Volca Keys

The Volca Keys was announced in April 2013 at MusikMesse along with the Volca Beats and Volca Bass, and proved a success for Korg. Critics received the Volca Keys well. At the time of its release, it filled the niche of an affordable analogue synthesizer, which contributed to its success. Comments were made on its inexpensive price and quality of sounds. MusicTech stated, "Korg has listened to its customers and managed to hit the perfect balance of price and features" and Future Music seemed to agree, saying that "the Volca synth is revolutionary at this price point" and suggesting that "everybody should own one". == Design ==

The Volca Keys has a gold faceplate and transparent enclosure. It is lightweight and is a small size. The Volca Keys has analogue circuitry but all control signals are digital, allowing parameter control over MIDI. According to Korg, "[the] CPU [controlling the Volca Keys] has a 10-bit DAC". The mode controls the polyphony of the Volca Keys. Five modes are available: monophonic modes are unison, octaves, fifth and unison ring; paraphonic modes are poly and poly ring. While in unison modes, the oscillators can be detuned from the unison pitch by up to a semitone. Modulation can be applied to oscillator pitch from the envelope generator. Modulation on the Volca Keys comes from two sources, an ASR envelope generator and low-frequency oscillator (LFO). The envelope is routed to amplitude by default but can be used to modulate the pitch and filter cutoff. The LFO has three waveforms: saw, triangle and square. Controls over LFO rate and depth of modulation to are available. The LFO can be synced to the start of a note. The Volca Keys features a delay circuit, which some have likened to that of Korg's Monotron Delay. It is low-fidelity, with low sample rates for the audio processing. The delay has control over time and feedback; the former can be synced to the sequencer tempo. == See also ==