Korg Volca Drumchat_bubble_outlineFrom real comments

Users consistently say the Volca Drum sounds unlike any other drum machine, producing physical, metallic, and experimental textures thanks to its waveguide resonator. This distinctiveness is cited as its biggest strength and a reason to own it despite other flaws.

@imDezrt

I'm in love with this thing. Probably the most inspiring bit of gear I've ever owned and it's a modern classic imo. Especially if you're into making leftfield Warp Records kinda stuff like Autechre, Aphex, or Perlon style minimal stuff like Ricardo Villalobos. It can make big, punchy drums and it can also make elastic, delicate rhythmic noise and fuzz loops. You can also finagle some weird melodic stuff out of it. I think I got mine for $70 used on guitar center's website...if it was in a bigger, knob-per-function enclosure they could've sold this thing for $500-700 easily but I won't give Korg any ideas. These guys made the best decision ever giving Tatsuya so much freedom to experiment with new instrumentslaunch

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October 1, 2025

@mack_solo

2:05 - totally true! IMO, Korg had a bit of binary puzzle when it came to naming it. To call it what it is: volca bleep-bloop-klang-kerranger (excellent name); or to call it what people would understand and therefore buy: volca drum - digital... blah blah blah in the fine print nobody ever reads - and that's what they did. Out of the six volcas I own, this one is the most explorative and rewarding. And I'm not calling it the best or saying fm/fm2 or keys are worse - it's just, to me, it's the most fun one out of the lot. I also agree about the I/Os - i think they are like shackles on the creature which wants run free.launch

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October 6, 2024

@PaulSpades

What it is, is a funky new Electribe ER-1. The Volca Beats was more of a successor to the Monotribe. I like the Drum better because it's weirder and more expressive.\nI'd rather get the Elektron Cycles if you can spare the extra cash (less fun quirks and more bread and butter features). \nThe Volca Drum has it's own unique sound but it's also weirdly inspirational. If you do get it and use it, you're more likely to make music that sounds like you, rather than sounding like the drum machine/groovebox that you use or a generic assembly of roland drum box sounds.launch

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May 24, 2023

@gammaphonic

I’ve wanted one of these since they came out. It’s not so much a drum machine as it is a drum synth, and those aren’t so common.launch

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October 17, 2022

Owners describe losing hours sculpting sounds, with tiny tweaks producing massive changes. The oscillator/envelope/modulation combos and layered structure give a huge creative range for a compact machine.

@jaydarb10

got this bad boy for christmas this year and i've been absolutely LOVING it so far! it has its limitations, the sound is very marmite, the workflow is a bit of a pain, and the lack of backup sucks, but it's very inspiring for me! having a fully-featured drum machine/mini groovebox that can run on batteries like this one is wonderful and the sequencer is rather deep for a volca!\ngreat gift, great machine, and great video!launch

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January 7, 2026

@imDezrt

I'm in love with this thing. Probably the most inspiring bit of gear I've ever owned and it's a modern classic imo. Especially if you're into making leftfield Warp Records kinda stuff like Autechre, Aphex, or Perlon style minimal stuff like Ricardo Villalobos. It can make big, punchy drums and it can also make elastic, delicate rhythmic noise and fuzz loops. You can also finagle some weird melodic stuff out of it. I think I got mine for $70 used on guitar center's website...if it was in a bigger, knob-per-function enclosure they could've sold this thing for $500-700 easily but I won't give Korg any ideas. These guys made the best decision ever giving Tatsuya so much freedom to experiment with new instrumentslaunch

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October 1, 2025

@Gunzee

I love and dislike this unit. I had my original novation circuit stolen by someone with deep & dark struggles from my church. \nIt was used solely as a drum machine & the volca was a replacement. I snapped up a used unit at a great price with no research. That's the dislike it's not a drum machine. My fault but the name could be better. \nThe love is how deep and complex sound manipulation is😊. I've had hours fly by making a simple little pattern. Sometimes just sculpting a single sound, tiny adjustments with massive changes. Also a complete lay like me can make some nice little melodies, no tutorials, not even a glance at the instructions. \nIs it possible to export these effects in real time to other synths? Say the Polyend Tracker? You mentioned the duration of a pattern being a limitation. Could the tracker be used to increase it or add variation to a loop?\nYes I also did the same with the Tracker, bought used because the price was so low. The seller told me it would make a great d.m but the work flow is strange, musical Excel.launch

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December 2, 2024

@dinogoldie9716

imo:\nCONS: \n1) No way to export/back up kits and patterns (Yes I know Oscillator Sink made that amazing online sound editor but there's still no way to get kits off the machine)\n2) Lack of audio outs (ideally it would have had individual sockets for each voice)\n3) Build quality (wobbly knobs and the buttons wear out over time and become a lot less responsive)\n4) the sequencer being gridlocked to 16 steps. (yes I know you can ratchet notes for roll sounds but it's still quantised to 16 steps). \n\nPROs:\n1) Ease of use and the directness/immediacy of access to all controls with either single buttons or simple keystrokes.\n2) The ability to scroll through oscillator/envelope/modulation combinations via a single encoder.\n3) The physical resonator sounds so good. \n4) the splitting of complex drum sounds into independent \"layers.\" \n5) There are so few good drum synths on the market and especially at the price point (nearest comparisons being Elektron's Model Cycles at twice the price of the KVD and the Erica Synths LXR-02 at thrice the price).\n\nI've now got an Erica Synths LXR-02 and while it addresses all the cons of the Volca Drum (e.g. build quality, separate audio outs, exporting kits etc), its controls are a lot less immediately available than the KVD. There's a lot more hopping between pages on the LXR-02 whereas, on the KVD, I can use the encoder knob to pick my preferred osc/env/mod combo and then tweak all the values without going into different menus/screens. Also, while the voices on the LXR-02 do each comprise 2-3 oscillators, the oscillators do not have independent envelope controls like the \"layers\" on the KVD. If I'm programming, say, a snare on the KVD, I can alter the duration of the two layers so that the sizzle outlasts the pop of the drum. When making a snare on the LXR-02, the envelope and modulation are applied equally to both the pop and the sizzle of the snare.launch

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November 19, 2023

Step Jump lets users trigger held steps live in sync with the running sequence, praised as one of the best live drum-machine features around. Accent mode and hold functionality add further performance depth.

@gru_day

On STEP JUMP there can be more than one step looped, great for some variations. There is also hidden functionality for STEP JUMP that is HOLD (no mention of this in manual I think). Initially u have to hold steps to loop them in sequence, but when u hold the steps and push and hold MUTE, then release steps first and MUTE button after - the looped sequence will play without fingers holding it. To get back to normal sequence just touch any step on a touch strip. Its nice to mess around the looped sequence with sound parameters to do interesting transitions.launch

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November 22, 2024

@MJRinski

You've got a talent for this mate. Great work. I've had the Volca Drum for a good few months and read Tony Horgan's guide but found out about new functionalities from your video and found it really clear and entertaining. \n\nI've noticed you glanced over two other functionalities/details: \n\n1. In Step Jump, which is the \"drum fill\" resource, you can hold down multiple buttons at the same time and the Volca will play those in a loop. It allows for great freedom as it not only lets you repeat a single sound but sequences of sounds from your groove - however many and whichever ones you want - giving your fills spice! You can even choose to play a sequence of 8 sounds if you can hold down all 8 buttons.\n\n2. In Accent Mode, you can hold down each individual accent and change the dynamics with the Level Value knob (1-16), but not only that: you can change any other parameter - Release, Attack, Pitch, etc. allowing you to have multiple variations of the same Accented sound included in your pattern. Between the non-accent hits and the whole host of diverse Accented hits you can create, this opens up a lot of musical options.launch

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August 29, 2024

@Decoy303

I love Audiopillz but his episode of Bad Gear featuring the Volca Drum was really unfair and super biased. He even said himself in the video he didn't even take the time to make his own kits and just used presets he slightly tweaked.\nPersonally it's a great piece for anyone just getting into outboard possibly dawless production. It's intuitive, yet very deep with endless possibilities between its functionalities. It's also not smart to compare it to anything else out there. It's really it's own unique self that should have been upgraded and expanded on with the Drumlogue (huge disappointment there).\nWell worth buying. For me the only downside is not being able to me the individual layers per part and no midi out which all the Volca products suffer from.launch

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February 2, 2023

@timbrechopper

At 6:24, I emphatically yelled \"YES!\" out loud.\n\nAnd if this hasn't already been answered: You have to set the Volca Drum to multi-channel mode to play a single sound chromatically.launch

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July 15, 2022

Fine-grained sequencer features like per-step probability, adjustable slice amounts for rolls, and toggleable pitch quantization let users create intricate rhythms and near-melodic basslines.

@fffrage

One of my favourite features in Volca Drum, not mentioned in this vid - is that you can set per-step probability in sequencer.launch

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July 15, 2022

@cyborgmetropolis7652

Thanks for the great review. \n\nI noticed that Korg released a firmware update on 9/2019, after this video was released. I'm curious what, if any, faults have been addressed in the update. It appears that individual notes can now be triggered (allowing the machine to be used to play bass notes). I'm curious how well this works.\n\nRelease notes for firmware Version 1.14\n- Support for external clock synced delay.\n- Added a new edit parameter to enable pitch quantization.\n- Fixed single channel MIDI handling of note events.\n- Fixed MIDI Song Position Pointer.launch

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August 25, 2020

@BrendanMahoney

Really benefited from your video. One thing I think you left out in the parameters menu, that I discovered because of your video, is that you toggle between the pitch on each trigger having a numerical value (0-225) and a regular note value (F1, C3#) by changing \"OPI\" off or on. It's very cool if you're trying to take a bit of the guessing out of programming a melody/bassline.launch

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July 31, 2020

@shatteredsquare

So you know each step can have it's own slice setting right? With each step having it's own amount of slices?? Dude you can get so intricate with imitating marching snare taps and rudiments and buzz rolls, like how Danny Carry does that kick roll in the grudge that steps up the resolution from 1/4 to 1/4t to 1/8 to 1/8t etc...just by putting slice on a line of hits and setting them to different slice amounts. Volca Drum is a MONSTER!!! 😍launch

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February 6, 2020

Multiple commenters note it undercuts pricier competitors like the Elektron Model Cycles or Erica Synths LXR-02 while offering comparable or unique capabilities, calling it hard to beat for the money.

@dinogoldie9716

imo:\nCONS: \n1) No way to export/back up kits and patterns (Yes I know Oscillator Sink made that amazing online sound editor but there's still no way to get kits off the machine)\n2) Lack of audio outs (ideally it would have had individual sockets for each voice)\n3) Build quality (wobbly knobs and the buttons wear out over time and become a lot less responsive)\n4) the sequencer being gridlocked to 16 steps. (yes I know you can ratchet notes for roll sounds but it's still quantised to 16 steps). \n\nPROs:\n1) Ease of use and the directness/immediacy of access to all controls with either single buttons or simple keystrokes.\n2) The ability to scroll through oscillator/envelope/modulation combinations via a single encoder.\n3) The physical resonator sounds so good. \n4) the splitting of complex drum sounds into independent \"layers.\" \n5) There are so few good drum synths on the market and especially at the price point (nearest comparisons being Elektron's Model Cycles at twice the price of the KVD and the Erica Synths LXR-02 at thrice the price).\n\nI've now got an Erica Synths LXR-02 and while it addresses all the cons of the Volca Drum (e.g. build quality, separate audio outs, exporting kits etc), its controls are a lot less immediately available than the KVD. There's a lot more hopping between pages on the LXR-02 whereas, on the KVD, I can use the encoder knob to pick my preferred osc/env/mod combo and then tweak all the values without going into different menus/screens. Also, while the voices on the LXR-02 do each comprise 2-3 oscillators, the oscillators do not have independent envelope controls like the \"layers\" on the KVD. If I'm programming, say, a snare on the KVD, I can alter the duration of the two layers so that the sizzle outlasts the pop of the drum. When making a snare on the LXR-02, the envelope and modulation are applied equally to both the pop and the sizzle of the snare.launch

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November 19, 2023

@jdrukman

I’ve got one of these and I love it. Your review is pretty accurate as far as all the pros and cons. My main use for it is to make “weird glitchy bloody unpredictable sequence layers”. I just record them all into Logic and save them as loops. I’ve got a pretty big library now. Great to just sneak them in wherever to fill out a track. For the price, you really can’t beat it.launch

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July 16, 2022

@daryx.langdale

That was painful to watch. mainly because with every minute of this video it became harder and harder not to run directly to my Volca Drum and start trying out what you cover here. Haven't felt so excited about a <200eur purchase in a long time. Great work True Cuckoo. Great work Korg.launch

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August 26, 2019

@flootymcdootymanooty9145

Holy crap, an affordable drum synth module. Korg is the bee's kneeslaunch

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January 15, 2019

Its standard Volca form factor, built-in speaker and battery power make it easy to pick up and jam anywhere, and users find the direct single-button controls intuitive despite its depth.

@jaydarb10

got this bad boy for christmas this year and i've been absolutely LOVING it so far! it has its limitations, the sound is very marmite, the workflow is a bit of a pain, and the lack of backup sucks, but it's very inspiring for me! having a fully-featured drum machine/mini groovebox that can run on batteries like this one is wonderful and the sequencer is rather deep for a volca!\ngreat gift, great machine, and great video!launch

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January 7, 2026

@jerrybriardy

I've tried several synthisizer makes and models and am increasingly being drawn to Korg's Volca line. I like them for several reasons: The built-in speaker, the ability to run on batteries, the standard design, they are easily synchable to one another... I am expecting delivery of a used Volca Drum right now. I am using a Volca FM 1, and Bass. I also have a Volca Sample 1, but have had some issues with it. I think this will make my synthesizer line up fairly well complete. I may eventually add others but these three seem to make a very full sound and the standard design makes it very easy to learn from one to the next.launch

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December 6, 2023

@Jerbear1975

Just got my Volca Drum in the mail, installed batteries, pull up Cuckoo video for my instruction guide. This is my traditionlaunch

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October 3, 2019

Several users find it shines as a MIDI slave or secondary sound module adding texture and ambiance, and note its sync-out and experimental character make it a nice fit within a Eurorack or multi-synth setup.

@jonpatchmodular

As a proud Volca Drum owner, as a live instrument it's best used as a secondary device, to add more sounds and ambiance as a MIDI slave. With practice you can learn its fiddling better, and pop out beats in little time. Its strength is in using the randomizing, the waveguide and the parameter automation to variate and generate ideas on the fly mid-performance (you can also use the annoying menu encoder as a more tame randomizer). Its potentially experimental sound and swinging sync out make it a great part of a Eurorack system, too. \n\nAnother tip I'd give is, if you have it plugged into an analog desk, chances are that a generous boost on the lows will give it some of the analog juice it lacks. It works amazing in my Soundcraft Signature's EQ. And of course as with any Volca don't be afraid to add effects. Even though it has its own, an external rhythmic delay can be great. Bonus tip, get knob caps for sensitive parameters, especially pitch and waveguide pitch/time.\n\nWith that all said, I have to agree: We need a more confortable version of the same sound engine, so simple yet powerful and unique-sounding. This thing has some very cool Elektron Model vibes. Another one I think would benefit immensely from a grown-up makeover is the Volca Modular. I love it, but it's tiny and the patching is somewhat propietary, so you need two to really get proper \"modular\" with it.\n\nIn fewer words, the Volca Drum is a supercharged Volca but it's better used as just that, a Volca. It is a very good generative instrument when you get the hang of it. And it has many tricks that set it apart from a normal drum machine or groove device.launch

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July 16, 2022

@chandlerholloway7876

Great vid, huge fan! Next to the FM 2, the Drum is the best volca to use as a sound module tethered to an editor or more capable sequencer. Editors are especially helpful for overcoming that limitation on saving patterns and kits. As long as you do all of your sound design and editing within the editor (or you're willing to go back and manually program all the parameters of a kit or a pattern into the editor), you can keep things backed up well enough. I think pajen figured out a way to dump the patterns and kits over sysex if you've done the MIDI out mod, but I've not tried it.\n\nThe drum isn't able to cover all the bases (as you said, beefy kicks and aggressive snares are a weak point) so I usually reserve it for glitchy and retro sounding hat and ride/crash sounds, and then pitched percussive boops like cheesy toms, cowbell and woodblock esque stuff. Hard panning and using a Y splitter lets me process my cymbals and my boops through entirely different signal chains - a great feature that I believe is unique to the sample and the drum.launch

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July 15, 2022