Korg Volca Beats

Lesson 7: Stutter, motion recording and performance tricks

Goal: make a 16-step loop stay interesting for minutes at a time. These features are what make the Volca Beats fun live.

Stutter

Stutter retriggers the selected part repeatedly. TIME sets the gap between repeats: low values give a drum roll, high values give an echo or delay effect. DEPTH sets how quickly each repeat fades.

1. Select the snare or clap (FUNC + step 2 or step 7).
2. With the pattern playing, slowly turn TIME and DEPTH and listen.
3. For the whole kit, hold FUNC and press step 13 (Global Stutter). Stutter now applies to every part that’s playing, not just the selected one.

Note where both knobs sit before you start, so you can return the pattern to normal.

Motion recording

Motion recording captures knob moves into the pattern so they replay every loop. On the Volca Beats it only covers the stutter TIME and DEPTH knobs and the PCM SPEED knob. The analogue drum knobs can’t be recorded.

1. With the pattern playing, hold FUNC and press step 11 (to record stutter) or step 12 (to record PCM SPEED).
2. Turn the knob during the loop.
3. Recording switches itself off after one full loop from the step where you first touched the knob.

Try it: select the clap, arm PCM SPEED recording, then sweep PCM SPEED from slow to fast across one bar for a pitch-rise effect.

Active step: change the loop length

Active step switches steps off so the sequencer skips them entirely. This shortens the loop and is how you get odd time signatures and shifting polyrhythms.

1. Hold FUNC and press PLAY (labelled ACTIVE STEP). The lit step buttons are the active steps.
2. Press steps to turn them off or on.
3. Press FUNC to exit.
4. FUNC + step 14 resets all 16 steps to on.

Try it: switch off steps 13 to 16 to make a 12-step loop. A four-on-the-floor kick now sounds like a 3/4 waltz.

This is also how you play along to anything in 3/4, from “Amazing Grace” to a folk waltz. Starter beat E in Lesson 4 is set up this way.

Step jump: live remixing

1. Hold FUNC and press STEP MODE (labelled STEP JUMP).
2. While playing, press any step button to jump the playhead straight to that step. Hold one to repeat it.
3. When stopped, pressing a step starts playback from there.
4. Press FUNC to exit.

Try it: hold step 13 on your house beat for an instant stuttered build, then let go.

Mute and solo for arrangement

Drop parts in and out with MUTE: start with only hats, bring in the kick, mute the kick for a breakdown, then bring everything back. MUTE + step 16 unmutes all, and FUNC + MUTE gives solo.

Exercise 7

Perform a two-minute arrangement of a single pattern using only mutes, stutter and step jump. Record it to your phone and listen back.