1010music Blackbox

The Lounge Other Gear
#466

I can understand requesting for unquantized recording , but I think we ( synth people ) are becoming a group that constantly comment ‘ it must be easy , can we have it in the next firmware update ‘

At some point I give up and use the synth as it arrives. or sell it.
I see posts regarding 10 yr old synths and people are still ‘ xxxxx feature is missing , maybe in a firmware update ‘… and some point I don’t see why anyone should expect an update .

It’s. personal thing but I’m tired of reading it.
Use it as is or sell it. ( not specifically anything to do with black box , just in general )

Re:black box , I’m sure they’re open to doing stuff as they’re a small team and need to sell boxes.

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#467

I get the annoyance at people constantly demanding their varied needs met in machines that were never promised to meet those needs.

In saying that first thing I thought when I saw this box was how it seems perfect for loading with funk, soul, disco, breaks loops and making some shadow type sample beats. Honestly presumed being able to play unquantised would be an option. Or at least moving notes off grid.

Cool though if it doesn’t, as you rightly suggest best just looking at something else.

I like the microtiming on the digitakt. Great fit r adding some live feel to rigid loops

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#468

I think the BlackBox has that mentality of ’we’ll improve it as we go along’, I think it shipped with a non-integer firmware.

Apart from that, I agree. I’m very much guilty of this ”Maybe in the next firmware” mindset myself, but in the end, it tends to be a bit of a waste of time.

#469

Yea… if something doesn’t include features I want, I just don’t buy it & I buy something that DOES include what I want.

What I find odd is when people buy a piece of hardware without doing research & ASSUME it has the features they want, then complain once they get it & it doesn’t have what they want. “It’s 2019!!! Everything should have this feature!!!” hhmmmm…

Even knowing the 1010 is expected to get improvements, we don’t know what those improvements will be & it’s best to buy it for what it’s capable of doing NOW… then when features get added it’s just a bonus, not a let down because it’s not the feature you wanted.

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#470

I understand your point, and this kind of spoiled behaviour usually annoys me too, but the option of recording unquantized just feels like such a fundamental feature to me, not like some exotic extra feature they need to add, though i’m no expert on developping software.

To me its just a shame because in other ways the bb seems close to perfect.

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#471

that’s the one thing that can be frustrating… when it has ALMOST everything you want… when it’s ALMOST perfect, it’s just missing that 1 feature.

I think there’s a good chance in the future un-quantized recording will be added, but of course that’s just an opinion. Maybe wait it out & see if it gets added…

Still curious about the looping possibilities… if it’s possible to record yourself playing the drums, use the drum loop as a sample & just lay it in the sequence… that would be a great work around depending on how many steps are involved / how it works…

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#472

We shouldn’t forget that the BB is essentially a desktop version of a eurorack module.
I can’t imagine modular users shouting too loud about unquantized recording given the fantastical array of modules for clock, timing and trigger slew.

I do concede however that in order to reach new users the option for recording unquantised would go a long way.
There have already been some great updates so it’s early days yet really…

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#473

You can do this, yes.

Edit: There is a catch though. It doesn’t seem like there’s a way to keep the recorder armed until it actually begins recording. If you hit record and leave that screen before it actually says it’s recording, it won’t remain recording. The best workaround for this is to use an external controller to do your playing. Probably ideal anyway, so you can get velocity and a better playing surface. The other workaround is to record a bar of silence before you start playing, and then trim the sample afterward to the part where you’re actually playing.

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#474

how is the new granular update? Tempted to get one instead of a GR1.

Any videos of the granular sampler being used correctly?

edit> I have no idea why this comment is a reply to AdamJay?

#475

Yeah, seems plausible. I would be interested to see what kind of editing interface they’d come up with for that. Seems like the grid could be re-jigged into a proper high-res MIDI editor, potentially. Having non-destructive (undoable) partial quantization would be amazing.

1010 are free to do what they want of course, that’s why I’m just asking before I buy, and not whingeing afterwards :joy:

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#476

I wasn’t aware of such an update! That’s sort of what I was waiting for to base my interest on. :smiley:

Interested to see what people say about it, and do with it.

#477

I got no previous experience with granular, but for what’s in the Blackbox, I can very quickly tear up stuff and rip them to pieces, and make it sound like I know what I’m doing and enjoy it, too.

You have like four parameters or so to play with, and then there’s the actual sample itself of course, which you can still apply all the ordinary design to, such as playback order, the envelope, fx and so on.

It’s certainly not just something they slapped on. You can make entirely different things with this feature, but how much it appeals to those who know their granular stuff, I can’t say.

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#478

@circuitghost Your review really got me interested in the Blackbox. I suppose you could gig with only this and another stereo source being passed through its input? Like a Digitakt, for example… Very tempting.

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#479

Yeah, you could, but one thing that’s slightly holding it back is that things like the filters don’t have midi cc’s available yet. Probably/possibly coming but still.

Edit: that might not be an issue for you but thought I’d bring it up.

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#480

Yep. The sixteen slot limit would require something like the Digitakt or equivalent to create longer sets, even if you’re making a point out of being super creative with just the sixteens. But provided that, yes.

The idea around these sixteenths is interesting. Since the BBox streams from card, I’m curious as to why they decide to keep this limit so tight. I can’t think of any other reason than the fact that it remains a very focused instrument if they do. But even slapping on the option to go for 32 or 64, and staying there, would still maintain that clarity but also open up for just longer takes.

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#481

That’s really the sort of thing I was looking for. Just the usual sample work, with a bit of cutting, mangling, odd looping, short-cycle stuff. Kind of broken-80s computer type stuff on occasion. :smiley:

I think I’m sold on one of these now, not to mention its sketch-pad properties.

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#482

So I pulled the trigger and sold my Octatrack. It’s out, and the Blackbox is permanently in.

They don’t compare, of course, which in the end was what made the decision easy.

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#483

!!! I for one support this decision.

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#484

Thanks man :slight_smile:

#485

I knew it!

1 Like