Subsystem Search

This page is read from MIDI Instrument Definitions, a Python library used in the author's other projects, in which every number is traced to a document its maker published. Its source is on GitHub.

Korg volca fm MIDI implementation

The MIDI implementation of the Korg volca fm: what it answers to, and the 11 controls it offers, on firmware 1.07.

At a glance

Firmware
This page describes firmware 1.07.
MIDI channel
Any one of 1 to 16.
MIDI mode
3: omni off, poly.
Voices
3, or 1 as set on the instrument.
Note range
0 to 127: C-1 to G9, counting middle C as C4.
Velocity
Ignored.
Aftertouch
None, sent or answered.
Pitch bend
Not recorded.
Program change
Not received or sent.
MIDI clock
Received.
Start and stop
Received.
Control change
11 controls, in the tables below.
NRPN
None.
System exclusive
Supported.

Controls

In the order the definition gives them, by group. Under each control is the name a program calls it by, once pymidiinstrumentdefs.load("korg/volca_fm") has loaded them.

Performance

Control CC Values
TRANSPOSE
transpose		 40 0-127
Received, never sent
VELOCITY
velocity		 41 0-127
Received, never sent

Envelopes

Control CC Values
MODULATOR ATTACK
modulator_attack		 42 0-127
Received, never sent
MODULATOR DECAY
modulator_decay		 43 0-127
Received, never sent
CARRIER ATTACK
carrier_attack		 44 0-127
Received, never sent
CARRIER DECAY
carrier_decay		 45 0-127
Received, never sent

LFO

Control CC Values
LFO RATE
lfo_rate		 46 0-127
Received, never sent
LFO PITCH DEPTH
lfo_pitch_depth		 47 0-127
Received, never sent

Synthesis

Control CC Values
ALGORITHM
algorithm		 48 0-127
Received, never sent

Arpeggiator

Control CC Values
ARP TYPE
arp_type		 49 0-127
Received, never sent
ARP DIV
arp_div		 50 0-127
Received, never sent

Where these facts come from

Source documents

How they were read

SEVEN DOCUMENTS ON ONE DOWNLOADS PAGE, AND THE MIDI IS IN TWO OF THEM. The MIDI Implementation is a 25 KB text file and gives every field below but two; the MIDI Implementation Chart is one sheet and gives the mode, the note range and the crossed boxes.

TWO OF THE SEVEN HAVE NO PAGE TO TURN TO, the implementation being one text file and the chart one sheet, so both are cited by name; the manual is paginated and its English is on manual pp. 1 and 3, which is where most of what is not in those two comes from.

THE CHART'S MARKS ARE NOT IN ITS TEXT LAYER. Its circles and crosses are a font the extractor drops, and so are the symbols in its own legend - so a reading of the text alone has every row's label and none of its answers. It was read from a rendering instead, which is what arturia/drumbrute_impact, korg/microkorg2 and dreadbox/nymphes declare pictured_pages for; here the numbers are all in the text file, so the chart is cited for what it says in words and the rendering settled the marks.

WHAT THE OTHER FIVE ARE FOR. The owner's manual gives the polyphony, the voice modes, the channel setting and the eight global parameters with their factory defaults. The Parameter List Guide is two sheets with no text layer at all - 1,888 and 615 vector drawings - and is the panel's edit-mode parameter list, with display abbreviations and value ranges and no controller number anywhere. The firmware instructions give the version. And a RoHS notice in Chinese and a system updater complete the page.

ITS SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE IS ANOTHER MAKER'S. "Received only YAMAHA DX7 bulk data." (chart), and the implementation lays the message out: 43 is the Yamaha identifier, with one voice or thirty-two, and two tables of DX7 voice parameters after it. So a Korg that accepts a Yamaha dump and publishes Yamaha's format, which is the only instrument here to do so.

NOT RECORDED: the pitch bend depth. The chart marks pitch bend as answered to and no document gives a range or a setting for it, so this definition says it is answered to and cannot say how far. And the aftertouch, crossed in all four boxes (chart) - which is none below and is a checked absence rather than a silence.