One of my favorite synths to use has been the Korg Volca FM. I have the original one, haven’t picked up the FM2 yet but, having a portable FM synth that is easy to program that costs less than $200 is kind of incredible.
I modded my Volca FM with the “unofficial firmware” update (below) in order to get a few extra Midi cc options.
Patches
First off, you can get some solid patches from Oscillator Sink, especially some of those massive FM bass patches. I typically use my Volca FM for bass since it only has 3 polyphony on it but I’ll also switch over to E Piano often when I need some chime.
Links
- Oscillator Sink website
- Patches (on Github repo)
- Volca FM Editor
- Note: You will need a USB midi hookup to the Volca FM to get this to work, and for a while it only worked in Google Chrome
- Note 2: If you mod the firmware, the latest update allows you to use Dexed FM to not only send patches to the Volca FM but also hear changes in real time essentially making it another editor. (I haven’t tried this yet but I do push patches to the Volca via Dexed.)
Understanding FM Synthesis via the Volca FM
This is a seven part series on walking you through not only what FM synthesis is, but how to apply it to programming your own patches on the Volca FM. Incredibly useful.
Midi CC
Default Korg cc messages
- CC 40: Transpose
- CC 41: Velocity
- CC 42: Modular Attack
- CC 43: Modulator Decay
- CC 44: Carrier Attack
- CC 45: Carrier Decay
- CC 46: LFO Rate
- CC 47: LFO Pitch Depth
- CC 48: Algorithm
- CC 49: ARP Type
- CC 50: Arp Div
Unofficial Firmware Midi cc messages
Get the unoffical firmware here.
- CC 1 : (Mod wheel) assignable via CC 91, defaults to Pitch Mod Depth
- CC 85: Chorus on/off. value < 64 off, value >= 64 on.
- CC 86: Chorus stereo width, 64 is default
- CC 87: Chorus speed, 64 is default
- CC 88: Load patch, value 0-4: patch 1, 5-8: patch 2 etc up to 127
- CC 89: Load pattern
- 0-3 Bass 1
- 4-7 Tribebass
- 8-11 OUGhBass
- 12-15 E Piano
- CC 90: Tempo divisor, value 0-31: 1/1, 32-63: 1/2, 64-95: 1/4, 96-127: 1/8 (!)
- CC 91: Mod wheel mapping: decides what MIDI CC mod wheel should map to. Example: value 42 sent on CC 91 -> Mod wheel now controls Modulator Attack
How to install the unofficial firmware:
Global Settings
- Hold Memory & Press power – Set Midi Channel
- Global Settings – Hold Function & Press Power
- Global setting 9 : enable/disable velocity on MIDI notes IN
- Global setting 10: Yamaha compatability/Korg proprietary single patch import/export
- Global setting 11: Patch change notes on/off
Adding SysEx files to Dexed
You need to install a program like SysEx Librarian (Mac) in order to add SysEx files you find online to your own Dexed Cartridges (see below for those instructions).
Instructions
- Open Dexed by itself (not through Ableton)
- Open SysEx Librarian https://www.snoize.com/sysexlibrarian/ and “Act as source for other program”
- Make sure Dexed is looking at SysEx from Midi In
- Add files and “play” to send to Dexed
- Save these out in a Cartridge!
How to create your own Dexed Cartridge of presets for the Volca Fm.
This is the original source link but in case it ever disappears, I have copied the instructions by BlackWinny that I can verify work.
Download: SYX file you will need
Open Dexed.
At the bottom left of Dexed, there is a green button named “Cart”. Click it.
Now at the bottom left of Dexed, there is a green button named “Show Dir”. Click it. It opens the directory where the Sysex files are.
Open the directory named “Cartridges”. Put the file “MyFav000.syx” in this directory (not in a subdirectory, for the simplicity of the next explanations).
Now duplicate this file “MyFav000.syx” to as many clones as you want, to have “MyFav001.syx”, “MyFav002.syx”, “MyFav003.syx”
Then move the file “MyFav000.syx” (the one you had downloaded above) to a safe place to be sure that you’ll never alter it by mistake.
At the bottom left of Dexed, there is a green button named “Cart”. Click it. Then you see this:
Now, let’s imagine that you want to keep in “MyFav001.syx”:
- two presets which are in “Dexed_cart_1.0\DMC\DMC-1.SYX”
- two presets which are in “Dexed_cart_1.0\Jezreel\BASS–04.SYX”
We browse the tree to find “Dexed_cart_1.0\DMC\DMC-1.SYX” (don’t click on it !):
Double click on it:
The content of this sysex is now here:
Remember that the horizontal table which is at the bottom is always the currently loaded sysex.
Now, we are ready to copy some of the presets from this sysex to the “MyFav001.syx” file.
With the mouse wheel we browse down in the list to find the file “MyFav001.syx”. Beware, just find it, don’t click on it !
Now, do only a single click on it:
Let’s see what happens :
Now you just have to do drag ‘n’ drop from the horizontal table at the bottom to the vertical table at the rightmost side:
DON’T DO ANY ERROR BECAUSE THE CHANGES ON THE DISK ARE IMMEDIATE !
Let’s keep on with the other sysex file from which we wanted to save again two presets as favorites.
We browse the tree to find “Dexed_cart_1.0\Jezreel\BASS–04.SYX” (don’t click on it !):
Double click on it:
The content of this sysex is now here:
Remember that the horizontal table which is at the bottom is always the currently loaded sysex.
Now, we are ready to copy some of the presets from this sysex to the “MyFav001.syx” file.
With the mouse wheel we browse down in the list to find again the “MyFav001.syx” file. Beware, just find it, don’t click on it !
Now, do only a single click on it:
Let’s see what happens :
Now you just have to do drag ‘n’ drop from the horizontal table at the bottom to the vertical table at the rightmost side:
DON’T DO ANY ERROR BECAUSE THE CHANGES ON THE DISK ARE IMMEDIATE !
Now let’s see the result.
Do a double click on the file “MyFav001.syx”.
What do you see ? This :
