The Korg Volca Sample captures the fun and freedom of an old-school sample sequencer in a format that’s perfect for modern electronic musicians and modular synth rigs. If you’re looking for a great way to take your groove production out of the computer where you can really get your hands on your sounds, then the Volca Sample is it. It comes loaded with 100 killer samples that you can tweak, sequence, and automate all on the fly, with cool functions such as reverse, swing, and reverb to keep things interesting. A custom iOS app lets you capture and upload your own samples, and Korg’s sync I/O let you combine the Volca Sample with your other Volca and Electribe gear.
Top-level controls make sample tweaking easy
One thing the synth nuts here at City Music really love about the whole Volca series is how simple these gadgets are, and the Volca Sample is no exception. Few samplers give you the kind of hands-on control over your sound as the Volca Sample, whose matrix of step-programmable parameters includes four sample knobs, four pitch knobs, and four amp knobs. Want to pitch down that clap? Twist a knob. Want to draw out the decay? Twist another knob. How about shifting the starting point? You get the idea. With all of these controls at your fingertips, dialing in the sound you want is incredibly fast and freakishly easy.
Simple sequencing delivers sophisticated results
One look at the Volca Sample, and you already know it’s setup to handle step sequencing like a champ, but that’s far from the extent of this clever little sample player’s programable nature. While programming each parameter step-by-step may tickle some people’s fancy (and you can totally do that with the Volca Sample too), its motion sequence real-time parameter recording makes automating 11 aspects of your samples in real time a breeze. The results are old-school synth sounds you can program on the fly to give your live performances the edge they need.
AudioPocket iOS app lets you capture samples
Korg bills the Volca Sample as a sample sequencer, but if you have an iOS device handy, then you can easily turn it into a full fledged sampler via the AudioPocket iOS app. With AudioPocket, you can load samples from your computer via iTunes or record new samples directly to your iOS device, where you can prep them and upload them to your Volca Sample (check out the video on this page). Of course, with 100 quality samples onboard, the Volca Sample come preloaded and ready to rock, right out of the box.
Power options provide portable creativity
Like the rest of the Volca series, Korg’s Volca Sample is designed to run for hours off six AA batteries. That makes it ideal for laying down grooves at the coffee shop or throwing down for impromptu tabletop sessions. There’s even a mini speaker onboard, so you can ditch the headphones and share the fun.
On that note, the included sync cable makes sharing the fun across modules easy by keeping everything locked to the same beat. Know you’re in for a longer session and don’t want to chew through batteries? No worries — just pick up a Volca Power Supply and you’re good to go as long as you like.
