Just bought a Blackbox recently. Have had samplers going back to very early Ensoniq, Akai, Roland and Yamaha models and still have quite a few of these.
Thereās something very immediate about the Blackbox and it reminds me of when I first enjoyed playing with sound. Very well thought out and great fun.
I can relate, my first sampler in the 90s was an Emax II, then a E-mu E4k. Blackbox gave me a bit of a deja vu (even uses the same pink as the emax2 logo). Itās more limited in some ways (filters, modulation, fx) and much more advanced in others (memory, sequencing, size). I appreciate its simplicity because it puts my focus on the essentials of a track.
My Blackbox is still my favorite sampler. Itās so easy to use I made a great beat while blacked out. I really feel this will be the future classic especially if we get a v2 with a performance FX section in line with the SP404. Iām replacing my OP-1 with a Digitone but BB will never leave me
EDIT:
Managed to flip my BB for a good condition Digitakt, so GAS won out even tho itās been my fav. Been gassing for DT way longer and just had to do it. No regrets
I just picked one up thanks to this thread! I got a couple hours on it this weekend. Itās a fun box.
I was concerned about the pad limit too, @Schnork. But as you said, slices provide a perfect workaround assuming you donāt need sample polyphony.
For example, on my first project, I recorded 8 different chords into one long sample on a single PAD. I played the chords in succession, letting them ring out for a couple bars apiece. Then I sliced and sequenced them into a chord progression. From there, I created alternate chord progressions using different SEQs all using a single pad.
You could do the same with any samples that you donāt need to spread over the keyboard, e.g., a bunch of individual percussion hits.
Just got a Prophet 5 and itās getting to know the old Blackbox. I think they get along quite nicely -
I can confirm that the Blackbox will power and send MIDI to a Korg NTS via the USB A Host port and, shockingly, you can send the audio from the NTS to the Blackbox with no hum.
I am very pleasantly surprised! 
Edit: You can plug another lead in with no hum for FX purposes. Watch your monitoring path if using headphones! (Still, WOOHOO!)
Has anyone had luck setting up and controlling their Blackbox from another MIDI controller? Been thinking of getting a midifighter twister or faderfox ec4 and using it as a more physical interface than the touchscreen.
I know you can trigger pads via MIDI notes, but is there a way to arm or start recording on a track, or later clear the recording?
Iāve had some luck with the novation launchkey mini 3, but I canāt get all of it to work with the BB and I donāt know why (like start stop and record)
Itās a bit fiddly, and I have a feeling the individual temperaments of midi gear might make a difference here.
When Iāve used the Deluge as a sequencer to record audio into the Blackbox, Iāve had to manually arm the Blackbox (as in keeping Record pressed) and then start the Deluge sequencer, and then it works. For my purpose, itās just a theoretical inconvenience. But in a more complex rig, I would imagine this kind of behaviour isnāt great. This is one area where the Octatrack, for example, is superior - arming, triggering recording, that kind of stuff.
Midi in general works fine, though. Playing it from a keyboard, having it send thru messages, all works fine. CC is what it is, many of the parameters canāt be tweaked but itās clear from the interface which can and canāt be.
The Launchkey mini mk3, when you go outside the keys/pads/pots, just sends midi cc, and that includes (Iām pretty sure) the transport controls. Youāll need something between the Launchkey and the BB to map those fixed CCs to midi transport, Iād guess ?
Cheers, thanks. Is there actually a midi note you can send to trigger recording from a button? Was hoping to configure a control interface like how the RC505 works.
Not that I know of, no. I see what youāre going for there, tho. But as far as I know, no.
The small faderfox units work but I had no luck powering the midifighter with it. It seems more power demanding controllers are too much for it.
Works easy here. You can set the led brightness in the editor.
I mapped everything to the twister, i can share my template soon.
You only have to remember to start from the mapped preset everytime, which sucksā¦
Iām hoping that the BlackBox can be used for a combination of sample playback and sequencing external gear. (Looks like it may well be my next purchase).
So I have a particular question, that Iām finding it hard to answer: If youāre using a keyboard as USB input, when youāre playing the keyboard to trigger a particular pad (whether recording or not) can those notes also be sent onward to midi out (TRS midi) so I can hear the external synth ?
@circuitghost looks like you may have just answered my question, but Iām not entirely sure.
Interesting, never thought of lowering the brightness, makes sense. Cheers.
On the left. Is that a intellijel case with the 1 u in the middle? Where did you got that? I am asking for a friend 
Yep. Itāll work. Prepare for a mess, tho. Thereās the midi routing from individual samples and midi routing from separate sequences, as well as global midi settings.
But itās worth the pain. Iām currently applying your exact use case in my rig, and itās working. Took me awhile to get there tho 
Nice Combo! Cranking levels on the dude makes for some tasty crunchy sounds. Try feeding some drums and crank it up^^
