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Bitbox 2.5 User’s Manual

7/17/19 11:13:00 AM

Page 7 of 42

Digital Heart – Analog Soul

Front Panel Overview

The front panel of bitbox contains a touch screen, control knobs, HOME and INFO buttons, a MIDI input jack, and CV input
and output jacks as shown in

Front Panel Overview

. This manual will refer to the controls, inputs and outputs of the module

using the labels shown in this figure.

Front Panel Overview

The touchscreen displays the firmware run on the module and allows you to use touch gestures to interact with the firmware.
The

INFO

and

HOME

buttons are used to navigate the screens. Press

INFO

to view the information screen for the current

selection. In some cases, you can press

INFO

more than once to get to deeper information. The

HOME

button takes you

back a screen. If you get lost, you can push

HOME

until you get back to the Main screen.

The control knobs are used to cycle through options on the screen. When there are several parameters on the screen, use the
control knob closest to a parameter to set its value.

Below the screen there are a series of mini jacks that are used for MIDI and control voltage input and output. The

MIDI

input

jack allows you to trigger cells and modulate signals. You can also use the MIDI clock to synchronize playback. The

CLOCK

input is used to synch with a CV clock signal. The two audio inputs (

IN1

and

IN2

) are used to record WAV files.

Bitbox allows the user to configure how the audio outputs of the cells are routed to FX1, FX2, OUT1, and OUT2, either as
mono or stereo signals.

Summary of Contents for Bitbox 2.5

Page 1: ...er Manual Welcome to bitbox Bitbox is a very useful tool for capturing and playing back samples This manual will walk you through all of the features of bitbox If you want to start playing right away please consult the Quick Start Guide found in the box The Quick Start Guide and this manual are also available at 1010music com ...

Page 2: ...al Module Settings 10 Working in Flipped Mode 11 TEST YOUR SETUP 12 Use the Touchscreen to Trigger a Cell 12 Trigger a Cell via Control Voltage Signal 12 Trigger a Cell via MIDI Input 12 CREATE AND CONFIGURE A NEW PRESET 13 Create and Name the Preset 13 Select WAV Files and Control Playback Options 13 To load a WAV file into a cell 14 To Configure Basic Cell Parameters 15 To Configure the Envelope...

Page 3: ...TS 28 Save Changes to a Preset 28 Load a Preset 29 Delete a Preset 29 Rename a Preset 29 Save Current Changes as a New Preset 30 Work with Preset Files on the MicroSD Card 30 Compatibility with Legacy Preset Files 30 MANAGING WAV FILES 31 Edit WAV File Tags 31 Delete a WAV File 31 Work with WAV Files on the MicroSD Card 32 ADVANCED FEATURES 33 Processor Management Tips 33 Use Modulation to Control...

Page 4: ... a Clock 36 Reset the Clock 37 Use a MIDI Program Change to Load Presets 37 To Enable or Disable MIDI Program Changes 37 Export a Set to Ableton Live 38 UPDATE AND SWAP FIRMWARE AUDIO FILES AND PRESETS 39 Switch to a New MicroSD Card While Operating Bitbox 39 Backup Your Presets and WAV Files 39 Install New Firmware 39 Reset Bitbox Presets to Factory Settings 40 TECHNICAL SPECS 41 Module Specs 41 ...

Page 5: ...e module in your rack and do initial setup of the firmware options Once the module it set up we will describe how to create a preset and configure cells This will include a discussion of the different cell modes and how to record a new WAV file Next we will go into more depth about preset management tasks That will be followed by a discussion of how to use modulators tracks and clock signals to sy...

Page 6: ...back with other modules or external devices Bitbox allows you to manage your Preset and WAV files directly from the module You can save your changes over the original file or save as a different file You can rename and delete files as well Bitbox shows you a visual representation of your WAV files and helps you cut the samples into slices that can be triggered independently Touch screen pinch and ...

Page 7: ...ent selection In some cases you can press INFO more than once to get to deeper information The HOME button takes you back a screen If you get lost you can push HOME until you get back to the Main screen The control knobs are used to cycle through options on the screen When there are several parameters on the screen use the control knob closest to a parameter to set its value Below the screen there...

Page 8: ...ack state of the cell The four cells along the right side of the screen labeled EXT1 through EXT4 are mapped to external inputs The column to the left of the EXT cells can also be used as additional external outputs EXT5 through EXT8 in addition to simultaneously being used to trigger samples mapped to those cells You can touch a cell on the screen to select it The selected cell is highlighted pin...

Page 9: ...odule The cable is the same on both ends so it does not matter which end is inserted into the module However the connector must be in the correct orientation The connector on the module is keyed so the ribbon cable won t easily fit in the wrong orientation The correct orientation places the edge of the ribbon cable with the red line on the left side of the module as shown in the photo to the right...

Page 10: ...rigger jacks in the array of jacks below the touch screen Connect one input in the right column of CV Trigger jacks and another input in one of the first four columns Configure your external device to send a varying CV signal in the 5V to 5V range Global Module Settings Before we dive into using the module we will configure some general module settings To access these settings press the HOME butto...

Page 11: ...ram number See Use MIDI to Play a Cell Chromatically below for more information Remember that bitbox does not automatically save changes Therefore when you change presets you will lose any unsaved changes When you are done press the HOME button to go back to the Main screen Working in Flipped Mode When the value for Flip UI is set to ON the user interface on the touch screen will be inverted Use t...

Page 12: ...uch as a keyboard to bitbox to get a more tactile way to trigger cells Connect your MIDI source to the MIDI input jack and configure the MIDI source to use the GlobalMIDI channel selected in Settings See Global Module Settings above to learn how to set the GlobalMIDI channel Now you can use the MIDI device to trigger cells MIDI inputs for notes 36 to 51 map to the clips in the grid as shown in the...

Page 13: ...rat button to toggle between upper and lower case letters Touch the 123 button to display the numeric keyboard if needed When the name is complete touch return to save the name and return to the Presets screen with the new preset selected 6 Touch the Load button to start working with your new preset from the Main screen Select WAV Files and Control Playback Options Now you will choose some WAV fil...

Page 14: ...ill turn blue to show that auto preview is enabled Bitbox will play each WAV file one time when you pause on it while scrolling If you have an input trigger configured for this cell bitbox will play the selected WAV file whenever a trigger is received for this cell Touch the Play button again to disable auto preview mode Touch Load to assign the selected WAV file to this cell When looking at the l...

Page 15: ...eft most item is the grid icon The second menu item is the output selection button Out1 2 in the example figure Touch this menu item to display the list of Output Options Output Option Description Out1 2 The output of this cell is sent to Out1 and Out2 in stereo Out1 The output of this cell is sent to Out1 in mono Out2 The output of this cell is sent to Out2 in mono FX1 2 The output of this cell i...

Page 16: ...ate mode playback will stop when you release the touch the CV Trigger gate goes low or the MIDI note is released Toggle Begin the clip playback in the same manner as Trigger mode When another trigger event happens the playback will stop No Several of the cell parameters have three black boxes below them These cells are potential modulation targets and these boxes are used to control the modulation...

Page 17: ...uping of cells 1 Touch the Excl button to display the Exclusive Group options 2 Touch an option to select it When Excl X is selected there will not be an exclusive behavior for this cell When a cell is assigned to Exclusive Group A B C or D any other cell in this group will stop whenever a cell in the group is triggered The remaining configuration options for a cell vary based on which cell mode i...

Page 18: ...oop Start and Loop End for the duration of the note Bidirect Works similarly to forward but loop playback proceeds from Loop Start to Loop End then backwards to Loop Start It then repeats the looping back and forth No Rev When Reverse is ON the WAV file will play in reverse ON OFF No MIDI The GlobalMIDI channel configured in Settings is used to trigger all cells by mapping a note to each cell This...

Page 19: ... on the large waveform represents the Start and Len parameters You can move these end points by turning the top two control knobs If Loop Mode is set to Forward or Bidirect you will also see a white frame that defines the Loop Start and Loop End points Use the bottom two control knobs to adjust these end points The corresponding values for the end points are displayed above and below the large wav...

Page 20: ...ell This MIDI parameter sets an additional MIDI channel that this cell will respond to in a different way If set to Default this cell only responds to the GlobalMIDI channel When a value other than Default is assigned to this parameter the MIDI signal on the designated channel will trigger playback of the WAV file at the corresponding pitch Note 64 typically middle C will play the note as recorded...

Page 21: ...t not be playing at the same tempo as the clock speed If you leave Sync set to None the WAV file will play in its entirety and will get out of sync with your clock If your WAV file tempo is faster than your clock tempo it will sound like the beats are running ahead of the rest of the music If your WAV file tempo is slower than your clock tempo it will sound like your drums are lagging If you want ...

Page 22: ...ouch gestures to move the waveform so the fixed cursor position the vertical white line is on or near a slice point that you want to remove Touch Join to remove the slice point You can have as many or as few slices as you want To use Auto Scan to create slices 1 From the Waveform screen for the Slicer cell touch the menu item with the three dots This will display the Waveform Slicing menu 2 Touch ...

Page 23: ...this cell will respond to in a different way If set to Default this cell only responds to the GlobalMIDI channel When a value other than Default is assigned to this parameter the MIDI signal on the designated channel will trigger playback of the WAV file at the corresponding pitch Note 64 typically middle C will play the note as recorded unless the WAV file has information that maps it to a differ...

Page 24: ...source will cause the playback to move to the previous slice Random A trigger on the modulation source will cause the playback to move to a randomly selected slice Stagger A trigger on the modulation source will cause the playback to move through the slices in a somewhat random way It will move forward a few slices then back a couple of slices and repeat Yes Use Slices to Synchronize Playback of C...

Page 25: ...if you want to start recording when a sound level threshold is reached Touch the Thres button at the bottom of the screen to toggle threshold recording on and off The button is blue when enabled 7 Before you start recording set up the parameters that control the recording Parameter Description Range of Values Length This parameter allows you to specify a length of time that you want to record in t...

Page 26: ...d a time value for Length recording will stop after the selected length of time The Load and Record screen displays a running clock of measures and beats and time duration of the recording There may be a delay between when you touch Rec and when the recording starts as bitbox waits to quantize the recording to the selected Rec Quant time interval or for a threshold to be reached See Synchronize Pl...

Page 27: ... record a sample as you normally would Use the external device to send a signal to the EXT port and bitbox will start recording 6 Use the device connected to the EXT port to send another signal to the bitbox to stop recording Note If you are using MIDI you can also use the corresponding MIDI note to trigger recording o EXT1 Note 55 o EXT2 Note 54 o EXT3 Note 53 o EXT4 Note 52 Mute Samples Mute mod...

Page 28: ...e to save them If you change to a different preset without first saving the current preset you will lose your work If you change to a different microSD card you will have a different set of presets When you switch to a different preset all previous settings will be replaced with the settings of the newly selected preset which may be blank We covered how to create a new preset and save changes to a...

Page 29: ...n 2 Touch the Presets button to view the Preset Management screen 3 Use the control knobs to scroll through the list of presets The blue highlight indicates the currently selected preset 4 Touch File to display the Preset File Menu 5 Touch Delete to delete the highlighted preset NOTE You will not be prompted to confirm the delete action so please take care when using this feature Rename a Preset T...

Page 30: ...red at the root of the microSD card Bitbox will not find preset files that are stored in subdirectories You can use a microSD Adapter to insert your microSD card into your computer You can then use standard file techniques to rename the XML files delete them copy them onto your computer or copy them onto other microSD cards We recommend that you occasionally make backup copies of your presets espe...

Page 31: ...as the initial setting for slices Sound Forge Reaper ocenaudio Acid Tags Bitbox will load information about the root note and the number of beats in the file from the Acid Tags Information about the number of beats helps bitbox more effectively quantize clips Sound Forge Acid Smpl Tag The Smpl tag tells bitbox where the loop points are Sound Forge If you have made changes to these parameters in a ...

Page 32: ...an use a microSD Adapter to insert your microSD card into your computer Then you may use standard file techniques to rename the WAV files reorganize them into directories delete them copy them onto your computer or copy them onto other microSD cards We recommend that you occasionally make backup copies of your WAV files especially before upgrading to new firmware NOTE If you delete move or rename ...

Page 33: ...example you can use MIDI Velocity to control the Level of a cell or EXT1 to vary the panning You can use a Trigger or CV input to control which slice of a Slicer cell will be played on the next note event The parameter tables in this document indicate which parameters can be used as Modulation Targets On the parameter screens you can easily identify the Modulation Targets by the three black boxes ...

Page 34: ...on LaunchMode Trigger This will cause the WAV slice to play from beginning to end when a trigger is received Other values will work but let s use this for the example Loop Mode Off We will turn off looping for this example Slice 1 When a MIDI Note on MIDI Channel 10 is received Slice 1 will serve as the starting point for the sequencer MIDI Default We want the default behavior where the correspond...

Page 35: ...g values for the cell parameters Parameter Value Explanation LaunchMode Trigger This will cause the WAV slice to play from beginning to end when a trigger is received Other values will work but let s use this for the example Loop Mode Off We will turn off looping for this example Slice 3 When a MIDI Note on MIDI Channel 10 is received Slice 3 will be the starting point for the sequencer If Seq is ...

Page 36: ...device if you want to switch between triggering cells and sequences on one channel and playing notes for a single cell on another channel You can have more than one cell mapped to a specific MIDI channel In this case bitbox will play all mapped cells when a note is received on that channel Use Control Voltage to Trigger a Row of Cells You can send a control voltage signal to the right column of CV...

Page 37: ...te The Clock input must use 4 pulses per quarter PPQs or a pulse per 16th note If MIDI and CLOCK inputs are both used Bitbox will select the highest priority clock based on the following order of priority 1 CLOCK Input 2 MIDI Input 3 Internal Clock Reset the Clock You can use the following methods to reset the clock counter back to 0 0 Stop the CV clock input for a few seconds Send a Clock Start s...

Page 38: ...ve the changes to your preset by following the instructions above 2 Remove the microSD card and connect it to your computer 3 Double click or open the als file with the same name as the preset in order to open your set in Ableton Live 4 For best results use the Save As option as well as the Collect and Save menu item in Ableton to migrate the relevant WAV files onto your machine and into the custo...

Page 39: ...ou may need to use a microSD adapter 2 Copy the files from the microSD card onto your computer Install New Firmware Here are the steps required 1 Download the desired firmware onto your computer You can choose to download either synthbox fxbox or bitbox firmware but only one set of firmware can run at a time You can find the latest firmware images on the forum at https forum 1010music com You must...

Page 40: ...at https forum 1010music com You must be a registered user of the forum to access the download files Forum registration is free 2 Unpack the zip file Some browsers do this automatically for you 3 Find the xml file in the unpacked folder that has the same name as the preset you want to restore Copy the xml file onto the microSD card to replace the file on the card 4 Insert the microSD card into the...

Page 41: ...right shows the numbering of the pins on a MIDI connector and the labels of the connection components of a mini TRS jack 1010music products are compatible with cables that use the following mapping of MIDI signals between female MIDI connectors and mini TRS jacks MIDI Signal MIDI Connector Mini TRS Current Source Pin 4 Tip Current Sink Pin 5 Ring Shield Pin 2 Sleeve Table 1 MIDI Connector to Mini ...

Page 42: ...f this user manual Connect with Other Bitbox Users There is a very active community of users of 1010music modules at forum 1010music com If you have a question about the module that isn t answered in this manual this is your best source for help We actively monitor the wish list sub forums for ideas for future versions of our products Forum registration is free We hope to see you out there Contact...

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