Using the 1010 music blackbox as a sequencer and audio recorder

[@moolder]

Thanks for the demo. Looking forward to getting a blackbox soon 🙂

[@mr_floydst]

It's a great device. I'd like to get my hands on one again now they've updated it thoroughly. :)

[@mr_floydst]

Apologies for the "scratchy" voiceover in the first part. Didn't want to do it all again. :-)

[@arcanics1971]

It sounded fine.

[@stevesmith997]

Thank you! This is just the kind of demo I was looking for. Not just house and dub step kind of stuff. Richer , more layered music. Nice

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! The sequencer is useful, but is also lacking some important things. You can't record control changes (e.g. sustain pedal or modulation wheels). Here's hope for the next firmware release. :)

[@stevesmith997]

@@mr_floydst Thanks! I am thinking mostly using it for combining pre-defined segments and singing over top. I'd probably output STEMS from my DAW to a SD card and then add some little improvisations here and there. I also like the fact that if I don't have to be tied to my laptop/DAW to be creative. I can pre-load a bunch of samples then work away with just a USB connection, MIDI keyboard and Blackbox, even remotely from a power bank.

[@jaysilence3314]

@@mr_floydst 1.7.1 beta is out, but I reverted to 1.6.5 because the display touch calibation was off with the new FW, rendering it unusable for me. But it IS on its way.

[@mr_floydst]

@@jaysilence3314 Thanks! They also released 1.7.2 a short time after in another attempt to fix the screen problems.

[@rexcellencemagee6729]

You’re my favorite channel Floyd for several reasons, even if I am not physically able to fix or build my own stuff, I enjoy watching you do it! lol, you have a nice mix of new and old instruments, and you use your guitar on the channel! I’m pretty much set up very similar to you and some of that reason is your so good at demonstrating I even found an xy100 because you made it interesting! Your voice is great too and you’re a nice person! The Blackbox! I can’t seem to find how big of an sd card it will take? I’ve only used the 32 gb it came with because I figured out to use a third party card it has to contain exactly what’s on the original. I’m guessing that’s by design as to not confuse the machine with too many stored attributes. So I’m considering buying a pack of ten and making them exact other than the free space but I’m hoping I can go at least 64 gb? Do you know? Also have you tried using the xy100 and the Blackbox together? I’m wondering if it can be used as a controller and maybe combine the sequencing tracks. It’s probably too many but I thought I’d ask. Also I’m going to try using my alesis controller because of the MP style drum pads and 39 keys. Any thoughts on that? I’ve Bluetoothed everything and running thru FL Studio, I’m probably going to get Cubase around black Friday as well. I bought a dedicated mini computer just for VST Komplete, 8dii, and Spitfire that’s 6 Tb i9 64gb ram win 11 pro. Any suggestions would help a lot! Thanks Floyd!

[@mr_floydst]

Hi! The blackbox _should_ be able to work with all modern SD cards, but there may be some drawbacks when using bigger cards. See forum.1010music.com/forum/products/blackbox/support-blackbox/11298-microsd-card-comparison Users are reporting that 1TB cards are no problem. You should be able to use the QY100 with the blackbox without problems, they're both MIDI devices. Same goes for the Alesis controller - should be nice for playing multilayered patches. :)

[@rexcellencemagee6729]

@@mr_floydst I’ll tell you what I’m really impressed with is the Bluebox! People just have to understand it takes a lot of different combinations of cables to get the most out of it! But I’m using the Blackbox as a wave and granular synth! With QY300 especially I’m getting a lot of great sounds! That’s all I’ve been working on lately, I’ve got all this great stuff to get started and I’m working with a 25 year old product that I totally love!

[@broadpath7184]

Thank you!- very helpful - been on the fence about purchasing now will probably do so

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching! Glad it was helpful.

[@Bbbumpy]

Yes, rich and layered! Very nice. It was hypnotizing...thanks! I couldn't find the words before, but the song gives me a similar feeling as "Agnus Dei", Samuel Barber.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching!

[@arcanics1971]

It's a better unit than I thought. Interesting.

[@mr_floydst]

Yes, but it has some really infuriating UI design decisions (tapping a note will delete it no questions asked, for example). Hoping for firmware updates. :-)

[@dmyers9230]

Excellent Demo!!!!! Exactly what I was looking for. A chromatic poly sampler for keys as well as the addition of an audio workstation to bring in a guitar or other instruments. Heck even a sequencer of course with the ability to start with the rhythm track. I like the overall size an presentation. The main thing I've been looking for is a good / and affordable hardware chromatic polyphonic sampler. Now to deep dive this a bit more. Not as affordable, but justifiable. Just have to save my pennies.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! To be honest, I replaced this with an MPC One in the meantime, which surpasses the Blackbox in many ways feature-wise. It's a much bigger device, though. Also, Blackbox has received a steady stream of updates, so it definitely worth taking a look.

[@dmyers9230]

@@mr_floydst MPC one is a bit more $. Will take a look at that one two. Do you have a BlackBox for sale then...... 🙂

[@DarthMacchio]

Is there no way to edit individual steps, such as pitching it, adding a roll, etc?

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching! I'm afraid I can't answer that because I switched to MPC in the meantime. I heard this box got a lot of updated since this video was made, your best source of information on updates is this page: forum.1010music.com/forum/products/blackbox/learning-material Best regards!

[@DarthMacchio]

@@mr_floydst Cool, thanks for the info!

[@georgenada6413]

Thank you for the demonstration. When you record external audio in like you did with the guitar when it loops back around to the beginning of the sequence does it keep the "tail" of your audio? With a lot of delay and reverb it would cut off quite abruptly if it didn't. I couldn't tell from the video.

[@mr_floydst]

Hello George, thanks for watching! It just keeps recording one big file (you don't loose anything). You can then crop the sample later as needed or leave it as it is.

[@georgenada6413]

@@mr_floydst That's pretty nice! Thanks for the reply.

[@synthsforbreakfast]

Hello! Cool tutorial and song! Is it possible to mute/unmute, with one press of a button or one touch of the screen, the sequences for external gear? Is it possible to jump easily from one sequence to another during performance?

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching! From the BB 2.0 manual: "Mute is useful if you want to use a pad to drive an external MIDI device when the device is available, but play a pad when it’s not. Muted pads still play out over MIDI." Switching sequences is easy enough - see Page 16 of the BB manual, 1010music.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/blackbox-user-manual-2.0.pdf Hope this helps!

[@Molluszk]

Is it possible to edit , chop, quantize or warp longer samples on blackbox? Tempo matching you know. For instance: A project is in 120 bpm and I load a 40 sec long 140bpm or 80 bpm sample let s say and I want to fit in ... so tempo match or quantization or warp kinda thing. Thx

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching. It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure tackling longer samples was one of the things the Blackbox excelled at (and since I made this video, they've released so many updates). Blackbox can stream from SD card and edit big audio files.

[@Delphinixa]

Thank you for the clear demonstration, the BlackBox and the BlueBox are on my next gear list. What is the effect mounted on your guitar, midi or fx ??

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! That is a virtual modeling guitar (Vox StarStream, kzbin.info/www/bejne/qouueaWKoqt3q8U ) and those knobs are for selecting the guitar model and tone.

[@fcf8269]

Sorry, quick question: what is the difference between pad midi and global midi setting? Not sure I understand the role of the midi settings in the "tools" section. Also for some strange reason, my hardware synth just start its sequence when I press play or record on the blackbox; for some reason it seems to get the start and stop and also the tempo is synced with the tempo on the blackbox (which is expected, since the blackbox should be the master clock at this point; make sense). Is there an option I have to change on my synth or on the blackbox? Thanks

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! You can assign MIDI channels to the pads, so it's possible to use 16 pads and trigger their sample content from another midi device. As you can use multisamples, this is a nice thing to have. As for the playback controls, disable the sending or receiving on system exclusive commands (SysEx) on one of your machines. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI_Machine_Control Best regards!

[@fcf8269]

Finally a video that show how to use the blackbox beside load samples and trigger them via the touch screen. I get that this is a groovebox, but if it can double as sequencer and recorder for external gear or computers, it would really be awesome. One question: is there a way to export what you do on the blackbox, to run on something like Cubase? I assume the blackbox record midi, so is there a way to get the midi tracks in that sequence you made, as single tracks in cubase, or the workflow you have on the blackbox is purely living on the blackbox, and you can only export audio from it? Thanks

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching! At the moment, that's not possible, unfortunately. But firmware development of this device advances quite quickly and 1010 music have a user forum you can post your feature wishes on. forum.1010music.com/forum/products/blackbox (Edit: you of course could just record the MIDI output into your DAW, but that would be quite tedious ;-) ) Best regards!

[@_P_M_]

Hi Floyd. Can the Blackbox be used as a traditional rack sampler? Where you can multi-sample an instrument with velocity layers, loop points and so forth? The manual lists some multi-sample features but I don't know how well implemented they are for this purpose. The beatbox element seems to be where the focus is but I'd like to load some good multi-sampled pianos etc to play from a keyboard. Traditional (90's era) samplers seem to be only in software form anymore. Current hardware samplers seem to be expressly about beat production.

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, the Blackbox can do multilayered samples. At the time I recorded this, you couldn't edit those layers, though - only capture them. Tbh, the MPC One does this and much more a lot better for just a bit more money. Blackbox is nice and small and portable and well-built, but if you want a good old fashioned sampler with velocity layers, velocity responsive filters, dynamic effects... that can capture multisamples by itself, I'd recommend the MPC One. It's a much larger box, though, so if you're looking for a small and portable solution, Blackbox it is.

[@droussel7359]

Hi! I really like your videos. I am on the fence about the blackbox and the mpc one. I have an MC101 already and am really looking into a way of recording guitar parts and arranging songs. In your mind, which one fits the bill better? Portability is somewhat important and I fear the mpc song structure would be too ridged for my liking :(

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching! If portability is important to you perhaps it's the blackbox. But if you want to hear my personal opinion: The MPC is the better machine in pretty much anything else. It can do a lot of things (it's a DAW in a box). The blackbox is a great hardware sampler with some not-fully-fleshed-out features (though it's updated quite frequently). But it will never be able to provide e.g. the superb effects and production tools the MPC has built in per default.

[@droussel7359]

@@mr_floydst Thanks! That's really helpful. Most of the video I see about the MPC are not the style of music I like so it's hard to judge for me if it's suitable or not. What you do is closer to what I like to I appreciate you taking the time to reply!

[@chrisb3389]

I have a Blackbox and have started using it as a song writing scratch pad this way. I also have an MC707, but I find it easier to record guitar, bass & vocals to the Blackbox. It is correct that there are few effects in the BB, but the delay and reverb in latest firmware sound good. If you have an effects processor for guitar or bass, then the need for effects in the unit is less. I recommend a Nux MP-2 mighty plug 2 headphone amp. Gets great guitar and bass tones into the BB for cheap. For vocals, I use a Tascam DR-05 handheld recorder. Altogether I love how fast I can get layered parts together. Easy to resample (like bouncing tracks). As for the sequencing, there is room for some improvement in next updates. But I mainly wanted the quick and powerful sampling of loops as long as I want and it does it well.

[@carlos_martinezzz]

Thanks for the video. I have a question. Is there a way to set zero quantization on the unit? Or maybe a swing option?

[@mr_floydst]

Hi! At the moment, it's not possible to turn off quantization, but you can adjust swing. It's in the "song" menu.

[@chrisb3389]

They did add the ability to record in-quantized in an update. FYI

[@projectvolna]

Wow. Nice workflow. All my questions about midi routing and ext sequencing answered. Looks like best sequencer for all ext gear. The last question- how song mode works, is it suit tor studio and live performance, is it really useful for hosting complete track in midi? Track is beautiful! )

[@mr_floydst]

Thank you very much! Song mode works by lining up sequences. You record some sequences first and record yourself activating the sequences one after the other, until the song is finished. Best regards!

[@projectvolna]

@@mr_floydst looks easy and effective for me. Thank you for details!

[@sentimental7167]

That was a good walkthrough, thanks! How do you save your song? Is it necessary to save a preset of the pads and the song settings or can you do this in one step?

[@mr_floydst]

Hi, thanks for watching! At the time of recording this, it wasn't possible to "render" a song, so you had to record from the audio output. According to the manual, this hasn't changed. (I can't tell for certain because I've moved on the MPC One).

[@sentimental7167]

@@mr_floydst thanks, that was helpful, already wondering what was going on. So looks like you got frustrated aswell?

[@mr_floydst]

@@sentimental7167 A little bit, yes. I love the hardware of the blackbox, it's size is perfect, and everything look and feels premium. But at around $100 more, the MPC gives you a lot more tools and features. But it's also 8 times bigger ;-)

[@gossamyr]

um, what kind of guitar is that?

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! It's a "VOX Starstream", a modeling guitar. Can emulate all kind of pickups and nylon and steel strings.

[@SuperPussyFinger]

You’ve got so much gear; why did you decide to buy the Black Box?

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! Actually, I don't have a lot of gear - I try to keep it around 4 synths, and sell off stuff to buy new stuff. I bought the blackbox because I like Yamaha's AWM synthesis. (Load samples, assign them to keys and layers and run the usual subtractive synth stuff on them: Filters, Envelopes, LFO, Effects). On my old workstation, RAM and storage space is limited and really slow, so I was searching for a modern, small device that could roughly do the same. Some people hinted the blackbox could do all this, so I tried it (spoiler alert: it doesn't). I exchanged it for an MPC some days ago (spoiler alert: the MPC can do a lot more than this device for around $130 extra costs). The blackbox has some unique features, though: Granular sampling, really good time stretching, 3 stereo audio outputs, and a very comfortable size (the MPC is damn huge). But all in all, the MPC is what I was looking for, and the Blackbox wasn't.

[@SuperPussyFinger]

@@mr_floydst - Indeed, I had presumed that you may have already had an MPC. You certainly made an astute choice by swapping out the gear. But that little Black Box is insidiously irresistible, and I wouldn’t blame you for a second if you owned them both. Enjoy that new machine in good health. I appreciate the personal response to my otherwise officious inquiry.

[@DominicJacksonFilm]

what sort of accent is this?! hahah very hard to place it...

[@mr_floydst]

I'm from Germany, learned english in school and never talked to native british or american speakers, but spent most of the summers of my youth in asian countries. So there, now you know it. ;-) See, the KZbin speech-to-text bot seems to pick up every word just fine, so I guess it's not a problem for actual humans. :-)

[@mr_floydst]

* that being said, I had some relatives from Houston, TX. Now that was an impressive accent. Loved it. :-)

[@zibbybone]

REE KORD. Rekurd is that 12" (30cm) flat vinyl disc that plays music.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for pointing that out. My voiceover was less-than-perfect. Should have made a second one.

[@arcanics1971]

@@mr_floydst Your accent is your accent. It is always clear which is far more important than any person's opinion on how it should be pronounced. In my opinion as somebody who spent several years teaching ESL. /rɪˈkɔːrd/ is the usual pronunciation and /ˈrek.ɚd/ (your pronunciation) is more usual for the noun but as long as it is clear which you mean, then use whichever you want.

[@mr_floydst]

Noted. I think spending some time among native english speakers would help my pronounciation, but on the other hand, the KZbin bot generating the captions seems to have no problems understanding my ramblings, so an actual human being should be ok with it. ;-)

[@zibbybone]

Spend time with Norwegians and Swedes, they speak great English. Better than Brits and us Yanks.