Peerless beats generated by solid analog drum sounds and an Electribe-style sequencer.

A vintage-style analog drum machine from Korg's recently announced Volca series. The Volca Beats includes a 16-step sequencer and 6 x editable analog parts including kick, snare, Hi / Lo toms and open & closed Hi-Hats designed to provide sounds reminiscent of classic 80s drum machines. It also has an additional PCM engine which is said to produce 4 x Lo-Fi percussion sounds including clap, claves, agogo and crash sounds.

There is one-knob-per-function parameter control for crafting each of the six analog sounds including click, snappy, pitch, decay and grain. The PCM sounds have control over pitch and speed. There is also a Level knob allowing volume adjustment of each part.

The 16-step LED-lit sequencer has 8 x memory locations for saving patterns. It includes a recordable stutter function for generating repeated triggers (or drum rolls) and delay effects, an active step feature for quickly adding or removing individual steps, and a step jump function that will instantly play any step. Notes can be entered live as the sequencer is running.

You can also wirelessly synchronise playback of all of the units in the Volca series with any iOS music app that support Korg's Wireless Sync-Start Technology (WIST) using their SyncKontrol iPhone app. This also allows control of the swing settings and fine control of the tempo (including tap tempo).

The Volca Beats is battery powered (with optional AC power) and includes a built-in speaker. It weighs in at only 372g with dimensions of 193 × 115 × 45 mm (W x D x H).

The Volca Beats editable controls include:

Kick (click, pitch, decay, level)
Snare (snappy, pitch, decay, level)
Hi / Lo toms (hi pitch, low pitch, decay, level)
Open / closed Hi-Hat (closed decay, open decay, level)
PCM sounds (pitch, speed, level)