Does the beats have anything the sample doesn’t? Monotribe also has flux- flux is a lot of fun quantizing and unquantizing on the fly .
Beats uses some actual analog synthesis for some of the sounds, while some are PCM (sampled). So it’s closer to an 808 or 909 than just being a sample playback machine, while offering more control over the drum sounds than one gets on the Monotribe.
I have the keys/bass/beats. I want the sample, but it does seem a little redundant when I have an op1. The bass sounds amazing with a distortion pedal, but the sequencing confuses me a little. I get bored with the 303 acid sound, but it has way more to it. Really those things have a whole lot of depth to them. The stutter knob on the beats, if used right, opens up a lot of possibilities.
And there is nothing so satisfying as having all 3 synced in your lap, in the car or anywhere, sequencing on the fly, the little lights blinking with the beat, making adjustments in real-time…you can really surprise yourself with what comes out.
Out of all of them the bass is my least favourite, they borked the filter on it IMHO, the oscillators are far too hot for the input of the filter resulting in an unpleasant overdriven sound, anyone who has a modular will know what I mean, filters tend to sound a bit shit if driven too hard (if that is not the sound you are after.
I might mod mine and lower the input to filter, I prefer overdrive post filter as it sounds much nicer.
The Keys is pretty good and actually better for acid than the bass (IMHO!) aside from no slides, the tone is much nicer than the bass (which is not bad for Juno type chords!) The beats is nice too, snare mod is essential though if you want that 808 snap, the toms and kick are great.
The sample though is my fave, sounds very nice and the isolator adds nice tweaky fun.
Here is a jam using the OP1 with the Sample and Electribe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eTMM7QGG6s
Found this on eBay haha.
Some jerk opened a new synth store in my town and after getting to check out the volcas and meeblip anode, I now have a damn Volca keys in my collection. Very quickly fit it in with my Monotribe and Bastl Trinity Drum (with Midi Bastl sending out the sync signal).
For the price - awesome. Not sure if I’ll ever need the straight up poly mode, but I love all of its other modes. “Unison Ring” turned out to be quite handy in dialing up some industrial sounds I’ll put to use in an upcoming show.
(In comparison, the slightly but not much cheaper Meeblip Anode seems like a nice piece of kit but much more limited. It took more work to get a good sound and its too dependent on Midi and I use very little Midi. But when I did get a good sound, it was pretty awesome).
Recently grabbed a Volca Sample and I can say that I love it. Personally, samplers can sometimes intimidate me because the possibility is near-limitless. However, the Volca Sample I found easy to learn and its limitations gave me a bit more direction. Before I knew it, I was making quick and customized beats on my lunch breaks using samples I’d collected here and there. As many have said, recording samples directly into the unit would have been cool, especially for users who do not own an iPhone or iPod (I’d hope they would develop an app for other phone users). I could easily see someone putting together a MF Doom-style EP on the Sample alone. I’d say it would be a lot more useful than Volca Beats as the flexibility with your sounds is incredible for the price tag. My last nitpick gripe is that the knobs wiggle fairly easily so that might make some shy about taking it out and about. Aside from that it is a sturdy box and a solid creative machine.
Chipping in with my take on the Keys and Sample which I’ve just finally got hold of (Sample has been on back-order for a couple of months in Europe!) and I have to say I’m really happy with them.
The Keys is great for looping melodic parts and bass sounds too. The Sample is a bit more complicated in terms of creating patterns and songs, but armed with the Caustic Editor for Android it’s pretty easy to get your own samples on - then with the Motion Sequence stuff things get pretty cool. Though the lack of a metronome on the Sample is a bit annoying for real-time recording (never been a fan of step-programming)
The sync works seamlessly though, so I use the metronome on the Keys to help with recording on the Sample. And here’s my favourite thing of all on both gadgets: Active Step! You can drop any number of the sixteen sequenced steps - and instead of “muting” the part, it skips over playing the next one continuously… so by for example setting one to 15/16 steps and the other with 13/16 steps, you get some pretty nice poly-rhythmic sessions going 
I’m now sure of which to get. What a great thread of info and impressions, thanks guys! First the keys and later the sample.
Maybe I’ll end up with all of them wearing an orange jumpsuit sitting in a German prison jamming with my freundes =D
Nice that android is supported now since I’m on that OS phone wise.
Well… I’ve bought the Volca Keys, Bass and Sample. Now I will try to connect them in a good way to the 3 PO’s and to the OP-1. I have an Oplab and a mini 6 channel mixer from darenager, but don’t know yet, what’s the best connecting solution. Any ideas from you guys?
I have the Beats and Keys. Really solid sounds but I cannot for the life of me clear out the pattern I recorded on the Keys. I’ve tried everything
^function button and then on of the membrane (keys) buttons says something like clear. you have to be on the pattern you want to clear.
@joeyfivecents I find the sequencing to be very fussy on the Volca Keys (more like looping, actually), but hitting the function button then the last key (“All”) does clear the sequence for me. Just keep in mind that it doesn’t actually clear the memory slot - you have to save something new to erase the previous sequence in a memory slot.
@Kono77 The only way I’ve gotten the OP-1 and my 2 Volcas to work together (mostly) is to have the OP-1 be the master (Mode 4 on the Oplab, I think?), then a midi out from Oplab to one Volca, which is then chained with its sync out to the second Volca. It’s still a little wonky, but I was able to pull of a live performance that way recently. The Volca Keys still seems to have a mind of its own sometimes. Not sure how one would fit the POs into that situation.
I bought the original 3 and sold them a few months later, I prefer my two monotribes for the stink and the volcas disrupted my output.
I bought the Volca Sample though and have to say it’s a classic, I would have killed for one of them 20 years ago.
I am thinking about getting a second sampler because they are just so much fun and I’d like to have a spare for pure experimentation.
Great combo with the OP-1 and OT…
^monotribe is stank sample is also stank. combo is sooper stanky!
I am a huge fan of the volcas, and really everything korg has done to make analog synthesis accessible for poor folks. I have been making music since 1998-ish (can’t remember) and I am now a firm believer that no virtual imitations or software emulations can ever match the feeling of real analog, mostly due to the korg monotrons being SO much fun. I have now bought the arturia microbrute, which I love, but honestly the volca keys is capable of such a wide variety of sounds, its still my favorite. And for $150, the build quality is great, I take mine everywhere.
*Of course digital can be great when it doesn’t imitate analog, like the op1❤
Hey @ldkProbly if you’ve not checked the Monotribe I highly recommend if you can get one cheap(or new even).I agree with you about Korgs cheap analogue sound.The tribe has big knobs that make this experiance more so and it has a distinct heavy sound with great mod options (for something that seems not to have mod envelop -jus use the LFO in 1shot).
Dope
Wow…that video just made me buy the monotribe. Also, for those in the U.S., on Amazon it is currently $199.