Here’s what I’m looking to be able to do— load samples into a device that I can use while sitting on the couch, edit/chop/mangle them, and then if i hit on something good, export the result to a DAW later, where i’ll add drums and guitar and whatever else.
I have the MPC One, and it can definitely do that. But it’s kind of bulky and not something i can easily grab and set up. It also has a ton of things i don’t need, and overall it’s likely overkill… i’m not interested in making drum beats as much as melodic stuff, i don’t need mixing/mastering tools, etc. Usually when i work with it, it seems like I’d be better off just sitting at my computer on a DAW
Would the Blackbox be a better device for what I’m looking to do? (If i’m being too vague, the kind of stuff i want to do would be, like, importing a 30 second clip of someone playing piano, or just ambient outside noises, and trying to chop it up into background music that I put guitar and synth and what not over later)
Second question, does the Blackbox do a LOT more than a Koala sampler on an iPhone can do? Obviously it can do more, but when we are going from $5 to $600 i just want to make sure it’s not overkill.
I’ve tried the pocket operator and Volca stuff before while they are fun and nail the “sit down n the couch when you have a random 10 minutes free” test, they’re a bit too basic. Thanks
Hello @mumblecrust, you ask several great questions. I’ll chime in since I owned the MPC One and now own the Blackbox and use Koala heavily. I used the MPC One for one year and sold it to purchase the Blackbox. I was looking for a different workflow and boy did it deliver. The MPC One is an awesome DAW in a box that can mangle samples, create epic drum patterns, quickly produce electronica and hip-hop based tracks, and offers a decent amount of FX. For the price and the possibilities it offers, it’s a winner.
The Blackbox is a different animal all together. Several users here such as @circuitghost have commented that it is a 16 track recorder/looper. I think that is a great description. The Blackbox does not have dozens upon dozens of FX like the MPC One. The pads and interface of the MPC One make it more suited for live-playing compared to the Blackbox. Where the Blackbox shines is its simplicity and workflow. If you like recording synths, drum patterns, ambient sounds and then combining them into loops with different steps and lengths, you will love this thing. The Blackbox has delay and reverb as FX but I rarely use them. Pitch, the EQ/filter, and how you use slices and clips is where the action is. The Blackbox also has granular and several other tricks up its sleeve.
I’m not on the latest update but I don’t believe you can export stems as WAVs to your DAW yet. Most Blackbox users typically run a single out to an audio interface or use the 3 outs to run into a mixer to get their tracks into a computer or other recorder of their choice. I use a BASTL Dude to mix songs live and run into an audio interface into Logic for the final mix.
Finally, let’s talk about Koala…I would argue its one of the greatest music making apps ever invented. I bought it when it was a $3.99 app. If you like the Blackbox you will probably like Koala and vice-versa. Koala is one of the simplest music making tools I have ever used with amazing results. You can create entire songs, sets, albums, etc. In Koala you can export every stem separately to your DAW for a final mix. Or just record the entire track mixed as a single WAV file. Koala can’t do everything but what it does, it does extremely well just like the Blackbox. I have yet to pair the Blackbox and Koala to see what would happen. Perhaps my mind would explode.
I highly recommend the Blackbox. I’m still a relatively new user but what I’ve created so far has exceeded my expectations. Better yet, it’s a fun instrument to use. I would read this thread top to bottom, watch some videos of the Blackbox in use, ask more questions from the seasoned pros here, and then decide if its for you. Good luck on your 1010 Music Blackbox journey!
It feels somehow appropriate that I post a new Blackbox joint here, now that we’re talking and all, a track from my next EP.
I’ve used my gear almost to the max here, with lots of resampling, fx on the master, all outputs through the SSL SiX and whatnot and both Prophets together for the first time -
Yeah… but the videos available on the Blackbox are not stellar, IMO, in terms of showing how to use it in detail, tips and tricks, etc.
Gotta research before dropping so much coin, and reading posts is kind of the only way to do it. No videos doing it a lot of justice. Still. People are probably just making music with it instead!
Thanks for this explanation… It gives me a great idea of what it’s like working with Blackbox.
I have been thinking of getting one for a while. I essentially want something like a simpler Octatrack, primarily something to record and playback stereo loops in sync with my Digitakt. 16 samples per project isn’t going to provide that, however, I think it might work for the creation part of the process.
I see wav file exporting of stems currently is not a thing. I assume stems in this case refers to pattern/sequencer data? You can still access and “export” the sampled files as wavs, right?
I am thinking my use will be recording loops into Blackbox, exporting the wavs then loading them into my SP-404SX to be sequenced via Digitakt for performances. I know I could just do that with Ableton but I’m rarely inspired to gaze into my laptop screen first thing in the morning when I’ll be doing that for rest of the day.
Nice track! Very ethereal. You have a lot going on here. I like when the bass enters the scene and further supports the track. The ambient hiss and vinyl-like sounds add a nice touch. Quite meditative at the beginning and end of the track. Looking forward to the next EP.
Thanks the vinyl stuff is actually rain I recorded last summer. I use the Deluge as a field recorder, it adds a limiter to anything that goes into it, which somehow creates a very suggestive and evolving character to all its recordings.
Yes, I read the thread top to bottom before purchasing the 1010 Music Blackbox. In fact, I printed this web thread into a hardback book on vellum high stock paper and had it bound in an oak bark casing. I’m hoping to send it abroad and have the legends of the 1010 Music Blackbox gang autograph it (you know who you are) and sell it for millions of dollars or just place it gently on my IKEA bookshelf as art.
I think also it’s hard to, say, compare the Blackbox to anything else out there really…
I have and have had a few synths that are within the Blackbox’s “orbit”… Deluge, Tracker, Pocket operators, OP-Z, iPad, iPhone… all of these devices can do things, or harness a “quality”, that cannot be achieved by the Blackbox. It’s not a question of “can the Blackbox do more?”, it’s a question of if you can do more with the Blackbox. Big difference!
I find the Blackbox sits here, waiting eagerly, ready to be played with. The Blackbox almost feels like a collaborator in many ways to me that other devices sometimes do not. It presents a limited set of options that it can do well, and nothing more. I never feel like I’m exerting too much pressure on it to perform beyond it’s capabilities. “Why don’t we turn the pitch knob?” “Why don’t we try this through the granular engine?” “Why don’t we slice this up?” Each time I find myself somewhere familiar but also a little bit surprising! Blackbox really is an apt name for this little guy.
For your use case I think you could get a lot out of it. You can certainly set it up like a “micro MPC” and make yourself a drum loop to play over. You can capture a few pads worth of guitar, too, and get into some really dense territory too if you sample your playing into a couple different clips. Start pitching and panning them, or stretching them out. Assign them to OUT2 and run them through outboard fx and back into the IN…
I’ve just released a new EP, put together entirely on the Blackbox. If you’re curious on how a more complete body of work might sound from this instrument, head on over -
OK, I really don’t need another bit of hardware at the moment. But looking at the video above about how you can loop/use samples on the 1010 has really got me.
Any apps for iPad I could try? I’d like to be able to loop sections of samples with ADSR and ideally trigger other loops in an un-quantised way so they overlap and create more of a random new sound.
I think for iOS samplers, a lot of people tend to recommend Koala but I don’t know if it can do secondary loop bracketing. I know it can loop with ADSR. You might also check out Samplr… that app seems really powerful too.
When it comes to the video you posted, and specifically hardware, the author of the video claims one (the Blackbox or the Digitakt) isn’t necessarily better than the other. However I have found the BB to be more flexible in general when it comes to tweaking, managing, and slicing samples… even if only for it’s ability to zoom into the waveform. The zooming is incredibly important to me because some of my recordings are a minute long, or longer, and grabbing little textures is a breeze on the Blackbox.
The poor old Digitakt, I remember when it came out I was really impressed by the sample editing - it was fast and fluid, and the dual waveform for zooming worked really well. The best hardware sample editing I’d come across, really. Then along come the touchscreens and the big displays, and suddenly it’s relegated (and I do agree the MPC, BB and non-touch but giant-screened Tracker are more comfortable to use, though the smaller sample size on the DT means its approach remains a decent solution there).
Soon enough I expect something will come along to make touchscreens look awkward and clumsy. The only long-term survivors here are probably the Boss SPs and the rack sampler ancients, with their insistence that you use you ears.
I’ve been tempted to share this a few times so here goes. Hope nobody minds. This makes me want to get a blackbox (well something that lets me do things like this, anyway, and that’s most likely a blackbox)
EDIT: I’m slightly regretting singling this out. It’s a bit of an ear-worm. Be warned. But it’s very nice.
I’m a big fan of the Blackbox but the Digitakt is still king for sequencing. I was hoping to replace it with a Korg SQ64 but alas it is a complete shit-show so… still keeping my DT alongside the BB.
I’m happy if I could contribute to that spark 
