Free Custom Firmware For The Volca Drum

Here's a neat demo of some new FREE Volca Drum Firmware - created by hj-oja and available via Reddit and Github. The new features are demonstrated in this video by Waiting For Zyo and include adds probability, touch FX, slice, negative Accent and MIDI velocity. Some great Teenage Engineering and Elektron features for an already powerful, portable drum machine. Here are all the features:

An unofficial firmware modification for the volca drum, based on the official firmware v1.14. It adds performance features and fixes a handful of bugs.

• FUNC + knob shows the current parameter value without changing it
• SWING extended to negative values
• FUNC + SELECT cycles SRC only
• ACCENT extended to negative values (for ghost notes)
• SLICE extended -- sub-step patterns
• PROBABILITY gains Elektron-style trigger conditions -- A-B, first bar, FILL
• MUTE + STEP 7–16 clears motion sequences per knob
• TOUCH FX on STEP 9–16
• MIDI IN velocity finally works properly

New features are detailed here... 

FUNC + knob shows the current parameter value

Turning a knob on the volca drum is a jump -- the parameter snaps to wherever the knob physically sits. Holding FUNC while you turn now displays the stored value instead of changing it.

SWING extended to negative values

The stock range was 0...75. It has now been expanded to -75...75.

FUNC + SELECT cycles SRC only

SELECT normally steps through every combination of SRC, MOD and EG. Hold FUNC and it cycles the SRC waveform on its own.

ACCENT extended to negative values -- ghost notes

Stock ACCENT is 0...16, so a step could only ever be louder than the LEVEL knob setting. Now -15...16: negative values duck a step below the base level, which is what you want for ghost notes and dynamics.

SLICE extended -- sub-step patterns

Stock SLICE is 1...16: divide the step into N parts and play all of them. The negative side adds 17 sub-step patterns, up to 4 subdivisions.

PROBABILITY gains Elektron-style trigger conditions

The negative side of PRB adds trigger conditions:

Display	Meaning
A-B	Fires on A-th bar of every B-bar cycle (B = 2...8)
1St	Fires only on the very first bar after PLAY
_1St	The inverse -- every bar except the first
FILL	Fires only while the FILL touch FX is held
_FIL	The inverse -- muted while FILL is held

Bars are counted per part. The counter resets on PLAY.

MUTE + STEP 7–16 clears motion sequences per knob

Stock firmware can only clear motion per part (CLR MPRT) or all of it at once (CLR MALL). Now every knob has its own CLR / UND pair: the first press clears that knob's motion on the selected part and layer, the second press undoes it.

STEP	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Target	PITCH	MOD AMT	MOD RATE	ATTACK	RELEASE	SEND	WAVE GUIDE (all)	WG DECAY	WG BODY	WG TUNE
Display	MPIt	MAMt	MrAt	MAtk	MrEL	MSNd	MWGd	MdEC	MbdY	MtUN

TOUCH FX on STEP 9–16

Momentary performance effects, active only while the step key is held.

STEP	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Display	OCuP	OCdn	Stut	rev	bit	SEnd	WEt	FILL
Effect	Octave up	Octave down	Stutter gate	Reverse	Bit crush	Wave guide full send	Wave guide wet only	FILL condition

• Several FX can be held at once. Only three pairs are mutually exclusive -- OCuP/OCdn, SEnd/WEt, Stut/rev.

MIDI IN velocity finally works properly

Velocity has always driven the accent amount, which is why in the stock firmware it could only ever make a note louder than the LEVEL knob -- 17 steps, none of them below it. Now that ACCENT reaches into the negative, velocity works in the quiet direction too.

It now covers the full -15...16 accent range in 32 discrete values, with velocity 63 playing the note exactly at the LEVEL knob setting.

Get the Download on Github https://github.com/hj-oja/vdcf

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