All the recordings in this playlist include at least one track played on a Korg Volca Keys. 

Other instruments used on some tracks include Stylophone S2, Nord Electro 3, iPad autoharp app, electric upright bass, bass guitar and programmed drums and percussion.

All tracks arranged, programmed, performed and produced by Simon Beck. All material composed by Simon Beck except "Popcorn", composed by Gershon Kingsley.

Recordings using Korg Volca Keys

Analogue synth played from an Artinoise re.corder, backed by analogue drum machine, synth pad and upright bass.

Lead synth: Korg Volca Keys, controlled by Artinoise re.corder
Synth pad: Yamaha Reface CS
Random arpeggiator: Behringer Crave
Drums: Behringer RD-6
Bass: Stagg electric upright

De Profundis

Indian Techno

1960s-style secret agent theme. Organ, Mellotron strings, synth, lead bass guitar, autoharp, double bass, Latin percussion.

Organ and Mellotron strings: Nord Electro 3
Autoharp: iPad app
Double bass: Stagg EDB 3/4
Lead bass guitar: Encore Precision copy
Synth: Korg Volca Keys

One Of Our Agents

An experimental composition using synchronised sequences whose lengths are derived from prime numbers; 3, 5, 7, 11 and 13. The sequences are fragments of a C Major scale, all ending on the same highest note. 

Past My Prime

Another experimental piece based on prime numbers, The notes of a C7 chord (C, E, G, Bb and C') are repeated with spaces forming sequences of 3, 5, 7, 11 and 13 beats respectively, weaving a complex pattern that seldom repeats exactly.

Programmed using a Korg Volca Keys synthesisier and recorded on a Fostex MR-8 digital multi-track.

Primal Dance

DAW-less jam, with Behringer RD-6, Behringer Crave, Yamaha Reface CS, and Korg Volca Keys played from an Artinoise re.corder wind controller. recorded via phone mic.

Summer Jam (live recording)

A cover of Gershon Kingsley's iconic instrumental "Popcorn", played using sounds from a Korg Volca Keys synthesiser and a drum track programmed and arranged on a computer.

Popcorn

A blues improvisation... with a couple of Korg Volca Keys synths thrown in! The Wurlitzer piano is from a Nord Electro 3, the bass is a Stagg electric upright and the drums were programmed in HammerHead 1.0.

Volca Shuffle

The Ballad of Cormac O'Nissen. I'm half-Irish, so I'm allowed to do this kind of thing!

All instruments, lead and Leprechaun vocals, music, lyrics, arrangement and production by Simon Beck.

Bodhrán loop - programmed in HammerHead 1.0
Ukulele (low G) - Mahalo electro-acoustic
Mandolin (low G uke tuning) - Harley Benton A-style
"Tin whistle" - Korg Volca Keys synthesiser

The Ballad Of Cormac O'Nissen

An experiment with using mostly acoustic instruments over a synthesiser loop.

Korg Volca Keys sequence
1958 Framus Capri archtop acoustic guitar
Home-made 6-string banjo
Stagg electric upright bass
Chromatic harmonica

Desert Mirage

Recorded entirely using a Korg Volca Keys, The bass line is a sequence recorded in Poly mode, allowing me to improvise over it using up to two notes at a time, I recorded the bass/steel drum/marimba onto my Fostex MR-8, with the Volca synced to the Fostex's MIDI output. I then recorded Volca loops for first the cowbell sound, playing four-to-the-bar and then the woodblock sound playing a clave rhythm, again synced to the Fostex. The last overdub was an improvised whistle/flute part using portamento. No external processing was used, and all parts were played using the Volca's built-in keyboard, 

VolCalypso

A portrait in sound of a huge steampunk airship approaching and then sailing majestically away again, complete with on-board brass band (or is it a calliope?). William is my younger son and a huge steampunk fan. 

All sounds were created using a Korg Volca Keys (the clockwork and mechanical groaning sounds) and a Yamaha Reface CS (the percussive steam noises, brass band instruments and glockenspiel).

Sir William's Aërial Leviathan

Somewhere between London and California, just outside the Galactic Lounge, is a place where a decidedly 1960s electric piano rubs shoulders with electric 12-string, Mellotron and upright bass, backed by pulses and twinkles from an analogue monosynth.

Sun Meets Rain

Big-band jump blues... played on analogue synths and bass guitar! Kick and snare drums are Korg Volca Keys, hi-hat, brass and woodwind are Yamaha Reface CS. Backing is a mixture of a sequenced riff and real-time improvisation. Notice the "Doppler shift" at the beginning and end!

The ADSR Express

Experimental track produced using a Korg Volca Keys as the only sound source. The backing comprises three looped sequences of two, eleven and fifteen beats,  forming an ever-shifting background pattern. The lead part was improvised on a Casio DH-100 digital woodwind controller, again driving the Volca Keys.

On The Glow-Planet

Korg Volca Keys played from full-size MIDI controller
Bass guitar
Melodica
Treble (alto) recorder
Stylophone Gen X-1 synthesiser

Sunset From The Monorail

Hobo Ken comes from New Jersey, but he hangs out on the Galactic Monorail.

Synths are Korg Volca Keys played from a full-size MIDI keyboard and Stylophone Gen X-1, bass is a customised Squier P-Bass Special, and harmonica is a Thomann chromatic.

Hobo Ken From Hoboken

J S Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" played in real time on two paraphonic analogue synthesisers from one keyboard.  A Behringer Neutron is handling the highest and lowest notes, and passing on other notes via MIDI to a Korg Volca Keys in 3-voice paraphonic mode. The Korg is producing a filter-swept, percussive tone, while the Neutron has a powerful sustained sound. Reverb was added afterwards in Audacity.

Bach1

Joseph Haydn's "St Anthony Chorale", played in one take on three analogue synths controlled from the same keyboard.

The instruments used are a Behringer Neutron in 2-note paraphonic mode, poly-chained to a Korg Volca Keys in 3-note paraphonic mode, with a Dubreq Stylophone S2 tracking the Neutron's lowest note via its CV and gate outputs, and fed through the Neutron's filter.

Haydn

I'm a self-taught multi-instrumentalist living in London, England. My main instruments are keyboards, bass guitar and double bass, but I also play electric and acoustic guitars, ukulele, 6-string banjo and chromatic harmonica, and I will have a go at anything else that makes a noise.

My musical roots are in the Blues, but my recordings range in style from country to punk to experimental, with bits of funk, jazz and retro movie soundtrack thrown in. And hopefully a bit of humour...

Recordings using Korg Volca Keys

Simon Beck 3