tons of samples including kick, snare, claps, snaps, hats, all the cymbals, all the toms, and tambourines. There are also tons of electronic samples and super cool sounding digital, melodic-type sounds. On top of that, you can import and use your own samples! The Korg Volca Sample has enough memory to store up to 100 unique samples! Just download the partner iOS app and sample what you want. Talk about versatility AND portability.
The center panel has 11 different parameters to dial in to. This creates, literally, MILLIONS of different sounds. It can be intimidating, but it’s so much fun! We love how the clear control knobs light up red when they are twisted. Bass and treble knobs to the left make it easy to balance your beats. There is also a swing knob to turn your beats into grooves.
The Korg Volca Beats runs on AA batteries or an optional 9-volt adapter. MIDI in, headphone, and CV gate in/out jacks across the top add to the versatility of the unit. The Korg Volca Sample is the ultimate beat making machine. It really does allow you to do more with less. It’s everything you want it to be: Compact, portable, powerful, feature-rich, easy to use: and it’s cheap (check out our Amazon affiliate link). The simple controls make it easy for anyone to pick it up but it is packed with so many useful features for experienced engineers and artists to really get a lot out of it. All on the go.
