Korg Volca Keys

Many features packed into a small synth. I'm sure this works for some people, but I found it to be way too limited. Although, I know, it's very cheap.

Here are some limitations that I found annoying. Some of these might be hard to guess before actually using the unit:

- It's not polyphonic, it's paraphonic. There are 3 VCO's but they share the same VCA. In practice it sounds like the held notes would be triggered again when you play a new note.
- Although the Keys receive velocity when played live, the sequencer does not record it. So the velocity of every note is 100%.
- No ability to bypass recording midi (key) notes from an external midi-keyboard.
This means that if you simultaneously play live on a keyboard and record your automations on the Volca itself, the notes you played get recorded on every loop, over and over again. You have to record the automation separately.
- Sequencer has only 16 steps. Although the scale can be adjusted: 1/1, 1/2 and 1/4.
- Peak (resonance) cannot be automated or affected through midi.
- No MIDI out. Although you can relatively easily make your own. Similarly to Arturia BeatStep, I would suggest a 1/8 TRS jack (next to the MIDI IN jack).
- Only headphones out. If you plan not to use headphones, you need (half of) an insert cable or some other special configurations.
- The scope of the sounds that you can produce with this is very limited. Although the automation helps a lot, but still.

I bought this as my first step into synths thinking I should start with something basic. It's not a *bad* piece of gear, exactly. You can make some really cool sounds with it, especially if you run it through some effects. I even used it on a record! But it's got enough drawbacks that it's not really worth it in my opinion.

This is a common complaint, but the Volca Keys is not actually polyphonic, rather paraphonic. It's a big deal! If you want to play an atmospheric pad with voices coming in and out, it's a real vibe killer when it resets all notes every time you press a key.

Turning the knobs doesn't change the values smoothly but in fixed increments, which is especially noticeable on things like cutoff. By itself not a dealbreaker, but something to be aware of.

Sometimes when I turn the Volca on, the notes are a bit out of tune despite having turned the Detune knob all the way down. Turning it off and on has been a reliable fix so far.

I didn't use the sequencer all that much, I think it's fine? for what it is. The touch keybed isn't my thing but you can hook up a MIDI controller so that's easily circumvented. I like that it can run on battery power and has a built-in speaker. The speaker, by the way, can produce a really overdriven sound if you turn the volume up, which might not be what you want but I liked it!

Of course you can't expect too much at such a low price, but in the end I wish I had saved the money and made do with free VST plugins for a little while longer.

I start by the point that this is not a real musical instrument. Rather a Toy and poor of features. However, it is very complicate for a kid. So no good like a toy either. I bought it for my son (12 years old) and he could not get something interesting out of it. Just some noisy arpeggios. So I tried myself cause I am used to programe Synths and electronic musical machinery. For me it is too poor of features (only one wave shape), sounds horrible and looks like a toy. So I have to send it back. Not the fault of Thomann. They are very gently and profesional. This is the fault of Korg that has lost the wire on making good budget instruments.
I saw the video of the model Volca FM. It looks like being a much more value for the price even if the construction looks similar. But FM one will be for a person who manage well FM synthesis I guess. Impossible for a kid. Otherwise it will be very limited to few tricks that Korg has managed to add for easy usage. For this price you can get a CASIO keyboard and make your son happy.