Caustic Editor for Volca Sample

Submitted by Rej - Dev on

Rej - Dev's picture

Christmas comes early for Volca Sample owners.

KORG were nice enough to open up their volca sample SDK to 3rd parties so I took a few days to rip out Caustic's WAV editor and turn it into a stand-alone, multi-platform tool that lets you import, load, record, edit and upload samples for use with your KORG Volca Sample device. It was taken from my Caustic 3.2 working branch, so it even has a few more functions than what's in Caustic 3.1!

  

  

 

Features:

- Record your own samples using your device's built-in microphone.
- Load any uncompressed, mono or stereo WAV, at any sampling rate or bit depth.
- Apply any of 16 of Caustic's effects and preview them in real-time, then stamp down and apply more.
- Process waveform audio with Fade In/Out, Normalize, Amplify, Reverse, etc.
- Use Caustic's C-SFXR to generate retro video game sounds.
- Trim audio precisely, down to individual samples.
- View the frequency spectrum of your audio.

- iOS: Audiobus compatible (receiver)
- iOS: AudioShare compatible (import/export)
- iOS: AudioCopy/Paste compatible (import/export)
- iOS: iTunes file sharing support
- iOS: Open In... support for .wav files.

Volca Sample-specific features:
- Upload to any of the 100 sample slots and keep a database of your device's state.
- Clear all samples
- Restore factory samples
- Monitor device memory

This is not an official KORG app, it is made by me, Rej Poirier / SingleCellSoftware using the KORG volca sample SDK.

The app is free, with no ads and no IAPs. If you'd like to support my work, please buy Caustic or any other of my apps. If you have them all... make a donation to the Red Cross. There are people out there who need the money more than I do this holiday season.

Have fun sampling, merry Christmas, and happy Saturnalia.

 

Download links: (App size is ~5 Mb)

 

Android - Google Play - Direct APK

​Windows - Installer - Stand-alone ZIP (Unzip to run from a USB drive for example)

MacOS X - DiskImage (run directly from the dmg first if you get issues running from Applications)

​iOS - AppStore

Linux: From reports of Caustic users, the Windows versions should run fine under WINE. You might need to first run "winetricks vcrun2008" to get the right DLLs.

 

If you've never used Caustic's WAV editor, check out these video tutorials:

Sample (wave) Editor Tutorial - Caustic 3

C-SFXR tool

 

57 Comments

Rej - Dev's picture

do you mean "dcod"? According

Submitted by Rej - Dev on

do you mean "dcod"? According to Korg, that's an error while decoding the stream.

That usually happens if your cable isn't plugged in right and crackles during transfer or more likely that an alert sound played during the transfer. I'm not sure how to silence notification sounds on Win8 without closing all app that play sounds, but if you're transferring large samples, that could be the cause.

Dcod problems

Submitted by scottingham on

On both my phone (in airplane mode) and my computer and with multiple cables I have yet to successfully load a sample onto the volca.  About 1 second into the transfer it throws the dcod error.  I've changed the volume.  It feels like I'm missing some key bit of information.  The wav files I'm using aren't that long (1.2 sec) and they play fine in the caustic app.  I have been able to successfully delete a sample using the app though.  It now skips from 89 to 91.  Loading a new sample into slot 90 (or any other) has not worked.

I occasionally hear little digital artifacts from the internal filter.  Would this cause an issue?  Could it be the batteries?

Update

Submitted by scottingham on

I'd just like to point out that I was able to successfully get it working on my computer after I had done the following:

DISABLED the stupid dolby EQ and turned the volume to 75%

 

Hope this helps anybody else with issues....

Rej - Dev's picture

Ah, good to hear. Yeah they

Submitted by Rej - Dev on

Ah, good to hear. Yeah they say if you have any kind of special EQ to turn it off. I guess Dolby definitely falls into that category. I've not found the "beats audio" on my HTC One to make any difference though.

I'm glad you figured it out and sorry I couldn't be more help.

Is it possible to create "Sets"

Submitted by joelraed on

Thanks for building this. I'm definitely purchasing other caustic apps to support. Now I can use my laptop for sample editing. I noticed that when you load samples then quit the samples stay. Is it possible to save a "Set" of samples then load the set? I started a few folders of sets but would have to load them into the software one sample at a time.

 

Thanks for your work!!!

Memory

Submitted by simonheartfield on

Uploaded about 25 samples to the app and memory indicated as 94% full but when I tried to sync it did the first 10 or 11 ok but then the Volca said "ERR FULL"

Any idea why this is happening?

SimonHeartfield

Submitted by scottingham on

The app only has an estimation of the amount of memory used based on what it has sent and deleted to the sample.  If the volca says it's full, it is.

 

*This is what I've just ascertained from many hours of trying to get my laptop and phone to work with it.  (problem and solution above)

 

I also wanted to say thank you to Rej for this great utility.  Caustic is also a solid program.  Many props :0)

More sync problems

Submitted by simonheartfield on

I cleared a lot more space so the app so it was showing 60% memory but it still came up as full before loading all the samples.  Still haven't managed to sync more than 5 samples in the Volca at once.

questions

Submitted by Guido on

Hi,

 

I got a volca sampler this weekend but wasn't aware of the smartphone app you needed to change samples.  The ventor told me about this caustic editor and I found this page.  But how does it work?  How does it work with a windows pc or does that not work at all?  And do I connect the headphones out of my computer to the sync in of the volca?

 

Greetz,

Guido

17hex's picture

Guido: I don't actually own a

Submitted by 17hex on

Guido: I don't actually own a Volca Sample, but AFAIK yes the app runs fine in windows (there is a windows download link on the top of this thread), and yes you are correct: the samples "play" into the Volca as audio, so you run audio out of your computer into the Sync In.  As for the audio out of your computer, a headphone out is a sensible choice unless you happen to have a (usb or firewire) audio interface, in which case one of the dedicated outputs is likely to sound better.

I hope this helps

17hex
https://soundcloud.com/17hex
 

Any way to safe new "sets"?

Submitted by joezz on

Hi Rej,

i like your software very much! Is there a way for future versions to safe full sample sets on the computer? Or send a folder with prepared samples to the Volca over your app? It is very busy to add 100 single samples. I would appreciate to have different prepared sample-set folders on my Mac (for example House, Hip-Hop, old Drummaschines, Techno, Rare Groove, Experimental etc.) and can upload the whole bunch together - or going back to the default set.

 

Best Regards,

 

Joe

Rej - Dev's picture

Hi Joe, on a computer, it

Submitted by Rej - Dev on

Hi Joe, on a computer, it should be quite easy to accomplish this already. Just move the "samplelist.txt" file to somewhere else. Leave the WAV samples in the sample folder if you want, they won't be in the way. When the app starts and finds no sample list, it will create a factory default. Do this for each of your sets. When you want to swap sets, place the correct samplelist.txt in the app's folder, select all slots for sync (yes, this might be a bit tedious), and hit sync.

That sounds easy, but it

Submitted by joezz on

That sounds easy, but it would be even nicer to have this in your app direct available ;o)

I´m looking forward...

Because it would be so cool to switch between different drum maschines easily - SP 1200, 808, 909, own sets etc.

HELP ME PLEASE !!

Submitted by Rob on

Hi, I got the Volca Sample today and saw this wonderful looking app, i iniially had success deleting various individual samples but when i tried to load a sample it came up with the dcon error and now all of the samples have been deleted. (I did not click "clear all samples") now whenever i try to load a sample Either from my PC or my phone (Samsung galaxy S5 Mini) it comes up with dcon error every time :-(  What could you suggest I try in order to get it working ? I have tried turning off any other EQ settings etc 

PS: thank you so so much for making this App, i doubt i would have bought the volca Sample had i not seen your app.

Update

Submitted by Rob on

Hi There, I went through to Korg Support Today and after some testing realised it was a power Issue. Thank you again for releasing this App, and for free too ! Big Ups !

How to load?

Submitted by sermiranda on

Hi Rej, I managed to modify some of the samples in your great app, but I can't manage to load them into my VOLCA Sample. Would you mind telling us steps to do it?

I tried with my Android phone and also with my macbook. I cant seem to sync or upload to the volca. Maybe there's something I have to set in the Volca for it to work?

thanks

srge

Srge

www.sermiranda.com

Mixcloud.com/sermiranda

.mp3 format support please?

Submitted by undertone.nu on

 

 

 

 

this missing feature is now what brought me back to Audiopocket. and itunes, aargh.

korg is advertising the volca sample as the machine that brings the fun back in simple sampling, from any kind of sources. They kept their word with supproting a while bunch of formats.

my ideal workflow would let me send mp3,s from my windows pc and load them into Audiopockets lovely editor, cut out a short piece, and load it into v.c. rinse, wash, repeat ...(they used to say ;)

would be totally awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Submitted by undertone.nu on

 

thanks for your answer. I understand. That is really a pity. I would pay for it if your editor and volca librarian could do MP3.

Regards

swimming upstream

Submitted by thuggyBear on

As always, I want to do this backwards- I'd like to take sounds off my Volca in a usable format, like .wav

Can I use your software to export the files already in memory as .wav?

Thanks!

Saving kits

Submitted by Carnbot on

Hi, just got a volca Sample and obviously got your app. It's brilliant. Thanks so much for releasing it.

Seems a bit greedy to ask for a feature request but is it possible to be able to save kits? up to 100 slots or however many are taken up in your kit could be saved and loaded on your iPad etc. I can see myself wanting to change the volca sample set quite often with different setups and this would make it much easier rather than changing individual samples each time. Load up a kit and then sync it.

 

Rej - Dev's picture

yeah, it's been asked a lot.

Submitted by Rej - Dev on

yeah, it's been asked a lot. It gets messy but I'm considering it, after I'm done updating my other apps. If you're on desktop or Android platforms you can copy your samples folder and the samplelist file as a set and swap them out later (and force re-sync of all slots) to get a similar result. Not so easy on iOS though I know.

Awesome, I didn't realise you

Submitted by Carnbot on

Awesome, I didn't realise you could do that with the Android and Desktop versions, thanks I'll do that.

Using iFunbox I can see the samplelist file list in the file sharing folder too, so you should be able copy the set to and from the ipad and a computer too unless I'm mistaken?

Bulk load to CEVS

Submitted by pechnatunk on

Hi Rej, 

Thanks so much for the cool and useful app.

Relating to joezz's question above - I have managed to bulk load multiple sample to the Caustic editor app. Even the though I've deleted the original samples and the samplelist text file, the previously loaded sample names still show in the Caustic editor except they are greyed out. So we still have to select the waveform icon, file, load, select sample and then done for each sample slot.

Is there a trick to formatting the samplelist text file so the new samples appear in the slots automatically?

Cheers,

Vic

 

Problem solved!

Submitted by det-techno on

J4t multitrack recorded and / or G stomper for the long playing samples over entire song.

With G stomper the long samples have to be copied pattern to pattern and muted out so the original long pattern can play over imported caustic song, that's just one way of doing it.

Until this caustic issue is fixed it looks like I will have to use J4T multitrack recorder and or G stomper to complete the task!

Rej - Dev's picture

Yeah, I think I get that now.

Submitted by Rej - Dev on

Yeah, I think I get that now. What threw me off was that you posted your question in a post about another app, which is for interfacing with a hardware sampler...hence my response and "Korg" comment.

It can't be done in Caustic right now, it'd definitely been asked a few times before and it's on the list.

Thats good to know it's on

Submitted by det-techno on

Thats good to know it's on the list that 3.2 is awesome though with the importing of stereo samples and being abile to add sepret fx on each and every individual sample done it for me ! Thats why when ever I make something upload it to soundcloud this devoloper always gets much props, this genus app kills all boredom!

Caustic for volca Library

Submitted by felix cristiani on

Wouldn't it be great to expand Caustic Editor for Volca Sample so you can load or save different libraries? Vosyr soft does it, but in my opinion it has poor audio quality (no offense intended).

Thanks

 

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