Volca Sample - RK-002 - Pyramid

Hi everyone,

First of all, an abvious statement: the Volca Sample and the Pyramid make for a very powerful yet simple combination.

But if you already own a Volca Sample, then you know that the midi implementation is particular, as each of the 10 samples available in a sequence take up…10 midi channels. Which is fine if you want to really fine tune your drums. But it also eats up available midi channels and afaik it forces you to dedicate 10 tracks on the Pyramid which can get a bit tedious.

The RK-002 cable from Retrokits fixes this issue by redirecting all the samples into only one midi channel and enables you to play each of your samples (or notes for that matter) chromatically, along with other improved features. Great stuff.

Now, here is a little trick to make the cable compatible with the Pyramid: set your track to midi channel 1. Then in live mode go all the way down to -5 octaves using the left arrow. There you will find your samples! And if you want to play your note chromatically, go all the way up to octave +1.
This tip was kindly provided to me by Gerrit from Retrokits.

Hope this will help anyone with the same setup!

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I’m using a Volca Simple (arduino+midi shield) to do the same. ( https://github.com/mmaisterrena/Volca_Simple )
The trick is similar, although its on channel 16 instead…

Planning on modifying mine with switches though, so I can enabled/disable channels or something like that.

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Same, I use an arduino and midi shield with Volca Simple, a bit more flexible and a lot cheaper, you do not need to have good diy skills either it is very easy to set up. Plus you can use the arduino and midi shield for lots of other stuff too.