Hacking the Korg Volka Beats

The Korg Volka Beats is a cool little portable drum machine, but how can you make it cooler by voiding your warranty?…

• Batteries are included, but not a power supply.
  • You could just buy one from Korg. FYI if you want to get it from a third party, it is a 2.1 mm center-positive 9V plug, which is pretty standard for everything EXCEPT guitar pedals. (The Volkas alledgedly have a reverse bias diode to protect against the wrong polarity, but still…)
  • Synthrise sells a power supply for this that is alledged to be audio grade, but has higher power so you can daisy chain it
  • Or just drive it off of an existing USB adapter. Adafruit has a USB to 2.1 mm DC 9V booster cable for $6.50. Other people have tried using adapters from AliExpress. What’s cool about this is that you can run off of a USB power pack. I got a free one from Merck…

• Install a Lithium battery inside that charges off the power supply input. Basically you need a LiPo battery, a adjustable discharge breakout, and a couple diodes to dial down the 9V input voltage.

• Some other electronics mods
  • Modifying the C78 capacitor to make the snare nicer; you can also modify a resistor to make the snare louder
  • Separate the audio outputs (they’re all mixed, but could be separate)
  • Add MIDI out port