Blackbox Live Looping Workflow

Exploring a new Live Looping workflow with the Blackbox and a simple pad midi controller. It fun!
From page 103 of the version 3.0 manual:
MIDI Note Number - Action
100 (usually E7) - Select Previous Pad
101 (usually F7) - Select the Next pad
102 (usually F#7) - Play the currently selected pad
103 (usually G7) - Record to currently selected pad (must be empty)
104 (usually G#7) - Clear the currently selected pad

[@roscius6204]

Always worth looking at work flows on different equipment. I loop on an RC505 but this still gave me some ideas to try out other midi controller work flows.

[@nsiivola]

Thank you so much for this. I have a Blackbox I've never really gotten along with in my "should sell" -pile, but as I was just looking for a looping solution I think this may have given it a new lease on life :)

[@chrisb3389]

I've done this on mine, controlling with a Beatstep. Can't wait to get a MIDI foot controller. Fun for guitar loops or recording live synth parts for sure.

[@MistyMusicStudio]

Omg that thing absolutely wrecks the other live loopers available right now… and it has so many other functions! I’m having ideas 💡😁

[@rayderrich]

Nice to see your workflow explained, thanks.

[@mrchairboy]

Holy cow- extremely helpful. And a big thanks for explaining it so thoroughly… appreciate the clarity!

[@1VperOctave]

Great explanation of your workflow and logical MIDI pad layout

[@lummsmusik3219]

Great! I needed this video to use my Blackbox again. It is such a creative powerful machine, very easy to understand. Thanks.

[@mauriciomandara5946]

Thanks for sharing! Awesome 👏

[@KenithCopeland]

this video single handedly sold me on a blackbox. i've been looking a portable sampler or a guitar looper that has pre set loop lengths AND could be controlled by a footswitch. i originally had a digitakt, live sampling is not its best aspect, then i got a octatrack, its great at live looping, but a little too big for what i want and setup of things can be tricky (its a hugely deep machine) now, to find a good price on one of these monsters. thank you mate, thank you

[@minimal.camera]

Awesome, glad you found this helpful! Yeah I think this workflow makes a ton of sense for a guitarist.

[@brandonderman6508]

thanks for this! great method and useful explanation

[@Jonny_Accidental]

This is really helpful, thanks!

[@WhatDennisDoes]

Thanks for sharing, this is really helpful. I have had a BB for a while, got frustrated and keep thinking i would sell it, but trying to go back to it now and it helps to see others' workflows. I feel like it's really easy to overlook a crucial setting that makes it seem like it just doesn't work. For example I'm shocked you could monitor input when not actively recording, i thought it just wouldn't do that. Now I need to look closer at that pad setting

[@minimal.camera]

Awesome, glad it was helpful! Yes I agree about overlooking settings, some are in places that aren't really obvious or intuitive, and easy to forget about. While the Blackbox manual is good, I do frequently have to search the forums for extra help in figuring these things out.

[@amberelmmusic]

Thanks for this video. Im actually looking at the eurorack version(bitbox mk2) of this right now, (at least I think thats the case) and was curious if it could do exactly what you demonstrated here. Thanks again, keep it up.

[@minimal.camera]

Thanks! It might, I'm not sure... I know the Bitbox was a precursor to the Blackbox, so I'm not sure how much overlap there is.

[@georgesbahia]

Muito bom obrigado. Très bien Merci

[@mchest7000]

Thanks, really good reminder of something else the bb can do :) Hey what sorta power bank u using in the vid? ta

[@minimal.camera]

Thanks! I'm using this battery from Amazon: INIU Portable Charger, Small 10000mAh Power Bank USB C in/Output 22.5W The Blackbox is super flexible though, it works with every battery I've tried (the battery just has to output 2+ Amps on the USB port I think, which most do these days).

[@shtulim9050]

Thanks for an amazing video For some reason I am unable to set a length per pad in advance as soon as I change one all the others change accordingly

[@minimal.camera]

Hmm, that is odd, maybe a firmware issue? Glad you liked the video!

[@shtulim9050]

@@minimal.camera Totally you gave a new life to my blackbox I already posted it for sale and now I took it down. My device is updated to version 3.1.2. All the other options you showed work for me. Are you 100% sure it's possible?

[@shtulim9050]

@@minimal.camera I tried to update the version again is it 100% possible? Does it work for you? If so, I will try to contact the company. Thanks🙂🙏

[@shtulim9050]

@@minimal.camera Is it possible for sure? Maybe I will return the version to 309 back

[@peacefulpigeon7254]

Are you using the latest update on the Blackbox? - tried the mapping that is in the manual and programmed them into a template on my arturia mini 3 pads but couldn’t get it to work even though midi connections were good and would really appreciate a list of the settings in tools and on the pad itself. Tried loads of different ways. Seems so simple but didn’t get it to work! 😂😂😂

[@minimal.camera]

I'm on firmware 3.0.9, and I think the latest beta firmware is 3.0.15. As for the mappings, I'm using the table on page 103 of the version 3.0 manual as a reference. They are: MIDI Note 100 (usually E7) - select previous pad MIDI Note 101 (usually F7) - select next pad MIDI Note 102 (usually F#7) - play currently selected pad MIDI Note 103 (usually G7) - Record to currently selected pad (must be empty) MIDI Note 104 (usually G#7) - Clear currently selected pad Those note values correspond exactly in the KORG editor for the Nanopad, so try those first on your Arturia MIDI controller. If they don't work, try one octave down from those notes. The blackbox manual mentions this: "Some devices map the MIDI note numbers one octave lower. The mapping here assumes C4 is middle C." As for which command to map to which pad, that's up to you. You can see how I chose to map them in this video, I just used 5 pads, and grouped them in a way that makes sense to me. The only other hiccup I've had is that the MIDI controller has to be sending on the same channel as you have selected for the GLOBAL IN on the Tools > MIDI settings page. Set this to OMNI when you are troubleshooting to eliminate the possibility of a midi channel mismatch, as then the Blackbox will respond regardless of the midi channel.

[@peterbarvoets8912]

hi, thanks for the info.. i have s novation launch control.. tried setting it up but apparently the pads do not use the same notes. how would i find out what note to assign each pad. thanks..

[@minimal.camera]

Hello! The Blackbox is premapped/hardcoded to midi note values for certain functions. They are all listed in the Blackbox manual. So as long as the Launchcontrol can be set to send those note values, that should work well!

[@kolbeinnhugi]

Will the "rec to play" work on "custom" loop length? It never used to in previous firmware versions. I would be delighted if they fixed that.

[@minimal.camera]

Hmm, looks like no, I just tried it. Rec to Play only works on the quantized loops.

[@TheScreamingFrog916]

That's a bummer. @@minimal.camera

[@saint_yossarian]

Apparently that's implemented in the 3.0.15 beta firmware, but I haven't tried it yet.

[@teebeedahbow]

Can you explain how you set one pad on the controller to step through each sample pad on the black box?

[@minimal.camera]

Look at the video description, I listed the settings there. You just assign the appropriate midi note value on the MIDI controller pad.

[@aravartanian7578]

What's that lovely battery you've got there?

[@minimal.camera]

The battery brand is 'iniu', they sell various models on Amazon. I really like this one for its compactness and reliability!

[@user-yb5fx3dt6g]

For all the things you use the nanoPad for, can't you just use the buttons on the BlackBox (if you wanted)?

[@minimal.camera]

Kinda yes, but its not quite as fluid or fast as with an external midi controller. There's a lot more room for error using the Blackbox UI directly, its easy to select the wrong track, or trigger a sample you didn't want, stuff like that. Considering I got the Nanopad for $30, its well worth it IMO, but you are right that it isn't strictly necessary.

[@lwpweb]

as i understand the recording starts with tapping the pad. Its not threshold detecting f.e. like in NI Maschine. Do i see that right? So you always have a gap the the record starting ponit.

[@minimal.camera]

Hi, sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I wanted to have a chance to double check and make sure I was telling you the correct info. You can set the blackbox to work either way, with threshold recording (so there's no gap at the beginning of the sample), or with no threshold, and it will just start recording as soon as you tap the pad. Then to end the recording, you can either have it be a quantized length such as 4 bars, or you can have it be a 'custom' length, meaning it will keep recording until you tap the pad again. You can also interrupt a quantized recording by tapping the pad again, for example if you make a mistake and want to do another take.

[@lwpweb]

Many Thanks i appreciate it@@minimal.camera

[@lwpweb]

n you tell me what is the 225w right on the blackbock?

[@minimal.camera]

Its an INIU battery, 22.5 W 10000 mAh. Works great for synths! www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09176JCKZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?th=1

[@lwpweb]

Thats clever, how do you connect it to the blackbox, seems to be tricky.@@minimal.camera

[@oh_rhythm]

Please please please make a video on how to assign functions to a midi controller😢 I've tried mapping buttons to certain functions, but couldn't figure it out and got so frustrated i was thinking of selling it

[@minimal.camera]

I sorta did already, in this video I demonstrate mapping faders and knobs from a MIDI controller to the Blackbox using the MIDI learn function: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmq1dIh8lJanY7M The trick is that the MIDI controller has to send MIDI CC values for the thing you are trying to map. If you are using MIDI learn and it isn't working, it might be that your MIDI controller is sending something beside MIDI CC. Whereas in this Live Looping video, all of the control is from MIDI note values. So I had to set the appropriate MIDI notes in the Nanopad editor software, as they are premapped/hardcoded on the Blackbox side. Happy to help, let me know if you still have questions!

[@oh_rhythm]

​@@minimal.camera so i need to edit the controller itself and not the black box🤔🤔🤔 I don't think i can do that in the launchkey mini mk3

[@minimal.camera]

@@oh_rhythm Yeah I'm not sure if you can, but check the Novation software for it and poke around.

[@theanachron303]

Can it loop to clock? Use drum machine, will loop land on beat?

[@minimal.camera]

Yep!

[@mike_qbik]

Can you set crossfade for loops to avoid clicking?

[@minimal.camera]

You can manually add a crossfade, but there's no automated function for it. You can also zoom in to the waveform enough to find a zero point crossing.

[@mike_qbik]

@@minimal.camera thank you. For loong ambient drones I will need the crossfade. 🙏🏻

[@TheScreamingFrog916]

Would be sweet, if it could switch from recording to overdubbing. Then it would be a proper loopbox. I wonder if the midi recording can be overdubbed? Thanks for the helpful information, best wishes 🎶🌎☮

[@minimal.camera]

Hi, so you can't overdub on the same recording, but you could easily just move to the next pad and overdub there. So I think you can get the 'sound on sound' workflow pretty easily!

[@TheScreamingFrog916]

@@minimal.camera thanks for the workaround. Part of what I like about 1010Music products, is that they give you what you need, without clutter. I can immediately and effectively get what I want, without excessive menu diving, or distracting details, on the screen. Then if you want to push it further, there’s ways to get there, by being clever/creative. May all your musical journeys be fun ones 🎵

[@krazywabbit]

Well done demo. 🫡

[@fillentropy6519]

Why did you mention R L inputs...? There is only 1 input

[@minimal.camera]

Its a stereo input with both L and R channels. So it could be used as dual mono inputs if you want, in the recording screen you can choose to record only one of the channels for mono, or both for stereo.

[@BobbyGeneric145]

So stupid all the support documents are in their forums.