what if your use case was restricted to phrase sampling, sample slicing, and stringing loops together… no multisampling to speak of… and no sequencing of external instruments… strictly just sampling loops off records, slicing, and stringing them together +mangling/resampling…
would you still choose BB over Deluge?
Oh, for sure. Even more so. The Blackbox is superior at those things. You essentially just described my new EP, which was made on Blackbox alone (mixed and mastered on an SSL SiX).
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that’s progress 
but wondering if there is anything else out there that is as small as the BB that’s comparable besides an sp-404…
I just wanna set it right next to the turntable, immerse, rinse, repeat, immerse rinse, repeat.
I’m not especially enamored with the touch screen but have you encountered anything on the iPad that you prefer as much… minus the fact about the extra outs on the BB?
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I have not. But I don’t enjoy using an iPad for music, so I’m not the right person to ask.
I’ve been on the Blackbox since it launched, so I’m also very biased these days and not always objective on its pros and cons. I came from the Octatrack, which was my sampler weapon of choice for about five years, so that’s my background.
I have used the SP samplers from time to time. I like everything about them except the interface, which I never clicked with. I don’t click with any Roland gear, though. So I guess that gene got lost on the assembly table when I was put together
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Funnily I have been close to getting the blackbox many times for the same use you mentioned. I had a sp and found it good for lofi hip hop but limited for much else. I know it can do more
I use drambo on my ipad for chopping up breaks and making beats over the last year or so and it’s amazing bit of kit.
I am still considering the blacbox though. Still use my ipad but drop the chops and sounds into blackbox to further sequence and jam round with.
I have a tracker also which is excellent but more for hits and short samples. The blackbox I would use for loops and longer samples
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I know you give high ranks to the quality of the BB sound, do you think it colors the sound in a way that you like better than the deluge or would you say that you favor it’s transparent sound to that of the transparent sound of the deluge?
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The hardware argument is strong in the Blackbox, considering its multiple outputs. You got four stereo pairs, if you count the headphone, you got clock in and out, a stereo input (which can be switched to mono), USB and regular midi.
That is a lot of dongles to get that working on an iPad. And then, Apple breaks it when iOS 15 launches
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easy to set up a send/return on it to resample through some external pedals?
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you preferring drambo to koala ?
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A little bit of both.
Unrecorded, unprocessed material in the Blackbox have this clean, shiny sound to it - the Pioneer vibe, kind of.
But the fx have an almost tape-like quality to them. The pitch algoritms, the filter and the granular options apply a warm, somewhat dusty sound that gives me OTO vibes. Reverb and delay are cleaner, though very functional. And the compressor is just the right amount of subtle, when you push it over the threshold (which is quite high, you need to look for it to find it).
The Deluge, in comparison, has an equally nice and clean sound when it’s unprocessed. But start stacking things up and they struggle to fit in with each other. And work the filter, fx, time stretching and pitch stuff, and it’s slightly on the cheap side.
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Malib has only been using an IPAD for producting for something like the past five years. He mentioned using Drambo. Although being a former SP user, you probably already knew all that.
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Very. I do that all the time. Essentially -
Route audio out from Blackbox Output 2, into your fx of choice. Rewire that fx back into Blackbox audio in. Set your recording to monitor through Blackbox Output 3 and connect your headphones or monitors to Output 3.
You can now monitor and resample, real time, anything that you decide go through Blackbox Output 2, without feedback.
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Massively
Drambo is closer to ableton or multiple grooveboxes. Infinite possibilities
Koala limited but that keeps you focussed on slicing the sample etc. Also I find their effects bit more like a dj mixer.
I know some like limitations but I prefer infinite possibilities that drambo provides. Lots of experimenting but also if I want a specific sound or effect I can get it.
The only thing I plug in is my evo audio interface which connects direct with a usb c cable. I have a launchpad mk3 and faderfox uc4 but can never be bothered linking them. They sit in my studio space with other gear. Ipad is a portable device for on the move.
Blackbox would be both if I got one, for on the sofa and to link up to my other gear
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I was just thinking the other day if there was a way to do a quasi tape echo with the Blackbox. Can the input be split into two mono inputs?
I don’t think so.
It’s either L, R, L+R or internal resampling. Haven’t seen a L R option.
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Oh duh, of course… I should have known that one.
Well, it’s not obvious. The Digitakt can do what you ask, if I recall correctly. And I can see the benefits if the Blackbox could, too.
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Hm…wonder if a Y-Cable would do the trick. Just cascade the inputs into different scenes, utilizing the multiple outputs, and use the panning in the mixer screen. I’ll have to experiment tomorrow.
I wonder … you can’t record into two scenes separately, at once. And you can’t pan the input signal, you can only adjust the gain. Once recorded, you can do all kinds of stuff with it. But not until it’s on the card and ready to be mangled.
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ticking a lot of boxes… now for shallow waters why is it bothering me that this thing cost over 5 bills lol… I’ve spent that on guitar pedals before albeit not many, something I can’t put my finger on it