KORG VOLCA BEATS - White Noise Kick / Snare / Tom Mods + Dual Tempo Presets Option [instructions]

I purchased a Korg Volca Beats awhile back as a basic drum machine to play along with some synths. Was pretty disappointed with the stock sounds and immediately performed the C78 snare mod. In the process of looking for other ways to improve the sounds, I came across a video where someone modded the toms and snare to have a sharp crack with noisy decay, but they never shared instructions and only offered to perform it as a service, which they have since ceased.

So in the spirit of DIY and open sourcing, I dug into my unit and spent a few days experimenting, soldering, drilling, and documenting to recreate and share these awesome sounds with the public. During that process, I discovered another hack which I haven’t seen anywhere – a way to have 2 tempo presets available without any synchronization issues! It’s a little fickle, but immensely useful.

I made this video to explain the functions and capture as much variety as I could. A schematic / layout can be found at the end of the video (9:05) as well as for download with more info here: https://www.dasdrones.org/VOLCABEATS-...

A word of warning: the Volca series is insanely small inside, and it was not a fun task working around the board and minimal free space in the box. You will absolutely need sub-mini toggle switches and 9mm plastic shaft potentiometers to make everything fit, as well as a lot of patience.

#Korg #Volca #Beats #Modifications #Hacks #Instruction

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White Noise Modifications:

These modifications tap into the white noise node on the circuit board and blends it with the snare, tom, or kick channels to create concussive hits and walls of noise.

Dual Tempo Presets Option:

This option adds a second tempo knob which can be set to a BPM faster or slower than the main TEMPO knob, creating hardware-based “presets” that can be toggled in real-time.

Parts List:

3x SPST switch
1x DPST switch
1x SPDT switch
1x N/O SPST momentary pushbutton
1x 5mm LED + pulldown resistor
1x A10K 9mm potentiometer
1x B10K 9mm potentiometer
1x B250K 9mm potentiometer

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