Learn Volta
Learn Volta in 39 short lessons: from a first sine wave through patterns, sound design, modulation, effects, harmony, arrangement, mixing, and live performance. Each lesson is a small song you edit in the workbench, with goals the workbench checks as you go.
Act 1First light
Act 2Patterns
- Rests & subdivisionTurn a note sequence into a rhythmic phrase.7 min
- AlternationCreate evolving patterns with compact alternatives.7 min
- Euclidean rhythmDistribute pulses into balanced, surprising rhythms.8 min
- The drum machineLayer samples into a complete drum groove.10 min
- Pattern controlsTransform timing and repetition without rewriting notes.9 min
Act 3Sound design
Act 4Modulation
Act 5Space & effects
Act 6Harmony
Act 7Structure
Act 8Mix & finish
Act 9Reuse
Act 10Live
Act 11Write your own DSP
- Your first kernelWrite a waveshaper as a per-sample law with `process`.8 min
- State: a one-pole filterGive a kernel memory with `process2` and build a filter from it.10 min
- A biquad from the cookbookTurn Robert Bristow-Johnson's cookbook formulas into a resonant filter.12 min
- Delay lines and a feedback echoGive a kernel a delay line and build an echo that feeds itself.12 min
- The effect declarationPackage a kernel as a named effect with live, addressable parameters.12 min
- Oversampling a saturatorStop a hard clipper from aliasing with `oversample`.10 min
- Your own oscillatorWrite a saw as a source kernel, band-limit it with a polyBLEP, and name it as an `oscillator`.14 min
- A plucked stringBuild a Karplus–Strong string from a noise burst, a delay line and a loss filter.12 min
- A spectral effectWrite a per-bin law that edits a sound's spectrum frame by frame.12 min