Korg Volca Keys

The volca keys is a nice little box of character. It has plenty of different flavours to choose from and can sound very lo-fi if you play around with its onboard delay and aggressive filter.

I like the fact that the volca keys is a one-knob-per-function synth without any hidden menus or settings. That way you can get really hands-on with it and makes it a great synth to learn synthesis as well.

The only quirk of this volca is that its sequencer starts skipping steps once you plug in a mono TS cable. When using regular stereo TRS cables, I get a really soft and noisy signal from the Headphone OUT. When using a mono TS, it's really loud and clean. But due some technical flaw in the keys, the sequencer might skip steps because of it.

Generally it's a great little box for the money and certainly works well when jamming with other volcas!

I can't really comment on operation, because I've just been using it for a couple of minutes. But GOD, does it sound good !!! The features are of course not that of a 4-digits priced synth, but the sound quality is honestly that of one of them big analog monsters. I'm blown away.

On the minus side, some complex connection setups already created a lot of background noise, while in other situations it's pretty clean... so that aspect is a bit of a coin toss it would seem.

I would have liked shorter minimum decay times on the envelope, but besides that, the bare bone architecture is perfect for showcasing its beautiful sound.

Volca Keys is my first synth and I am really happy with it so far. For that price I just couldn't ask for more. The thing sounds better than some synths I've heard for hundreds of £ more. Sounds warm and raw and not uber clean and harsh. Shows nicely the range of great sounds this tiny, cheap box makes?. I think it would work best for anything between Progressive House, Electro and Techno (but not only!). Sounds a la Gui Boratto or Oxia are easy to make, Bodzin leads too! I actually don't use it that much for synths, but for bass lines.. rips, risers, falls.. it's real beast for FX. Connect it to the Monotron Duo for even more wicked sounds.. rusty base lines or crunchy leads!

Beware, sausage fingers would be a huge pain! Also, I find it a bit noisy.. Power suppy is not included (batteries are!) so be sure to look for the bundle where you save 10eur buying both a Volca Keys, Bass or Beats and the power supply. Hope my review helps you with your choice.

I'm very happy with my Volca Keys. For the price this synth can produce some eminently usable sounds. There are minor things which i found a little disappointing, mainly that there is a single amplifier EG for all three voice. As a result you cant really play slowly shifting three voice pads affectively as each new note re-triggers the EG. This is by no means a fault and again, with the price in mind, not a big problem.

The unison sounds great and with the detune function makes this an excellent lead synth. The most fun thing about the unit is the sequencer, allowing you to move 'off grid' opens up some really interesting possibilities. I have three Volca's and the build quality is good throughout the range providing you don't knock them about.

I'll start off by mentioning it's Voice mode knob. One can choose through five different voice modes, which are Poly, Unison, Octave, Unison Ring & Poly Ring. Through these options you can play in different modes, polyphonic & monophonic. All of these sound nice, especially if it's send through some reverb!! The volca's modulations are pretty straight forward & easy to use. It has a VCF (filter - cutoff & peak & eg amount) & it also has an LFO & EG ( attack, decay/release & sustain). I haven't used it's sequencer that much but from what I saw on vidoes, it seems pretty cool too. The Volca Keys can also be easily synced with the Volca Beats by simply using the 3.5mm provided with it. The only thing that I didn't like about this product is that it didn't have a power adapter included in it's box, but it works with AA batteries, so thats fine. If anyone is interested in it's sound I simply recommend it.