Shop Keyboard Deals, Financing, and More

Korg Volca Modular Semi-Modular Synthesizer with Sequencer

Semi-modular Analog Synthesizer Module with CV In, 50 Patch Points, 20 Patch Cables, 16-step Sequencer, and Sync I/O
6 Write review Item ID: VolcaMod
$179.99

Earn $9 back in Bonus Bucks† OR pay $8/month with 24 month financing*

Free
Shipping
Tech Support

Free Sweetwater
Support

Free 2-year
Warranty
In Stock!

Only 6 left in stock! More on the way.
Add to Cart
Notify me about deals

Ask An Expert

Our expertly trained Sales Engineers are ready to help!

(800) 222-4700
What is a Sales Engineer?
Sweetwater Gear Exchange

Have one to sell?
Check out Sweetwater's Gear Exchange!
Learn More

Most Popular Accessories & Related Items

Korg Volca Modular Semi-Modular Synthesizer with Sequencer
In Stock!
$179.99
Add to Cart
Add to list
Back to navigation

Written By

Our Product Research Team

Get to know them!

West Coast Semi-modular Synthesis for Volca Fans

With its true semi-modular signal path, the Korg Volca Modular brings the expansive creative potential of modular synths to the Volca platform. And with its CV inputs, it’s a sweet addition to any Eurorack synth rig. Its 16-step sequencer offers a range of scale presets to play with, plus deep randomization options for on-the-fly versatility. Practically anything can be patched into anything else on the Volca Modular, and 20 patch cables are included — that’s a lot of potential for creating your own custom synth sounds. Whether you’re expanding your Volca rig or tapping into your full modular synth setup, the Korg Volca Modular packs a ton of value into a standalone synth and sequencer module.

Related Videos: Volca Modular Semi-Modular Synthesizer with Sequencer

Extensive patchability for endless sound design options

The Korg Volca Modular’s semi-modular nature allows you to start creating sounds instantly, without any patching. With the included patch cables, you’ve got a total of 50 patch points to experiment with. You’ll be able to craft sounds never heard from the Volca range before, from evocative drones to nonlinear soundscapes and beyond.

CV in for modular connectivity

Eurorack fans at Sweetwater were pleased to find CV input on the Korg Volca Modular, opening the door for connecting it to a full modular rig. The CV-In jack receives a TRS mini stereo jack for inputting two signals. The left channels support a +/-5-volt signal, while the right channel accepts a 1-volt/oct signal (internally converted to pitch CV). Each of these signals can be further patched to specific modules on the Volca Modular.

Advanced sequencer playback modes

The Korg Volca Modular is equipped with the classic Volca sequencer, with a couple of new play modes serving up big creative potential. Bounce mode alternates between playing your sequence forward and backward, also known as round-trip sequencing. Stochastic mode gradually progresses through your sequence while randomly moving forward and backward within the sequence. And with various scales, keys, and even micro tuning at your command, plus sequence randomization capabilities, you could spend months exploring all that the Volca Modular has to offer.

Korg Volca Modular Analog Synthesizer Module Features:

  • Semi-modular analog synthesizer
  • Voice architecture: 2 VCO (triangle), 2 EG, 2 LPG, digital effect
  • CV input and sync I/O for connecting to modular synths, Electribes, Volcas, and more
  • 50 patch points and 20 included patch cables for near-endless sound design options
  • Advanced 16-step sequencer with multiple play modes and randomization capability
  • Preset scales, keys, and micro tunings for fun and fast playability

Warranty Info

Sweetwater's FREE 2-Year Total Confidence Coverage Warranty

Extra peace of mind at no extra cost.

  • Save money with FREE parts and labor
  • Get back to making music with the industry's fastest turnaround time
  • Fix it the first time with our award-winning, factory-certified Service Department
Learn More about Total Confidence Coverage
2 Year Total Confidence Coverage
$25.00
FREE!

Free 2-year Warranty

Sweetwater's 2-year Total Confidence Coverage™ Warranty gives you extra peace of mind at no extra cost.

Learn More about Total Confidence Coverage
Tools Icon

Save money with free parts & labor!

Fast Icon

Get back to making music with the industry's fastest turnaround time.

Award Icon

Fix it the first time with our award-winning, factory-certified Service Department.

Back to navigation

Tech Specs

  • Type: Semi-modular Desktop Synthesizer and Sequencer
  • Analog/Digital: Analog Synth with Digital Effects
  • Pads: 16 x Multi-touch Keypads
  • Polyphony: Monophonic
  • Oscillators: 2 x Analog VCO
  • Waveforms: Triangle
  • Envelope Generator: 2 x EG (attack, hold, release)
  • LFO: Looped Rise-Fall Generator
  • Filter: 2 x Lowpass Gate Circuits
  • Sample and Hold: Pink Noise Sourced Random Signal Generator
  • Effects Types: Reverb
  • Sequencer: 16-step, Pattern Chaining, Motion Sequence, Bounce, Stochastic
  • Other I/O: 2 x 1/8" (sync in/out), 1 x 1/8" (CV in), 50 x Patch Points
  • Power Supply: 9V DC power supply (sold separately) / 6 x AA batteries (Alkaline, NiMH)
  • Height: 1.54"
  • Width: 7.61"
  • Depth: 4.54"
  • Weight: 0.83 lbs.
  • Manufacturer Part Number: VOLCAMODULAR

What Makes Our Sales Engineers Great?

Sweetwater Sales Engineers are a world-class team of experts dedicated to you. Hand selected from across the globe, each brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the world of music gear to provide you with unparalleled service completely free of charge. Friendly relationships, real trust, and the right gear are only a call or a click away!

(800) 222-4700
Contact Your Sales Engineer
Back to navigation

Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5

Customer Added Media

This product doesn't have any review media yet!

Write your review

A Great Introduction To West Coast-Style Semi-Modular Synthesizers (if you don't mind a learning curve)

Oh wow. This is by far my current favorite Volca. It was hard to choose between my Sample and FM before, but once this thing arrived it quickly stole the show in my mind. If you're into experimenting with sounds that aren't your typical subtractive synth melodies and basslines (though you can definitely use it
for that, don't get me wrong), and you're curious about a unique form of modular synthesis when compared to the common east coast format, this will keep you occupied for quite a long time. It compliments my modest setup quite well, and I feel a sense of completion for the first time.

It comes with a Volca-sized card (like the Volca FM) with one side showing all the patch points, each with a word and/or diagram briefly describing what they do, and the other side showing 4 basic patches to get you started and show you how to do portamento (note glide), use the modulator oscillator as a 2nd carrier oscillator, LFO modulation, and ring modulation. The poster-sized foldout user manual even has 8 more patches to play around with, titled: Western Bongo, Random Release, Gate Math, Polyrhythmic Duo, Generative, Walking Bass, Vibrato, and Dubstep Bass. You can think of the card patches as being a short minimalistic tutorial of sorts on how to do some common synth functions on the Volca Modular, while the fold-out user manual patches are more like your standard patches or "presets."

Input patch points have a clear background, outputs have a dark background. Audio ins and outs have circular, extruded "corners," CV ins and outs are straight lines and square corners. They designed this synth very well. There is even a thin aluminium plate on the main control/patch surface (yes, the silver color is actual metal). Just because of this addition, this definitely feels like a Volca+, or a "premium" Volca unit. Thanks to this, the extra sequencer functions, and of course the patch points, the slightly higher price point is very much worth it, in my opinion. Same knobs, touch controller, buttons, and overall plastic body (with a cool triangle-patterned translucent blue aesthetic on the bottom; aside from the color, very similar to the Volca FM's bottom), but that's to be expected from a Volca.

Just be careful when you actually use the patch points and cables. The cables feel fragile. It seems as though one accidental swipe of the hand across the surface with a bunch of patch cables installed could cause all the cables to break. One previous reviewer here worries me that it could damage the internal patch point connections as well. In any case, definitely treat this baby with respect. It's not built like a tank like so many larger synthesizers are. If you're going to be transporting it, please use a proper case of some kind. Something that fits it relatively snug and tight, doesn't put pressure on the knobs, and will absorb most of the shock if dropped or otherwise mishandled. There are a couple of Korg-endorsed Volca hard cases, but there are cheaper options if you don't mind DIYing a big with the foam padding.

Also, if you want to use it battery powered all the time, get yourself some rechargeable AA batteries with a decently high mAh rating and a good charger. Each Volca takes 6 AAs, which last a decent amount of time. Haven't had this one long enough for it to drain the batteries as of the time of writing this review (will update if anything changes my opinion, that is if Sweetwater lets me), but I can say my Volca Sample lasted about a week of on and off use with the provided non-rechargeable batteries. I can imagine with more hardcore, several-hours-at-a-time use, it could run out of power in a day or 2.

All in all, if you're curious about semi-modular synths in general, or just want a cheaper entry into the West Coast style format of Modular gear, this is an excellent choice (and dare I say, the only one for this price point?) to start out with!

Happy synthing!
by Mike from Connecticut, United States on
Music background: On/Off Hobbyist DAW-Based Electronic Music Production For 6 years, DAWless Hardware Jamming/Performing Newbie At About 1.5 Months

Amazing Little Machine

After only 15 minutes of learning to use this synth, I was blown away. Yeah it may lack MIDI, may lack easy to route CV inputs (only has one CV in for Pitch, Gate, and Mod; you need an 1/8" stereo to L/R 1/8" to use Pitch and Gate from other semi-modular/modular synths), it may not have the flashiest features...but this is an amazing tiny piece of kit. It can produce everything from Ring Modulated leads to beautiful ambient atmospheres! The patch points have tons of options including the different utilities which is very useful. The sequencer modes are pretty great, especially the random steps mode. Honestly, for the price this thing is, you are being blessed with a great synth and something that can really make you experiment with routing and sounds. It may be atonal most of the time, but great for sampling for other uses (Trap, Dubstep, Wonky, House).

Paired with some guitar pedals through a send on a mixer, it can lead to amazingly beautiful atmospheres with it's built in reverb and quirky character. I would give it a 5/5, but a lone CV input and lack of MIDI IN makes it a 4.5/5.
by Dylan Falgoust from New Iberia, LA on
Music background: Production, Guitar, Mixing, Mastering

Volca Goes Buchla!?

I"ve been intrigued for months about KORG"s Volca Modular"s "West Coast Synthesis." Even the appearance conjures dreams of miniature Music Easels. While it is clearly not a Buchla instrument, the Volca Modular is surprisingly malleable. The sound engine alone is really basic, but just different in terms of… well… terms. Source means analog oscillators in a two-operator frequency modulation configuration. Functions are envelopes. Woggle equals sample and hold. There are LPGs instead of Low-Pass Filters. Space Out is a reverb effect.
After that and some easy symbology, patching yields some interesting effects like looping a "function" into an LFO style modulator. KORG provides an abundance of miniature patch cords to wire things up.
Then there is micro-tuning, preset scales and other functions available via the function key and touch face keyboard.
All that said, the patch cables and patch points are small and I can see a patch cable breaking of in a patch point. There is no MIDI input like the other Volcas, except the Volca Mix. There are "sync" inputs and outputs and I have been using the Volca Modular synchronized with other Volcas. There is a CV IN. You will need some kind of split or y-cable that goes from 3.5mm (1/8") TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) to 2 TS. The TS corresponding to the tip at the TRS accepts +/-5V that is "scaled down" to +/-3V. More interesting is the other TS, corresponding to the ring at the TRS end, accepts 0-6V at 1V/octave. Using the CV IN with an SQ-1 seemed to work well enough. It is supposed to convert the signal to the Volca Modular"s internal pitch, but I haven"t yet played against anything other than a tuned Volca Kick. I didn"t discern a clash of notes, but I wonder how equal temperament is maintained especially with an instrument designed to go pitch-wonky.
There is another take away from playing it with the Volca Kick. What kind of other instrumentation the Volca Modular plays nice with? Honestly, and as a testament to how fun the Volca Modular is, I"ve been using it as a primary performance instrument with anything else as accompaniment. Not that I"ve really used it as a lead, except when I put the sequencer in the stochaistic mode where it kind of solos itself and I twiddle the knobs.
Like the other Volcas, the Modular has been fun out of the box. Actually, integrating it with other kit via CV will take some thought.
by Kent on
Music background: Hobbyist

So much potential in a tiny machine

I received this thing last Friday and spent the entire weekend exploring only a few of the features (still need to check out the sequencer randomization). It is capable of blips and longer tones, wobbly notes, shimmering stuff, murky verbed-out stuff. I am a fan of 1950s "electronic" music (i.e. Stockhausen, Ligeti), concrete, everything Morton Subotnick does, Raymond Scott, and the Volca Modular is definitely in that wheel-house.

I hooked it to my SQ-1, my Mother-32 and my MS20 mini. These all provided interesting combinations to support the aforementioned aesthetic. I'm not a person who insists on matching CV because I'm always about exploring sounds I don't anticipate and have never heard, so I didn't pay attention to weaknesses in connecting this circus.

Only docking a half star because the patch points seem a bit weak and could potentially require fixes; I'm not saying this based on hypothetical, rather on experience with plastic breadboards. But what do you expect from this price point?
by Dave from Salt Lake on
Music background: Composer, audio engineer

A Lot of Power in a Little Box

I started researching Volca Modular because I was curious about "West Coast synthesis." I wasn't interested in buying a Volca Modular; I just wanted to understand how it worked. After reading about it and watching many videos I was impressed enough to buy my own Volca Modular. Three months later, I bought a second one.

The audio output is quiet (when idle) and the build quality is good. The case feels solid and the controls don't wobble. The case is very light but stays in place well enough on the surfaces I've tried. However, because of the small size, I've accidentally pressed keys and plugged patch wires in the wrong place (having good lighting helps). I also find it difficult to get precise settings for RATIO and CLOCK because the controls are so small.

The sequencer is more powerful than I expected and has some interesting features.

The two oscillators share a single input from the keyboard and sequencer, so it's not possible to route the sequencer and keyboard to separate oscillators.

The envelope stage times are short; I'm guessing that priority was given to using the sequencer as opposed to creating ambient drones (especially given the limited control resolution).

The reverb doesn't sound good to me but some people seem to like it.

The firmware update process is simple and only requires the ability to play an audio file into the Volca Modular. Kudos to Korg for not requiring a specific computing device/operating system.

The documentation is adequate but not comprehensive. The fun is in figuring things out for oneself. :)

Cross-patching between two Volca Modulars works as expected, although I'm pretty sure that a common ground is required (such as by connecting the units with a sync cable).

In general, I feel the designers did an excellent job of selecting the features to squeeze into a Volca box. My only real annoyances are with tuning. I expect analog oscillators to require occasional tuning. However, Volca Modular loses its tuning every time the unit is powered off; it appears to use digital circuitry to tune the analog oscillators and currently (as of firmware version 1.08) doesn't save the tuning adjustment amount. Also, the overall tuning process requires changing RATIO, the most finicky control on the panel. Despite the annoyances, I find it straightforward to tune the carrier oscillator. Tuning the modulation oscillator is harder; sometimes I'm lucky to get within 20 cents.

Despite the tuning issues, I like my Volca Modulars and enjoy using them.
by Steven Grace on
See also: Key Synths, Korg, Korg Synthesizers
Close Close $2,000 Pick Your PRS Giveaway -- input your email address below to enter or click here to learn more.

See giveaway details & rules or check out our past winners!

Enter Now

Success!

Your email, has been entered to win this giveaway. Good Luck!