Is Volca Beats/Bass/Keys/FM and D-05 good?

[Music Bird]

The title says it all. I’m looking at the Roland D-05 and those specific Korg Volcas. How will it work for creating my own music? I may be getting these to have a hardware setup.

[Ashe37]

I have both the Volca Keys and Bass. they are fine for small analogs, nice and portable.

[Music Bird]

I figured since I have Dexed and the Minilogue, the Keys and FM are not worth it. And I’m looking for a better drum machine, so I’m looking at the SR-16, since it’s been made for almost 30 years (since 1989) and is still being produced. Also, D-05 and Keystep are what I am still looking at, and Behringer Model D for bass and Moog sounds.

[Ashe37]

Since the keys is paraphonic, and has a different filter, it isnt going to sound like the minilogue. The Volca Beats is an analog drum machine that sounds a bit like the 606, while the SR-16 is a 16-bit sample based drum machine that still has most of the same limitations now as it did when it came out in 1989.

[Music Bird]

I think the SR-16 will have more options, and Minilogue has some sounds the Volca doesn’t do. I’m looking at the D-05 for the presets (I wish to still use the default D-50 presets and the D-50 PN-D50-ROM1-4 and the new D-05 presets in my music, even if it risks sounding somewhat dated, but some D-50 presets still sound good IMO). Keystep for use as a MIDI controller (with aftertouch), a synth for monophonic stuff like basslines (Behringer D or Microbrute), the D-05 for 80’s sounds and bell type stuff, and the SR-16 for drums (even though they sound dated, for the music I do (my original songs), that’s fine). Also a pack of MIDI cables. Using this as a setup for making music.

[groy]

^^ That sounds about reasonable and like you know what you want, not sure why you asked. Maybe consider getting them one at a time so that you have introduction time with each one and don’t get creative block looking at a bunch of new gear. Next you’re going to want outboard effects if you don't have them yet…

[clubbedtodeath]

The B*hringer Model D will certainly cover bass and leads, with a Moogy flavour. It has a low or high pass filter, and a small patchbay at the top of the unit. This can do proper mad stuff, especially if you patch to the OSC pitch CV from the mix out. I can't think of anything that compares for the price. It has 3 oscillators, and the 3rd can have pitch control turned off -- you use its pitch knob instead. This is more useful than you might think. It's a lot of fun (even if you feel slightly unclean buying it).

The Volca Beats is a handy little analogue drum machine, especially for what it costs. However, at the very least it needs the snare mod (Google it). The sequencer is straightforward: you can't sequence patterns, but you can change the pattern length on the fly for rolls, etc. I record chunks of this to arrange into full drum track.

Cheers