This custom firmware turns the four PCM parts of a Korg Volca Beats into four new digital synthesised parts: a noise grain, a Delta Clamp glitch voice, a pitched code loop, and a sine bass.
This is unofficial, experimental firmware. Connect your Volca to an external power supply or use fresh batteries, and read the installation instructions before transferring the update. (The Volca blocks updates if the batteries are low.)
What the controls do
Select the part, turn PCM SPEED, then trigger another hit. Settings are latched when a hit begins; turning the knob does not reshape an ongoing hit. Motion sequencing supplies the same control to subsequent triggers.
| Part | New sound | PCM SPEED control |
|---|---|---|
| Clap | Noise grain | Duration, from a micro-hit to approximately one sixteenth note at the current tempo |
| Claves | Delta Clamp loop with a fast, wide pitch bend | Rising base pitch across three octaves; downward bends at the low end, nearly steady in the middle, upward bends at the high end |
| Agogo | Short, tonal code loop | Playback pitch, approximately 15.6–525 Hz |
| Crash | Interpolated sine bass with a falling pitch envelope | Bass pitch, approximately 23.3–89.2 Hz |
For Crash, PART LEVEL controls the volume. Beyond a certain point, increasing it drives the sound into clipping, creating distortion.
Chromatic MIDI bass
Crash plays notes chromatically on MIDI channel 11.
Requirements
- A Volca Beats.
- The unmodified official Volca Beats system updater 1.04 WAV.
- To install: a stereo audio cable, an audio player, and an external power supply or fresh batteries.
The patcher only accepts one exact input file. It does not patch arbitrary firmware versions, recordings, converted WAVs or an already-patched update.
How it works
The patch changes the four PCM voices without replacing the factory samples. Clap, Claves and Agogo turn program data into noise and loops; Crash uses the original sine table. Analogue drum controls remain available.
The patcher checks the original firmware, applies the changes, then verifies the finished WAV against the expected release. These checks confirm the file’s integrity, not compatibility with every device.
Expected SHA-256 values
| File | SHA-256 |
|---|---|
Official volcabeats_sys_0104.wav |
20b965026f95ca8781254489bd5e9de1c41385862c8ffd58bed3bedb9b716e44 |
Generated INSTALL_BEATROOTS_V10C.wav |
0c633b7c3135bb09125b190377b8d1d90756e5099f58ac1a6fda4c9b03fdfd1d |
These checks run automatically before playback or download is available.
References and acknowledgements
- Korg — the instrument and original firmware. Official updater, Volca Beats support and SYRO reference.
- Pajen — pioneering Volca firmware work. Gene Frenkle Edition, firmware discussion and FM decoder.
- Emil / Uglyduck — firmware archive and source references.
- Development tools — LLVM/Clang, Unicorn and Capstone.
- The Volca community — experiments, device testing and listening feedback.
This project is independent of Korg. Credits acknowledge references and inspiration, not endorsement. Users obtain the original firmware directly from Korg.