Sometimes, time stretched loops won’t play in sync when they’re launched from an external sequencer. They tend to drift. Not always, though.
I’ve found workarounds for it, but it was frustrating before I figured it out.
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New firmware update now available:
Version 1.1 includes the following:
- Destructive editing. You can now trim a sample using the start and length controls in sample mode
- WAV file saving. You can embed loops, root note, beat count, and slice markers into WAV files for future use
- Control of the root note of a sample for matching the internal keyboard and MIDI
- Control of the beat count of a clip for those recordings with odd beat counts and far tempo jumps
- MIDI thru. You can now play external MIDI from the touch screen. Inbound MIDI will also route to the active SEQ and its MIDI channel.
- Clips will now hold until you press the Play button. This allows you to stage several at once and unleash them in time.
- Improved capture of SEQ changes when recording song sections.
Version 1.1 includes the following bug fixes:
- There was digital bleed through from the Out 3 signal to the headphones and vice versa.
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Bet you’ve done it already, but I hope you’ve reported this to 1010, rock solid sync is a must 
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Yep, I did 
to be fair, I was pushing it. Launched a bunch of loops at once, from a Pyramid also powered from the same battery.
I had similar issues when sequenced from the Dtone, but the workaround was easy.
You can get sync rock solid with this thing. You just need to figure out what goes where and in what order, for this particular setup.
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I get that, but what are the actual numbers for the parameters themselves? And this new update looks tight as fuck
Oh i see… that’s default MIDI spec labeling. See here https://www.midi.org/forms/midi_chart-v2.pdf
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I’d love to get granular box firmware for blackbox/bitbox too and open source would be awesome with Pd and/or csound support
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I’m drawn back to the Black Box sequencer, despite having access to substantially more powerful and flexible solutions.
I think it’s because, as I believe @blipson_old said, the overall grid view offers a way to view your track that’s quite unique. I can essentially see what’s going on in all sixteen tracks at the same time, and with some pinching and zooming rework the sequence as it goes.
Looking at external sequencers that offer a view similar to this, I’m finding the Deluge (which I’ve previously owned) and the Polyend Seq (a monster!). If the monome grid could interface with hardware like this, that would also be an option, but it can’t (as far as I know).
I’ve had the Deluge before and won’t go back to it. I know I’ll get lost in all its combinations and views to get any proper flow in the pipeline. The Polyend Seq is pretty damn expensive for what it does and not within my budget, but it would be tempting to try it, if I could find it somewhere.
Anyone has any experience with this, or suggestions on other sequencers that apply a view similar to this?
I’m liking my Deluge a lot, and I figure that a lot of like becomes a lot of time spent with it so that more and more of the interface gets memorized. I mean, it took years to remember all that I need to with Microsoft Word, so it’s an inevitability when you like or need something, I’ve considered the other large physical sequencers you mentioned, but as much as I’d like to try the Seq, it’s lack of portability makes me not want to plunk down that much cash. On the horizon, there’s the Composer Pro, which will have 12 rows so that you get a full chromatic octave. My biggest beef with the Deluge is that the 8 rows give an unnatural feel when working with a 12-note octave. I mean, some of us do like 9th chords. The Composer Pro’s extra size and weight, though, puts it over the portability threshold for me, while the Deluge is just this side of portability, and they’re so far behind Synthstrom’s development curve that it’s hard to imagine any advantage besides the wider look into your song. We’ll see how it turns out. In the meantime, I’d really like to see the discussed zoom buttons on the BB’s piano roll because the pinch zoom is a speed bump in the playflow.
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Yeah, I had the Deluge for about a year and I got into it, but I never just enjoyed it. What I can appreciate with the Seq, is that it’s focused. It’s just a sequencer. But you’re right, it’s pricey and it’s not portable. So in the end, I’m not sure what I’d do with it, since I don’t see myself bringing it on stage.
Man, the monome just stand alone, that would be something. Just a controller / sequencer that size.
I’ve checked out the Monome before, but it seems to always be out of stock. With the Deluge, I found enough low hanging fruit to keep me satisfied, so I’m beyond the possibility of losing patience with it. For example, press that keyboard button, and it’s a MIDI keyboard laid out like guitar strings that are all in fourths. That personally works very well for me, not just because of guitar background, but because, as a bass player, I tune my guitars in all fourths, like a bass. Also, I’ve spent a lot of time playing tap guitars, so playing the Deluge’s “upside down” fourths (because your hand can’t wrap around it like a guitar neck) is quite natural for me. What’s more, as a rhythm player, the Deluge’s small button size (compared to a piano key or a guitar fret) hardly matters because I mostly comp chords, exploiting the Deluge’s geometry to get varied and interesting chord voicings. That lucky combination of synergies made the Deluge particularly good for me right out of the box. I’d get a second one if they could be daisy chained.
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Yep. No doubt, Synthstrom has created something quite special with the Deluge.
Oh sweet thanks
The Seq is fun, easy, and very visual. If you want a Monome Grid, you could add a Norns to it. Norns has a variety of sequencer programs you can use with it.
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Interesting. Sounds expensive tho
Found a Polyend Seq at bargain price and full return funds if I don’t like it. Gonna give it a spin, see what it adds to the stack.
Unsurprisingly the Blackbox works very nicely with the OT driving it (slices etc) with midi/note/cc - 6 mono/3 stereo assignable audio out sent into the OT and resampling OT back into the Blackbox. Almost like they were designed to work together!
Everything is better with an OT…
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My little Box came 2 weeks ago and so far I love it! It is so ultra portable.
I use it a lot with all the mobile apps I sample them into the box and arrange it. Ok, there are still some minor stuff they really have to implement. For example trim a sample and save it trimmed… But still love the easy interface.
Version 1.1 includes the following:
- Destructive editing. You can now trim a sample using the start and length controls in sample mode
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