1010music Blackbox

I tried IOS music making years ago…then went full on hardware. Love all the hardware i use. Love the BB. I was going to buy it again after selling it a month ago, then I started thinking, as much as I wanted to get away from computers/ipad, using the BB with the touch screen is like using an Ipad with touch screen. Then I downloaded Beatmaker 3…omg…I’ve never tried it but it is so damn much fun. Sampling into it, cutting, having so many pages of samples per project…it’s really got me super excited again. I’m sure there are things it does not do and now I will be out of hardware only again but what a quick fun way to make tunes. I still want a BB though…love that thing.

I also really like that second part. I’ve been following your music for the past month or so and have been really drawn to your percussive melodies and textures. All of your work is strong but I’m partial to the more cut up abstract bits (the harder to define bits).

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Anyone sequencing the Blackbox with a Squarp Pyramid, or other? Any issues?

I know it sounds redundant, but I’m finding the Blackbox sequencer too fiddly, and I’m just so much more productive with the Pyramid, which is where I’d be transferring the Blackbox sequences anyway.
Asking for a friend who has to break isolation to get his Pyramid :roll_eyes:

Thank you :slight_smile: yeah, that happened as an afterthought, a happy accident. The sequence was just a recording test from the SSL to begin with really, but it kind of stuck somehow, and I’ve been trying to work it into a track ever since. Not saying I pulled it off, but it’s something. Thanks for liking it :slight_smile:

Thanks, I really appreciate it :slight_smile: yeah, I’m on the fence myself. I love doing the more classic, beat-oriented stuff, but I’m more drawn to producing the abstract. However, that’s not gonna get the floor shaking and I still do gigs. So I’m sort of at crossroads, now.

I got another slow, abstract thing done now. Can’t publish the entire track, it’s commercial work and under contract, but I can publish parts of it (cause it’s stupid long, 40 minutes or so). It’ll be interesting to see how people respond to that.

Thanks for listening, I truly appreciate it.

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Happy accidents are the best !

bobross

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Haha, he sure did :slight_smile: ASMR style, he did.

Blackbox doesn’t have as nicely as you’d think when sequenced from other gear. One shots and multi samples, no problem. But launching clips, stopping clips and getting them to stay in sync, you’ll run into issues. That perhaps can be sorted, but prepare to experiment, tweak and find your way with what’s connected to what, when you launch what stuff and in what order. It’s not as smooth sailing as one would hope.

I’ve sequenced the Blackbox with the Pyramid, the Octatrack, the Digitakt and the Launchpad Pro MK3, at different points. In time, I always returned to the Blackbox, for two reasons -

Setup’s fiddly, as mentioned above. You might get it to work, but prepare your QA skills. You’ll need them.

The Blackbox sequencer is very powerful for certain stuff, such as independent launching and overlapping of long and short clips, multiple platterns going on at once with different time signatures and step counts, and the song mode that has its own behaviour on what to start and stop as the song proceeds.

It’s fiddly, but it’s worth it, for my very specific needs.

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Great, I’m looking forward to hearing it!

What you’re saying about coming to a crossroad reminds me of Jan Jelinek. Idk if your familiar with his work, but over the years his music has taken many diverse stylistic turns, some that veered far from the minimal techno of his early days. While this was happening he was still making beat oriented music, but the abstract eventually took precedence and evolved into several different formal outlets. Maybe it isn’t as linear as that? But what I’m getting at is this- keep exploring both aspects of your music! They can commingle or exist as separate outlets (two sides of the same coin) Either way is good… I’m getting way off topic though, sorry :slight_smile:

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Hmm. Sounds like I’ll just stick to the Blackbox. Thanks.
Such a hassle using touch screens with Bass guitar finger tips. Calluses, both hands.

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Yeah, it’s not great in terms of interface. But in time, you get the hang of it. Zooming and panning are both your friends, in this context.

This is true, and I appreciate the kind and encouraging words. There’s only so much time, though :slight_smile:

Anyway, here’s the piece, I made a video as well:

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I have found that live recording sequences with the key grid has had a nice effect. Especially with different BPMs, the quantization can have a nice surprise snap effect.

I don’t use the screen much. I’ve had great success doing it this way. However if you are used to sequencing by hand I totally feel that it can be frustrating

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It finally arrived although I haven’t figured out how to send midi from it to the Blackbox yet since they are both USB hosts. I’ll experiment this weekend and post a video as soon I have something.

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Very cool. Thanks for the update. Looking forward to it.

11 posts were merged into an existing topic: Norns

Just got a similar tip from the Lollop tutorial. I’ll real-time recording from a Keystep, with quantise set to the whole bar.
I was hoping to keep things minimal, just the Blackbox on it’s own. Ha! GAS :unamused:

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I am able to get good results with the built in grid but I can see the need for external controllers. Hopefully you find a useful workflow!

Yeh. I was wondering what you meant by the snapping quantise. It works perfectly.
But my finger tips are just crap with these conductive screens. It’s always hit and miss.

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Yea it can take a few attempts sometimes. Still easier than using a mouse for me so I’m happy with the little blackbox haha