Weird about MIDI. Lemme go check the bug database, and maybe reach out to you on PM.
This was with 3.0.9? Or 3.0.10, a beta? I seem to remember after we dropped that beta we got other reports of MIDI problems that slipped through our testing, and then we had to go heads-down on the bluebox for eurorack and tangerine stuff to make the factory schedules.
We’re a small team, etc., etc. And regular reminder to all here that on elektronauts and elsewhere that I try try to follow relevant threads, but for real support issues hit our forums. Happy to help when I can, but I may miss stuff here.
Just the fact you’re here, speaking, says tons of both you and 1010. You got style and integrity and you know your stuff too. That’s rare and we appreciate it
Thank you very much for saying that. It’s really very kind of you!
In truth, I feel blessed that I’m building things that let people make art that they also enjoy. I’ve had a long career, and this has been near the top.
If you program drum tracks manually or step record; if you don’t care for polyphonic aftertouch (via pressure) on the MPC pads; and if you rely on samples more than synthesis/effects, I think the blackbox will do the job over the MPC.
I have both MPC One+ and blackbox currently in my possession and although functionally a bit similar they are different beasts.
The blackbox is portable. You can drop it into your bag and even us it with a decent battery pack on the go. So having it around is no hassle. The simplicity, live-looping and not having to worry about RAM limitations make it a lighter, faster machine. Got mine $600 CAD used.
The MPC has kind of a mini-DAW that runs on Linux and can do quite a bit, with now quite a few plugins that aren’t VST but pretty good for a stand-alone like that. The WiFi and Bluetooth MIDI was so helpful, I used LUMI Keys without any cables for instrument tracks with MPE support. It supports additional audio lines via a USB audio interface. Plus I found the pads just great for finger drumming. After trying so many drum pads I kinda must admit the MPC ones fit me the best at the right settings. Also more expensive, got it for $899 + tax.
Both have Auto Samplers and they work roughly the same but I prefer the MPC as it’s supported by ConvertWithMoss natively to move the multi samples to Korg Wavestate for example. Although there’s probably a way to convert the blackbox files, maybe with just a bash script.
Overall, both are good and have their strengths. I find the blackbox is more for my ideas, creativity and trying new things and the MPC when I need a more systematic/traditional approach to laying down tracks.
Sorry if these points were covered previously, I just wanted to share my experience with both h side by side while I have them.
I have a question for those who use Elektron Octatrack and 1010music Blackbox.
I’m using the octatrack as my main usage right now.
Blackbox is synced with midi and tempo etc. is correct.
What I would like to do is to further sync the two, because in octatrack I have the song structure divided by patterns, so every time I change the pattern, the tempo and other things are in sync.
I would like the Blackbox pad to play or the sequence to play as specified.
I am currently doing this manually and would like to automate it.
What I’m envisioning, briefly, is sending a MIDI signal from the OT to the BB, so it triggers a MIDI channel on the Octatrack side, and the BB that receives that information sounds? I would like to automate it.
Am I right?
However, I don’t know how to set it up or how to do it.
Is anyone using this kind of setup?
I would like to use Blackbox as if I were adding more channels to OCTATRACK.
I would like to use Blackbox to increase the number of channels in OCTATRACK, and I would like to do some prep work so that when I go live, I can basically control OT and Blackbox will follow suit.
I would appreciate it if you could tell me how to do this.
To all BB users … hopefully someone is able to explain this:
I have a song with 40 bpm. The LFO is set to 8 bars and 10% depth. Now I’m trying to use that LFO (saw) to slowly fade in a pad. But i’m only getting to max 38 seconds, although it should be 48 secs. What am I missing here? 8 bars with 40 bpm are 48 secs, right?
It’s probably just me, missing something obvious. But how is this supposed to work?
Any help with considering the Blackbox for live use is much appreciated. I’m looking to record MIDI notes from a synth and loop the MIDI. Then want to record the MIDI loop to audio and then loop the audio. This all has to happen with out stopping the loop at any point. Is this possible on the Bladkbox?
You can use a Keys type of sequence for this with a MIDI output channel defined (see page 65 of the 3.0 manual). If the scenario is live, you will have to preconfigure each sequence.
As for recording pad lengths which do not obey the rule of 2, for now such recordings won’t loop automatically, yet - beta firmware 3.0.10-beta demonstrates that it could one day. Only loops of length 1, 2, 4, 8, etc steps will loop automatically after recording atm.
There is however a workaround: you can embed the to-be-recorded pad into a Pad type of sequence and arm the latter before recording the audio. A bit fiddly because the timing needs to be right but it should work.
Many thanks for detailed response. I think i’m going to have to look at separate MIDI and audio loopers for this task. To keep my mind on the performance and not moving round menus on a device. Thanks again.
Searching back through the thread I couldn’t find mention of this so let me ask…
What approach do folk take to understanding what sample is linked to a pad? Do you,
shorten your sample names to make it fit, e.g., KICK.WAV!
draw a guide on a piece of paper to have alongside your Blackbox.
have young brains that can simply remember what’s attached to each pad.
Is there a good lay-out that people find that works, for example, using separate rows for percussion, bass, pads, stabs…or what ever your basic song components are?
I’m new to the device and up for learning the tips and tricks that you more experienced users have learned to help your ‘flow’.
One hour into learning how to drive it and I’m already having awesome, enjoyable jams but I can see already I need to refine my process.
Thanks…
For clips, I have defined zones: bottom row is for drum patterns, second row left for bass and right for pads, top quadrant left for melodies and right for fillers. More or less strict.
When naming your files, if the first or second word is less than 4 characters long that word will be ignored. I assume this is to enable loading multisamples without showing the note numbers, and other irrelevant information.
My clip names are as follows: instrument type (4 characters: bass, pads, mldy, fill) followed by a shortened patch name or location on my synth and by the clip’s bar length.
Plus, if you really want to know the sample-pad allocation, the information you’re looking for is in the preset.xml. Not convenient but better than loose leaflets.
Pretty much what @g3o2 does, along with a little written crib sheet if I need it, because sometimes (well, most of the time) I have more noise / clips than I do drum patterns.
I’ll admit that naming and placing names on a pad is one of the shortcomings, though. I have some ideas about how we could make it better, but we’ve never gotten around to being able to implement them.
Happy to help when I can, but I may miss stuff here.
it just does