Suggested improvements to the Korg Volcas

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

I have spent several articles describing the creative use of the Korg Volca Sample. Nonetheless, there are many limitations in the design and implementation. Many of these could easily be remedied, resulting in a much more functional and expressive instrument.

In this article I list 27 (!) improvements. And then present a redesigned interface.

Mika Vainio and DEM

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

I have been studying the music of Mika Vainio, after his unexpected death this year. Though I was always aware of Panasonic, I must say that their work had no direct influence on mine (until now) since I was already working in parallel, exploring aspects of noise and decomposed beats. Nonetheless, there is much to learn from him.

Improvisation with the Volca Sample

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

I've been writing a lot about the Korg Volca. But I've also been making music!

Here you can see me using some of the techniques I outlined in my tips and tricks and article on wavetable synthesis.

Turn your Volca Sample into a synthesiser

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

In my last article I gave you thirteen tips to get the most out of your Volca Sample, using both tried-and-true sampler techniques and the special capabilities of this surprising little unit.

Now I will go one further and show you how to turn your Sample into a synthesiser. How is this possible? Well, we actually have two different methods.

Volca Sample tips and tricks

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

My last article presented overview of the Korg Volca Sample. This sample player holds up to 100 different sounds, though the 4MB of memory enforces a total duration of only 65 seconds. If you have experience with old-school samplers, you will be right at home with these restrictions. But readers more familiar with software samplers might be perturbed. How can we get useful results without gigabytes of memory?

Overview of the Korg Volca Sample

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

My last article gave an overview of recent Korg synthesis products. Here I will look in detail at the Korg Volca Sample, illustrating features of note, providing helpful resources, and so on.

Korg synths and the Volca series

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

In recent years, Korg have combined the nostalgia for analogue synthesis with a desire to innovate. This article will provide a quick overview of their products, specifically the Korg Volca series. To my mind these units are exemplars of the Desktop Electronic music paradigm.

Invisible(s) Archipelago(s) #1 Serendib Rhythms by Stéphane Marin

The contours and frontiers of an island can be designated or traced without difficulty; and within an archipelago, from island to island, circuits of navigation and exchange form fixed and recognized itineraries that draw a clear frontier between the zone of relative identity (recognized identity and established relations) and the external world, a world of absolute foreignness. -- Marc Augé, Non-Places: An Introduction to Super-Modernity

The fourth wave of electronic music

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

Electronic music was originally the exclusive activity of those who could gain access to elite computer systems. Now it's an egalitarian process, a collaboration between boutique hardware firms, cottage industries, and musicians of all stripes. A performer might use a MIDI controller connected to a compact synth module. Or homebuilt sensors feeding an Arduino. We're the operators with our pocket calculators... which are actually tiny drum machines. We are the dreamers of dreams... implemented in esoteric Max patches.

The state of the art is fluid and multivalent. It's hard to see a context when you are embedded in it. So perhaps it's useful to share my musings, which outline four paradigms that have shaped our relationship to electronic music.

Survey of matrix mixers

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

In my last article I proposed a matrix mixer suitable for DEM. Here I will take a look at those mixers that already exist on the market.

The main criteria for a device to make this list is that it is affordable and compact. Certainly there are studio-quality matrix mixers, from companies like Allen & Heath. But these range in price up to $4000. That's a different domain!

Proposal for a matrix mixer

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

In a recent article I evaluated the feature sets of tiny line mixers, in order to find one suitable for DEM (Desktop Electronic Music). It was difficult to find a perfect tool for the current ecosystem of small synths, drum machines, tablets, phones, and other consumer devices. For example, of the ten units considered, only three worked with stereo minijacks, since they targetted an earlier music-making paradigm.

In this article I'd like to add some further functionality to my specification, and propose a mixer design. There's a real gap in the market for a compact mixer than can be used as a creative tool in its own right.

MIDI wiring diagrams

This article is part of an ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

This article will explain how MIDI cables are wired, starting with conventional DIN-5 sockets, then looking at TRS connectors. This will help anyone who needs to trouble-shoot wiring or solder their own cables.

DIN-5 connectors are paired as male and female ends. But there are two tricks.

First, the pin-out diagrams are sometimes presented from the point-of-view of wiring the plug. But, commonly, when using the MIDI cables, we might prefer the point-of-view of how the plug looks externally. One is a mirror image of another. (This might be obvious to all but me, since I swear I am topologically impaired.)

Second, the MIDI in and MIDI out sides of the cable are wired opposite each other, so that when they are paired, the current flows correctly. Electrically, that makes sense. But pragmatically this might be counter-intuitive. After all, when we examine a MIDI cable, it isn't labelled as to which end is which (in or out).

Mixers for desktop music

This articles is part of my ongoing series on Desktop Electronic Music (DEM). The landing page provides easy access.

If you are anything like the typical DEM practitioner, your desktop is a tangle of cables, interlocking musical devices, power supplies, and patch-cords. How can we tame this mess? Here I will tackle one aspect of the problem, by evaluating portable mixers.

UPDATE 16 August 2017: Two additional mixers added, for twelve in total.