(Part 2) Best products from r/volcas

It was the headphone splitter! This is evidently NOT the one to buy. Wow I feel like a dummy.

Hoping my FM fits in the Akai MPK MK2 Case. Love these $9.99 on Amazon got an Uno Synth in one and a Maschine Mikro Mk3 in another. Forgot to check last night when the FM arrived.


Alas it fits but only 1 will fit in the case. Thought I’d be able to slip 2 in. Ordered a Vaultz case

case idea for multiple Volca

Third the keystep. Not sure what is meant by reliance on DAW. Keystep plugs directly into Volcas. The only con to the keystep for my setup is that it requires USB power source. For that, just get a $10 rechargeable USB phone charger.

I have my keystep midi out going into a midi thru box https://www.amazon.com/MIDI-Solutions-Quadra-4-Output-Thru/dp/B0002GH8X4
The midi thru box plugs into each Volca and I can choose which gets Volca gets played by selecting the midi channel on the keystep. It's been working out great.

AFAIK all Volcas the Volca Bass has a female stereo TRS 3.5mm minijack connector, but the signal is not truly stereo, both channels are bridged internally instead. This makes sense for using headphones, but it's not that convenient for taking the signal out into a mixer or audio interface.The cable that I've seen the most people using has a male stereo minijack (TRS 3.5 mm) on the Volca side and a male mono jack (TS 6.35 mm) on the side that goes into the unbalanced input in your mixer or audio interface. This cable is wired in such a way that the signals from the tip and the ring in the minijack are bridged together and connected to the tip in the jack, while both sleeves are used for grounding and connected directly.

You can find the pro snake on Thomman or Designacable on Amazon.

As the connector in the Volca has its tip and ring already bridged, another option would be a similar cable to the one explained before, but leaving the ring in the minijack unconnected. "Tip to tip" plus "sleeve to sleeve" should just work.

A third option is a regular male stereo minijack (TRS 3.5 mm) to twin male mono jack (TS 6.35 mm), but you will need to leave one of the two 6.35mm jacks unconnected to the mixer or audio interface. Not exactly ideal, but much easier to source from any music gear store.

What will definitely not work is a mono to mono cable. Again, as the connector in the Volca is internally bridged, using a mono connector would connect the ring and the sleeve together and in doing so it would also divert the signal from the tip to the sleeve, which is grounded. Long story short: no audio at all on the other side of the cable.

EDIT: not all Volcas have bridged connectors. As /u/TheMythicalNarwhal and /u/Rx-Ende pointed out below, at least the Sample and the Mix are true stereo.

So this came to a surprise to me, just because I haven't had that much experience with this kind of gear.

Here are my notes:

1. Plugging in headphones (TRS) to the volca works fine.
   
2. Plugging in a stereo cable (TRS) to a normal stereo system works fine.
   
3. Plugging in a stereo cable (TRS) to a mixing board = huge amounts of white noise.
   
4. Plugging in a mono cable (TS) to a mixing board = works perfectly.
   
   I don't have enough details, but I think you're connecting your volca (stereo) to a line in (mono) and it's getting messed up because the mixing board is expecting mono.
   
   I figured this out by taking one of my 3.5mm TRS to 6.35 mm TS cable only using the T and it worked fine.
   
   My final solution was to buy a TS 3.5mm to TS 6.35mm cable for each of my volcas and everything works fantastically now.
   
   edit: if you're using a volca sample, which is actually stereo, you'll want to split the TRS to 2x TS and put it into two channels on your mixing board.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MIDIExpand--keith-mcmillen-instruments-midi-expander?adpos=1o2&creative=55226083081&device=t&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CNTV74myscwCFQqKaQodtooO7A

I wonder if that would work for any controller with a standard USB output?

I bet this would work:

http://www.kentonuk.com/products/items/utilities/usb-host.shtml

but honestly, just go buy one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/midiplus-AK490-MIDI-Keyboard-Controller/dp/B00VHKM72Q/ref=sr_1_23?s=musical-instruments&rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1525116771&sr=1-23&keywords=midi+controller&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011

> Samsung Serie 5 Ultra Touch 540U

You probably need to use something like this

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Headphone-3-5mm-Adapter-Smart-Phone-Brand-New-2-Female-to-Male-Splitter-Cable-to/172227312807?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D44039%26meid%3Dfaddeb56ea4d4d0785713c2795c36302%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D111201679129%26itm%3D172227312807&_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850

plug your volca into the mic input on that y-splitter

might also need to use a cable like this from the volca. Really depends on the y-splitter and where the rings are on it. This information is usually hard to find online.

https://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-Mono-Male-Cable-Plated/dp/B004HZR2OG

EDIT: You could also just buy a cheep external sound card to get you by for now.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28M8615&cm_re=external_sound_card-_-29-128-004-_-Product

I use a Zoom G1on

Powered via battery, USB or adapter. Includes a looper as well as some drum backing presets (personally, I don't use them). Fairly solid construction. Some of the presets don't sound too bad and it allows you to amend them or patch your own. There are better sounding units out there, for sure, but this will only set you back about $50. It did wonders for my FM.

He's talking audio, and you are talking control (midi)? I use this midi cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CO5IRSG. to control my volcas. Any decent usb audio device with good A/D converters should be fine for grabbing audio.

Yeah exactly like that. I use these cables for connecting my Volcas to an audio interface, so should work the same for a pedal - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000WKBQZ6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have this for my Volcas and Boutiques. It's ok, not as cheap as I would have liked and it's a little noisy. Does the job, though.

This one will, but you can also get something like this that breaks it out into left and right mono 1/4 plugs

Amazon sell a few different cases in their Amazon basics range, this is the small GoPro case and if you cut out some of the foam, a volca fits nicely. There's plenty room for the knobs and it's fairly sturdy.

http://www.amazon.com/Decksaver-DSS-PC-VOLCA-Impact-Resistant-Polycarbonate/dp/B00OY66TRE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420497262&sr=8-1&keywords=volca+cover

like a decksaver?

Yeah totally. The beats in particular is insanely noisy.


I have the Sample, Beats and Keys going straight into my Berhinger Xenyx x1832 and my Bass running into my digitech whammy pedal then into my mixer.

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All of those go into Logic via USB.

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I'm using THESE cables as my main 1/4-1/8 volca cables and a guitar patch chord for out of the whammy.


USB cable is gold plated amazon basics one.

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Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated!! I've tried a bunch of stuff and EQing it out of the Beats works best but I lose a lot of the hi hat so I've just been leaving it lately.

Korg definitely makes an adaptor, it is included in some volca packages.

https://www.amazon.com/Korg-Volca-Power-Supply/dp/B00HZWM07W

One of these will do the job https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-U-Control-Ultra-Low-Interface-Software/dp/B0023BYDHK/ and a cable like this https://www.amazon.com/Choseal-3-5mm-Audio-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00A7J1ANA/

I have been looking at these for my kp3/kaossilator pro -https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00IBJ6VWI/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504532868&sr=8-1-fkmr1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=kaoss+pad+3+case
Seems to fit your needs too.

Don't risk it. It will slowly destroy the gear. Or maybe quickly. Just get an appropriate plugin.


These are great. If you want to be extra cheap you can find a 9v at Goodwill, but then you'll still need an adapter for the size and possibly polarity. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ANIEJDW/ref=twister_B01ANOQ0N8?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

I use this one from MyVolts, a bit pricier than your solution but cheap compared to buying individual adapters https://www.amazon.com/5-way-power-splitter-cable-MyVolts/dp/B01ANIEJDW

This Right Here