If there was anyone having the issues that I’ve described above - odd sequencer behaviour when receiving midi clock - those problems have been resolved by the new 3.0 firmware that was released this morning.
Alex was responsive and helpful when I reached out over email and got the issue fixed pretty quick. Which means I can now get back to enjoying this fantastic machine.
any other goodies beside this bug fix ?
I believe for this firmware in addition to the bug fix there is only this:
Added a checkbox to the tool allowing to ignore incoming MIDI notes (should you only want to sync to MIDI clock)
I already have everything set correctly between Live and the Octatrack (my two go to MIDI master devices) but even so this new tickbox does fit my use case so I will probably enable it at some point to avoid any potential confusion for me down the line with other setups.
Not sure what the future plans could be, it’s a pretty formidable groove box at this point though with its sequencer features and automation and routing possibilities. I also just had the MEGAfm arrive which I’m really looking forward to diving into.
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Have you tried blast beats with external sequencer? I have an oxi one and would love to give it a try, although I love self contained machines… I’m going to try it
Great news with 3.0 and bugfix when midi symc. I read the log. Seems like 3.0 just comes after 2.9. The last greater feature introduced was vgm. Assume it still plays only OPL3 in 3.0. (Most downloadable vgms are OPL2 though; in theory it should be possible to play them when the OPL3 is set to OPL2 compatible mode). Anyway. I am all into furnace tracker now. Hope it will play the exported OPL3 vgms. Because chiptune arpeggio, slide to note, microtuning and macros is so great.
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Sorry for the repost
The BlastBeats was the centerpiece for this liveset, together with the Razzmatazz
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Wow ! Very nice, about ten minutes the beat is awesome 
The mix between the very precise Razzmatazz drums and the lo fi tones of the Blastbeats work very well !
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Unbox Blast beats these days to make a mini EP only with it. Its awesome but you need to be sure you like that sound. This crazy song is 100% pure Blast beats
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Another ultracrazy demo made only with Blast beats and a little delay and reverb. 100% blast beats sound!!
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Finished the project 
Proof of concept
- vgm in furnace tracker, OPL3 mode, export to BlastBeats and play it there: works!!
Final project vgm file
quick and dirty Gabber track, against the clock
(feel free to download and check BlastBeats’ Gabber mode) 
Elekktrikk - 2023-10-29 - GabberBlastBeats vgm Test 1.vgm (641.2 KB)
BlastBeats direct out - no further editing
- copied the vgm file (above) to BlastBeats
- recorded directly into audacity
- normalisation to -1db (almost no effect)
- export mp3 192 kBps
For comparison and reference - direct output from the furnace tracker:
- export as audio (wav)
- convert to mp3 192 kBbs in audacity
The chip emulation in furnace tracker is amazingly good 
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That kick sounds amazing
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Thx
The gabber kicks: 4OP instruments (think they work 2OP, too, much square wave stuff), sometimes doubled with different tunings and vib; FM macro function is a necessity, though.
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Calm song with blast beats, testing duophonic synth
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I’m very happy because thanks to blast beats I’m begging to understand FM synthesis and how it sounds the different routings.
I find it limited for drums, specially kick and snare, any ideas for interesting sounds for the kick and snare? I always end with a snare made of noise, can’t find better sounds…
The synth part is awesome
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This is not very FM synthesis of me, but sometimes I just don’t use the modulator for the kick at all 
. Keeping the timbre a bit cleaner and simply experimenting with the carrier waveform is often enough to get some really nice kicks. Especially if you’re running the machine through any kind of drive afterwards (I’m using the tube drive on my Zen Delay).
Snare…. If you’re going for noise or chirpy sounds then there it is, for every other timbre I use the Tom instead. Its relationship with the pitch of the hats can lead to interesting results!
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I think the kick on the BB (direct interface) is great if detune (falling pitch) is used and there are some very sweet spots between both operators. But not only sweet spots
Snare is noise + sort of atonal „dmm“ or „wmm“ You just happen to be able to choose other waveforms in BB. Modulation of volume and decay is important. The tom (as usual) is good for enhancing either kick or snare. I love that Alex built in an OH function (that is not the case when programming OPL3 in the trackers).
Aaaand: you can use the synth tracks for drums as well
Cheers!
Completely unrelated: Last night I finally got Adlibtracker II and retrowave OPL3 and Dosbox-X to work together. Awesome! Hope I find a way to record some of the great AT modules to vgm so I can play them with BB. There’s so much one can do with stereo and detuned channels and macros.
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I just don’t use the drums at all. Not that they are useless, but it’s just not the sound I’m after.
The good thing is I could repurpose the whole top row of faders to other duties, because they send MIDI CC’s, that can be P-Locked, and motion recorded.
(You can watch my video posted above to see this in practice: top faders control sends to the BlueBox delay/reverb and filter hi/lo pass for the 4 BlastBeats synth tracks + Razzmatazz. The last ones on the right control the sends to the Eventide TimeFactor but I didn’t use them for this liveset)
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Ohhh great tips here, thanks a lot!!
This is weird, as allways. I create a kit from zero, all faders down. I make a good kick, a good snare and a good tom that I like it
Press function. Then press save. Then press kit/patt and the kit is saved in slot 4. Perfect.
Now, I change to kit 3.
Now I change to kit slot 4 again and sounds different without touching any fader!!!
Now I switch off the blast beats. Switch on again and i´ve lost my initial settimgs.
Its insane. You tweak and tweak and you lost the setting when you switch to other kit or sitch off…
I wonder why this happens, its the more bizarre behaviour that i´ve seen in a machine
I´ve decided to find the solution to my problem and i´ve find that the key its in the multiplier fader of the snare. It works with toms hats and cymbals, they share the multiplier. In this example I have a kit in slot 4, switch to slot 3 at 12 sec. and again to slot 4 at second 20 and at the end I change the multiplier and it sounds like the first kit.
In the manual says:
" -The multiplier of the snare will also affect the pitch of the hats & tom.
This hardware limitation/quirk can however lead to interesting surprises. "
But doesnt say that when you change to another location or switch off the unit the multiplier of the snare changes.
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