1010music Blackbox Page 104 User Manual Download

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TECHNICAL SPECS

On-Board Memory

Blackbox has 64MB of on-board RAM. However, this is a cache--not a hard limit to what

can be loaded at once because blackbox streams content from the microSD card in real

time..

Maximum Sample Length

Blackbox streams the longer samples from the microSD card, so the maximum length is

a function of the maximum file size for a sample. The maximum file size is 4GB, which

can be many hours depending on the sample rate and bit depth.

Blackbox caches smaller samples as needed.

Samples Supported

Blackbox supports stereo samples. It can record in stereo and has stereo outputs.
Blackbox supports samples in the WAV file format. It supports 1 or 2 channel files with 16,

24 or 32-bit resolution at any sample rate. 48kHz is the preferred sample rate. The

blackbox engine uses a 24-bit ADC and DAC.
WAV file names may use Alpha Numeric Characters (A-Z, 0-9) and some special

characters. The following characters are NOT allowed: double quotes, forward slash, back

slash, question mark, asterisk, less than and greater than symbols, the colon and the pipe

symbol (“ / \ ? * < > : |). File names must be less than 256 characters, including the

path name. Files that do not conform to these naming constraints will not be recognized

by blackbox.

Maximum Number of Voices Supported

Blackbox can support playback of up to 32 total voices across all pads at once.

Additionally, there is a limit for each pad, based on the pad mode. Blackbox supports 16-

note polyphony for pads in Sample and Multi-Sample Modes, 2-note polyphony in Clip

and Slicer Modes, and one note at a time in Granular mode. Nothing in blackbox will

prevent you from trying to play 16 voices on all 16 pads at the same time. However, the

CPU can be overloaded if you play too many notes at once while also using sequencing

and fx. You can reliably play 24 voices across all pads simultaneously. Beyond that, you

may encounter some sound quality issues like crackling. The exact breaking point

depends on whether effects are running, the CPU load and other factors.

Page 104 of 106

Blackbox User Manual 1.7

Summary of Contents for Blackbox

Page 1: ...Blackbox User Manual 1 7 Mar 17 2021 ...

Page 2: ...Display Highlights 12 QUICK START 13 Explore PADS 13 Explore KEYS 14 Explore Sequences 14 Explore Song Sections 15 Song Mode and REC STOP PLAY Buttons 16 To Save a Preset 17 CREATE A NEW PRESET 18 To Create and Name a Preset 18 SCREEN NAVIGATION MAP 19 WORK WITH PADS 20 Steps Common to All Pad Modes 20 To Load WAV Files and Assign Pad Modes 21 To View Wave with Start End Loop and Slice Points 22 T...

Page 3: ...back of Clip Pads 40 Work with Granular Pads 41 Pad Parameters Specific to Granular Mode 41 Recording New WAV Files 42 To record a single WAV file 42 Working with WAV Files Recorded on Blackbox 45 If you are recording WAVs for the current preset 45 If you are recording WAVs to build up a library of sounds 45 Advanced Recording Techniques 46 To Use Resampling to Layer Recordings and Save Effects 46...

Page 4: ...tes and Pad Triggers in a Sequence 63 You can use the INFO button with a selected sequence cell to view and edit the sequence 63 To Copy and Clear Sequences 65 To Edit Sequence Settings 66 To Use Sequence Quick Action Buttons 67 To Adjust Probability and Velocity for Note Events 67 To Import a MID file into a Sequence 68 WORK WITH SONG SECTIONS 70 To Toggle Song Mode 70 Record and Play Song Sectio...

Page 5: ...l my legacy WAV files get cleaned out of the root folder 83 TOOLS 84 Settings on the Tools Screen 84 USE MIDI DEVICES WITH BLACKBOX 86 Work with MIDI Inputs 86 To Trigger Pad Hits and Sequences with a MIDI Device 87 To Play Notes and Use Common MIDI Modulation Signals with a Specific Pad or Pads 88 To Play Notes and Use MIDI Modulation Signals with the Currently Selected Pad 88 To Configure MIDI M...

Page 6: ... Configure a Pad without a WAV file 99 To Add a WAV file to a Template Pad 99 REDUCE ALIASING WHEN PLAYING PADS CHROMATICALLY 100 PROCESSOR MANAGEMENT TIPS 101 UPDATE FIRMWARE AUDIO FILES AND PRESETS 102 Switch to a New MicroSD Card While Operating Blackbox 102 Backup Your Presets and WAV Files 102 To Install New Firmware 102 Reset a Blackbox Preset to Factory Settings 103 TECHNICAL SPECS 104 On B...

Page 7: ...get your MIDI connections working move files around and cover some tips to get the most out of your blackbox If you still have questions after reading this manual join our forum at forum 1010music com You can specifically get blackbox support at https forum 1010music com forum products blackbox support blackbox Our support team and other users are out there to help you and to exchange ideas about ...

Page 8: ... reader is spring loaded Push the card in to remove it when needed later Leave it in for now Power Blackbox needs to be connected to a 2 amp power source You can plug it into a standard power outlet or a USB power supply Either way you will insert the square end of the USB Power cord B into the POWER connection on the back panel The connection is snug to ensure that the device stays plugged in dur...

Page 9: ... Make sure your power supply can provide 2 amps of power The USB power supply included with blackbox will do this Not all USB Type B cables are the same Some are made only for data while others are designed to carry power Blackbox comes with a USB Type B power cable If you want to replace it with a longer cable be sure it is rated to carry power You can take the microSD card out and reinsert while...

Page 10: ...Clip pad Connect an Audio Input for Sampling Blackbox assumes Eurorack level audio is coming in to the AUDIO IN jack at 5V If you are using a line level signal of 1V you may need to adjust the input gain on the recording screen You could also use a mixer or preamp with your microphone or other input to adjust the level of the incoming signal See the section Record a New Wave File for more informat...

Page 11: ... The INFO button allows you to drill into an item selected on the screen to edit more details Push it again to access more detailed information about the item The BACK button takes you to the previous screen Navigation Highlights To build your song with blackbox start by working through the navigation buttons from left to right You can certainly jump around and do things in any order but the gener...

Page 12: ... the section that you are recording into When not in Song Mode this displays the number of the sequence that will be recorded You can toggle the state of Song Mode by pushing the SONG button then touching the on screen Song button Song Mode is active when the on screen button is blue In the top right hand corner a progress bar displays the current playback progress of the sequence or section that ...

Page 13: ...me you press it it might play only while you are touching the pad or it might play until you touch it again A blue progress bar appears at the bottom of the pad while it is playing You can trigger multiple sample pads at once The pink box indicates which pad is currently selected Use the touch screen or a knob to select a pad Push INFO to cycle between the WAV screen and the parameters screens for...

Page 14: ...g Touch the on screen Song button to toggle the state of Song Mode The on screen Song button is blue when Song Mode is active but for now let s make it gray for inactive so we can focus on sequences Push SEQS to go to the Sequences screen with a grid of 16 sequence cells The cells that have sequences have dots in the mini piano roll icon on the cell Touch one or more filled cells to make them acti...

Page 15: ...ns Push the SONG button to go to the Song screen with its list of song sections Touch the on screen Song button to enable Song Mode Notice that the context bar at the top of the screen now displays the name of the currently selected section Now press PLAY to play the song sections in order starting with the selected section You can jump around between the sections by touching a section to make it ...

Page 16: ...ong Mode is disabled the PLAY STOP and REC buttons generally control the sequences The one exception is when you are recording a new sample on the Sample Recording screen When Song Mode is enabled the PLAY STOP and REC buttons control the song sections The text in the top middle of the top level screens always indicates what will be the target of a recording action If Song Mode is disabled this te...

Page 17: ...erwrite the original preset Next we will create a new preset and dive into more detail about each of the functional areas of blackbox Page 17 of 106 Copyright 1010music LLC 2021 Blackbox User Manual 1 7 Note Blackbox does not automatically save changes as you work If you don t save your changes the preset will remain in its original state on your microSD card when you load a different preset creat...

Page 18: ... preset 1 Touch the PSET button below the screen to display the Preset Management screen This screen shows a list of the presets stored on the microSD card with a menu across the top The currently selected preset is highlighted in blue 2 Touch File then New in the top menu Use the onscreen keyboard to enter a name for the preset Touch Enter to save the name and return to the Presets screen with th...

Page 19: ...ds Mix Mute empty pad New Rec Tools Presets Pad Parameters Load and Record Modulation Parameters Waveform Option B I Push Button Push INFO Push BACK Touch On Screen Key B B B B I B I B I I B I B B B I I I I I Load B BACK INFO blackbox PADS KEYS SEQS SONG FX MIX PSET TOOLS REC STOP PLAY TOOLS PSET MIX FX FX KEYS Seq PADS Piano Roll Song Parameters SONG Song Sections Sequence Parameters Pg 1 Sequenc...

Page 20: ...gn to pads and assign a mode to each pad The main screen has a 4x4 grid of 16 light gray pads A WAV file can be assigned to each of these pads and each pad is assigned a Pad Mode Blackbox supports the following pad modes Icon Pad Mode Description Reverse Playback Beat Sync Set Loop Points Play Slices Poly phony Sample Use to play single notes or drum hits You can control start and end points for p...

Page 21: ... in different pads in different Pad Modes To Load WAV Files and Assign Pad Modes 1 Push the PADS button to bring up the Pads screen 2 Select a pad by touching it or using the control knobs to cycle through the pads The top control knobs move the selection horizontally The bottom left control knob moves the selection vertically The selected pad is highlighted pink Touching a pad that is loaded with...

Page 22: ...st items that start with a slash are directories Load a directory to see its contents The file path is displayed above the list of files e g SoundtrackLoops SL Bass Mu in the example above Touch the caret to navigate back up the directory tree Touch the back arrow to go back to the previous screen To View Wave with Start End Loop and Slice Points Once you have loaded a WAV file you will be on the ...

Page 23: ...tes which pad you are currently editing The second menu item is the output selection button Out1 in the example Touch this menu item to display the list of output options Pad Mode Selector Main Pad Parameters swipe to scroll along the length of the waveform You can quickly jump to a different section of a long waveform by touching that section of the wave in the top view If the pad is in Sample or...

Page 24: ...led in white the clip is queued up to begin when the Play transport button is pushed 7 As you push the buttons across the bottom of the Pad Parameters screen blackbox will cycle through the Pad Parameter pages Some of the pad parameters are the same for all Pad Modes while others vary by mode Touch the control knob closest to each parameter to set its value Here are the parameters that are the sam...

Page 25: ... Trigger mode When another trigger event happens the playback will stop No Attack The time it takes for the sound to reach its loudest level 0 0 to 100 0 The attack percentage is a logarithmic scale between 0 and 9 seconds No Decay How long it takes for the sound to go from the initial peak to the sustain level 0 0 to 100 0 The decay percentage is a logarithmic scale between 0 and 38 seconds No Su...

Page 26: ...otes when this pad is triggered When this pad is triggered using notes the corresponding note will be sent out on the specified MIDI channel If this pad is triggered as a pad hit the corresponding pad note will be sent out on this channel If the Pad Note is set to Default this will be a note in the range of 36 51 Otherwise the note specified in Pad Note will be sent Please note that Sequences can ...

Page 27: ... slicing and no beat synchronization within the playback This can be useful for playing one shots like drum sounds or playing melodies using samples for the notes You can also use this mode when you have a bank of samples that you want to map across the keyboard This can be used to map different sounds to different note triggers or to map the same instrument recorded at different pitches across th...

Page 28: ...Launch Mode set to Trigger looping will happen for the duration of the Release phase of the note If you have the Launch Mode set to Gate looping plays through the gate pulse and the release time If you have the Launch Mode set to Toggle looping starts to play when the initial pulse is received and continues until the terminating toggle pulse is received If Loop Mode is Bidirect and Rev is ON playb...

Page 29: ... None is specified the sample is assumed to have a root note of middle C If you save the WAV file from this pad the Root Note value will be saved with it None C 1 through G9 No Start Point where playback will begin when playing forward or ends when playing in reverse Expressed as the number of the sample to be played first 0 to number of samples in the file Yes Len When Loop Mode is None how long ...

Page 30: ...d so that sections E F G and H of the WAV file are looped When Loop Fade is zero blackbox does not overlay any extra content on top of the looped sections When Loop Fade is 25 section D which is a section of WAV that is 25 of the length of the loop from immediately before the loop start point would be gradually faded in over the last 25 of the looped section So as section H starts section D fades ...

Page 31: ...is in the Symplesound folder included with the 1 3 firmware update If you are registered for our forum you can download this content at https forum 1010music com forum product downloads sampler content bundles 2 Push the PADS button to bring up the Pads screen 3 Select a pad by touching it or using the control knobs to cycle through the pads 4 Press the INFO button If the pad was empty the Load an...

Page 32: ...hrough D 3 Notes below C2 will play the first WAV file pitch shifted down the appropriate number of half steps You can use blackbox to map the files to specific notes if you want Open the files as individual samples on blackbox and edit the Root Note on the Misc tab of the Parameters screen Save the WAV file with the root note information To save the WAV file push Info on this pad to display the W...

Page 33: ...e pad to something other than sample it will load only the first sample in the folder and work with that You will need to reload the files to change back to multi sample mode Anytime you use File Load All to load a directory of samples into a pad the pad mode will automatically be changed to Sample Blackbox helps you automatically record a multi sample bank of an instrument that can be triggered v...

Page 34: ...aced with a white square until you push Play Work with a Clip Pad Use Clip Mode for WAV files where you want to use synchronized loops and quantized playback for the entire WAV file Clip Mode works well with drum loops between one and eight measures long but there is no hard limit to the length This is the only Pad Mode that supports beat synchronization An example of a file that works well with C...

Page 35: ...playback will begin at the start of the next bar None always start and stop immediately 1 16 1 8 1 4 1 2 1 bar 2 bars 4 bars 8 bars No Sync Sync is only enabled when quantizing is enabled the Quant Size parameter is not None The Sync feature prevents timing drift that can occur when the length and BPM of a clip does not align exactly with the tempo of playback When Sync is used blackbox will reali...

Page 36: ...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 to fix that then choose the value for Sync that identifies how tightly you want to snap to the clock while the WAV file is playing in response to a single sustained note trigger While the note is playing the sync will cause the playback of the WAV file to jump to the next ...

Page 37: ...e to the current clock tempo Work with Slicer Pads Slicer mode is useful when a single WAV file has multiple sections that you want to trigger independently For example if you have a drum riff you may want to trigger different drum hits within the drum riff independently Or if you have a recording of a vocal track you may get an interesting effect if you skip around to playback different words or ...

Page 38: ...always start and stop immediately 1 64 1 32T 1 32 1 16T 1 16 1 8T 1 8 1 4T 1 4 1 2T 1 2 1 bar 2 bars Assumes 4 4 time No Sync The Sync feature prevents timing drift that can occur when the length and BPM of a clip does not align exactly with the tempo of playback When Sync is used blackbox will realign the audio to match the clock at the step size specified here Even slight differences between WAV...

Page 39: ... to the next slice Backwards A trigger will cause the playback to move to the previous slice Random A trigger will cause the playback to move to a randomly selected slice Stagger A trigger 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 No PlayThru Controls whether or not playback continues throug...

Page 40: ...o scan You can touch anyplace outside of the Slices field to cancel the scan Blackbox will automatically divide up the WAV file evenly into the number of slices you specified The slice points are shown as pink horizontal lines with a small pink square near the bottom You can adjust the results of the slice to grid or auto scan by manually adding or removing slices to get the slices that match your...

Page 41: ...escription Range of Values Mod Target Grain Size The size of the small segments of the WAV file that will be played measured in number of samples 1024 to 16384 which is about 10ms to about 200ms No Grain Count How many different grains are layered together during playback 2 to 8 Keep in mind that more grains require more processor power No Spread The width of the range from which the grains are ra...

Page 42: ... a single file 5 At the top of the WAV File Load and Record Screen you will see the level meters for the two channels followed by a list of recording parameters Turn one of the top two knobs to select a parameter and then turn one of the bottom two knobs to select a value for that parameter The table below shows the list of available parameters for single WAV file recording WAV File Load and Recor...

Page 43: ...s 8 bars RecThresh When set to On recording will not start until the audio input meets or exceeds the audio level set in the Threshold parameter On Off Threshold When threshold recording is enabled this controls the minimum sound level required to trigger recording to begin 96 00 dB to 12 00 dB Rec Mon Controls whether the input signal received through Audio IN is played out through Out1 and Out2 ...

Page 44: ...nd time while recording There may be a delay between when you push Rec Play and when the recording starts as blackbox waits to quantize the recording to the selected Rec Quant time interval See Synchronize Playback with a Clock below for more information about clocks and quantization Note When the recording has stopped the PADS screen is displayed with the new WAV file loaded in the selected pad T...

Page 45: ... the microSD card into sound library folders on the card When you want to use these files in another preset point to the WAV files you moved to the library folders Then pack up those presets to preserve copies of the WAVs you used for each preset Page 45 of 106 Copyright 1010music LLC 2021 Blackbox User Manual 1 7 Note Blackbox won t stop you from loading a WAV file from a Preset B folder into Pre...

Page 46: ...nt to record Set up a different pad for recording and set the recording input to RESAM then start recording 1 Configure a pad you want to resample by loading a WAV file applying effects and configuring other parameters as desired 2 To be able to trigger the pad while recording you will need to either set up an external controller to trigger the pad configure and arm a sequence to trigger it or set...

Page 47: ...o load each WAV into a pad individually in order to set the Root Note Be sure to save the WAV file after you set the Root Note so the setting will be saved into the file See Save and Load Parameters in WAV Files below to learn how to save the Root Note 4 Open the Preset where you want to use the multi sample pack Let s call it MySong 5 Create a new sample pad and use Load All to load the multi sam...

Page 48: ...rd When finished you will have a folder full of WAV files that you can use as a multi sample pack 1 First set up the external instrument you want to record Connect it s audio output to the stereo audio IN jack on the back of blackbox 2 Set up the connections for blackbox to trigger the external instrument You can use MIDI or CV triggers Blackbox will send out MIDI and CV signals while multi sampli...

Page 49: ...a knob to move the cursor position Touch the onscreen keyboard to enter a file name Touch Enter to save the filename and return to the parameters screen Start Note The note that will be sent out as a trigger to record the first WAV file C 1 1 through G9 127 End Note The note that will be sent out to trigger the last WAV file that will be recorded C 1 1 through G9 127 Sample Every How many semi ton...

Page 50: ...et name Filename Filename See Manage WAV Files below for more information about file organization The WAV files will be named Filename MIDI Note Number MIDI Velocity For example if your preset name is Pet Sounds and your multi sample filename is Cat Meows an example file name would be Presets Pet Sounds Cat Meows Cat Meows 036 100 Each WAV file will have the Root Note and Vel Layer parameters set ...

Page 51: ...ying forward or looping will end when playing in reverse Expressed in samples Must be before or equal to LpEnd LpStr is read from the WAV file when sample is loaded and saved to the WAV file when the WAV is saved Stored in the WAV smpl tag Sample Single LpEnd Point where the looping will end when playing forwards or looping will begin when playing in reverse Expressed in samples Must be after or e...

Page 52: ...out the pad mode based on the parameters that are available in the WAV file If there are slices in the WAV then it sets the pad mode to slicer If there are loop points in the WAV then it sets the pad mode to sample To save the values you have configured for a pad back to the WAV file 1 Open the WAV screen for the pad 2 Touch the name of the WAV file at the top of the screen to display the WAV sele...

Page 53: ...ame of the WAV file at the top of the screen to display the WAV Selection screen 5 Touch File and then Trim Blackbox will ask if you want to Trim and Save Touch OK to overwrite the WAV file with the portions outside of the pink bracket trimmed off This is a destructive edit Touch anywhere else on the screen to cancel 6 Save your preset to save the change to the pad Otherwise the length parameter f...

Page 54: ...dit Menu Option Action Cut Copy all of the WAV file references and parameter settings for the selected pad and clear this pad The copied information is now in the clipboard for pasting into a different pad The current pad is now empty and all parameters are set back to their default values Copy Copy all of the WAV file references and parameter settings from this pad The copied information is now i...

Page 55: ...s 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 Blackbox supports organizing WAV files into folders and sub folders You can create your own folder structure on the microSD card Blackbox 1 5 changes where new recordings...

Page 56: ...o enter letters using the keyboard Touch the to delete the previous letter Turn a knob to position the cursor Touch Enter to save your changes 8 Touch the back arrow in the top left to exit the WAV Edit Screen WAV File Actions Menu Note If you delete move or rename a WAV file it will no longer be available for use by presets that were previously using it The name of the WAV file will still appear ...

Page 57: ...WAV files to your preset after you pack it the preset will still point to these WAV files in their source folders Pack the preset again to copy these files over If the Pack option is disabled then the preset is fully packed already Note If you delete move or rename a WAV file it will no longer be available for use by presets that were previously using it The name of the original WAV file will stil...

Page 58: ... to worry about scale specific sharps and flats Use the arrow buttons at the top of the screen to access additional octaves To Play a Sample Clip or Granular Mode Pad With the Traditional Keyboard 1 Push PADS to view the sample bank 2 Touch a pad or turn a knob to select the desired pad The pad will be pink when selected 3 Push KEYS once to display the Traditional Keyboard screen Touch the keys on...

Page 59: ... 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 This does not impact how the Keys screen plays the slices Slice Seq None We will not use the Slice Sequencer in this example 6 Push KEYS again to go to the Grid Keyboard screen Blackbox will display numbered squares in the ...

Page 60: ...ch some music tap a root note on the grid while turning a knob to scan through the root notes Note On the traditional keyboard the last slice will be played for all notes above the last slice Nothing will play for notes below C2 If you use the Grid based keyboard with a slicer pad the slices are mapped to the notes available in the selected scale The steps above show a simple example of using Keys...

Page 61: ...n not in Song Mode this context display will indicate the sequence you are recording or editing and the blue progress bar in the top right displays the current playback state of the sequence that has context When a sequence is queued up to play at the next quantization break a white rectangle appears at the bottom of the sequence cell When a sequence is actively playing that white rectangle is rep...

Page 62: ...ying the loop To Play Sequences 1 Push SEQS to see the sequences grid 2 Touch sequence cells to toggle their active state Active sequences have a white frame You can play multiple sequences at once 3 Push PLAY to start playing the active sequences Note While recording the sequence will record to the length specified in the sequence parameters and then loop back and play what has been recorded You ...

Page 63: ...e piano roll displays the notes or pads recorded for each step over time moving from left to right You can touch the view mode button at the top of the screen to switch view modes between KEYS and PADS 3 If you recorded Keys input for more than one pad you can select the pad to view and edit in the piano roll by touching the grid icon in the top right in KEYS view then touching the cell for the de...

Page 64: ...s vertically to display the entered notes The note position is restricted to the Step Count configured for this Sequence When recording the sequencer will add the incoming notes to the sequence It will not remove previously existing notes Touch Clear before touching REC if you want to start with a clean piano roll The C notes on the piano roll are numbered to indicate which octave is currently dis...

Page 65: ... t remove them This can be useful to merge two sequences together Keep in mind that the sequence parameters are also copied along with the note and pad events Clear Clear all note and pad trigger information from this sequence All parameter settings remain untouched Piano Roll Edit Menu To Copy and Clear Sequences You can use standard clip board style functions to cut copy paste and clear sequence...

Page 66: ...1 bar 2 bars 4 bars 8 bars T Triplet Step Count The number of steps in the sequence 1 to 28 Duty Cycle The duration of the note events where is 0 is inaudible and 100 0 is playing the full duration of the note 0 to 100 MIDI OUT The MIDI Channel that this sequencer will use for output None Ch1 through Ch 16 Quant Size Defines precisely when to start the sequence When a sequence is activated or deac...

Page 67: ...yback velocity By default Velocity is configured as a modulation for the Level parameter for all pads This means at lower velocities the pad playback level will be lower Additionally multi sample pads may have WAV files that are triggered at different velocities WAV files are mapped to different velocities either during automated multi sample recording on blackbox or in an external WAV file editor...

Page 68: ...ort the sequence into blackbox The sequence will be a KEYS sequence and will play with the 1 Push SEQS to go to the Sequences screen 2 Select a sequence and push INFO to display the sequence Piano Roll screen 3 Make sure the piano roll is in Keys mode If the mode selector at the top left says PADS touch PADS and then KEYS to change the mode 4 Touch the pad selector grid at the top right and then t...

Page 69: ...ed in the pad grid at the time of import You can use Copy and Paste to move it to a different pad if needed If the imported sequence is longer than the number of steps configured for the sequence only the steps in the sequence length will play back 8 Push INFO to see the Sequence Parameters screen Adjust the Step Length and Step Count to match the imported sequence if needed ...

Page 70: ...ong Sections When Song Mode is enabled the currently selected section will play when you push the PLAY button Any active sequences will also play You can quickly deactivate all sequences by touching the DEACT button on the sequences screen To Record a Song Section 1 Enable Song Mode as described above 2 On the Song screen turn the top left knob to adjust the BPM or tempo of the song This number is...

Page 71: ...he next section you want to play That section will start to play at the beginning of the next bar 7 You can toggle Loop mode while a song section is playing to stay with a section for a while and then let it fall through to the next section at the end of the current loop Note Each time you record a song section you add to the current song section Any previous sequence actions are still there If yo...

Page 72: ...he clipboard for pasting Copy Copies a song section All sequence events the section name and the section length will all be copied The information is held in the clipboard for pasting Paste Pastes the section information in the clipboard into the selected section All information in the target section will be replaced Clear Clears all sequence actions from the selected song section and resets the s...

Page 73: ...etting is set to the default of 50 the even 1 16 notes occur in their metered place halfway between the notes on either side When the number is less than 50 the even 1 16 notes shift closer in time to the previous note When the number is above 50 the even 1 16 notes shift closer in time to the following note 1 Push the SONG button 2 Turn the top right knob The Swing setting display to the right of...

Page 74: ...1 for effects processing You can also use the touch screen to slide the level selector next to the knob to the desired position When a pad is sending some of its signal to FX1 a blue triangle is displayed in the top left corner of the pad You can repeat this step for FX2 and a blue triangle will appear in the top right corner of the pad FX Screen To Modify Effect Parameters 1 Push the FX button to...

Page 75: ... to 100 Sets the amount of damping that is applied to the reverb Higher values will make the reverb end sooner Yes Predelay 0 to 100 Sets the amount of delay in the signal before the reverberation is applied In real life this is related to how close the sources is to the walls No Note The same effect parameter values are applied to all pads that are sending signals to that effect The Reverb effect...

Page 76: ...sound level indicates a pad is actively playing A red bar at the top of a cell indicates that pad is muted To Adjust the Sound Level and Pan of a Pad 1 Push MIX to display the Mixer screen 2 Touch the cell you want to adjust 3 Turn one of the top two knobs to adjust the level of the currently selected pad 4 Turn one of the bottom two knobs to adjust the pan if available Mixer Screen To Mute and Un...

Page 77: ...he microSD card when you choose to save them If you load 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 Blackbox stores all of the preset ...

Page 78: ...file the xml file lives in its own sub folder under Presets which is created as soon as you create a preset but the WAV files stay in their source folders until you pack them Blackbox will automatically move a legacy preset into the new folder location the first time you load that preset after upgrading to the 1 5 or newer firmware You may then use the Pack function to consolidate all of the files...

Page 79: ... library You may also want to gather up all of the files used in a preset so you can move it to another microSD card or archive it on your computer The Pack feature was created to address these needs 1 Load the preset you want to pack 2 Push PSET and then touch File Pack Blackbox will copy all of the WAV files used by this preset into this preset s folder Any multi sample banks will be copied with...

Page 80: ...here besides OK to cancel this operation To Delete a Preset When you delete a preset you remove the preset from the list of presets on the Preset Management Screen and you delete the corresponding XML file from the microSD card You cannot undo this action To delete a preset 1 Push the PSET button to view the Preset Management screen 2 Use the control knobs to scroll through the list of presets The...

Page 81: ...uch Enter to save the name and return to the Presets screen with the preset selected Note Renaming a preset does not load that preset Note If you enter a name that is already in use you will replace the old file with the current preset To Save Current Changes as a New Preset Sometimes while working on a preset you decide to save your changes to a different preset in order to save your work while s...

Page 82: ...ind them if you move the XML files outside of these folders or move these folders outside of the Presets folder Legacy Presets Blackbox Firmware version 1 5 changed the way presets and new sample recordings are managed In older versions the preset files were stored in the root folder but now the preset files are in individual folders under the presets folder New WAV file recordings also used to be...

Page 83: ...pack up all of your presets one by one which will copy all of the files used by the presets into their respective folders When that is done you may choose to delete the files that are stored at the root or safely move them to a sub folder for future use Page 83 of 106 Copyright 1010music LLC 2021 Blackbox User Manual 1 7 ...

Page 84: ...hanges only change the current pad and do not change what is used for other empty pads Use Per Pad when you want to set up a Template preset with different recording configurations for each pad Lead In When set to ON blackbox will wait 4 beats before recording begins It will display the count down as a negative number in the measure counter in the top left of the screen MIDI In MIDI Pads Specifies...

Page 85: ...u have one or more MIDI devices connected to blackbox Select MIDI Port to use the device connected via the TRS MIDI In port Choose USB Port to use the device connected via the USB Device port Select All when you only plan to have one device with a clock connected at a time and don t want to have to keep changing this parameter or you want to let the two clocks fight it out Select None to ignore al...

Page 86: ...IDI to work through the TRS jack please read the Mini TRS Audio Jacks for MIDI Connections Compatibility Guide at https 1010music com stereo minijacks midi connections compatibility guide You may need to use the MIDI adapter that came with blackbox You can use MIDI inputs in a few different ways Trigger pad hits and trigger sequences Play notes and use common MIDI modulation signals with a specifi...

Page 87: ...default mapping of MIDI note numbers to the blackbox pads The range for pads is Note 36 usually C2 through Note 51 usually D 3 Eb3 You may need to shift your MIDI device up or down octaves to reach these notes 6 Push PADS and you can watch the pads activate on the Pads screen as you play notes on your MIDI device 7 Play higher notes on your MIDI device to trigger sequences The table on the right s...

Page 88: ...the same way the Keys screen works If the pad is a Slicer each MIDI note will play a slice of the file in the same way it works on the Keys screen If the pad is using multi sample the notes will trigger the appropriate sample based on root note or sample mapping To Play Notes and Use MIDI Modulation Signals with the Currently Selected Pad This is a more global version of the procedure described in...

Page 89: ...te 2 Push INFO until you see the MIDI parameter Select a MIDI channel to be used to modulate this pad 3 Push INFO until you see the parameter you want to modulate 4 Touch one of the three black boxes below the parameter to display the Modulation Parameters screen 5 Use the control knobs to select a value for the Source parameter This parameter specifies which signal will be used to control this pa...

Page 90: ...ouch one of the three black boxes below the parameter you want to modulate This brings up the Modulation Source screen 4 Touch Learn in the top right corner to enable MIDI CC learning mode 5 Move the MIDI control such as a knob or slider that you want to use with this parameter When blackbox has learned the mapping the Learn button will turn from blue to gray and the Source parameter will change t...

Page 91: ...are recorded in the blackbox preset as a mapping to a specific MIDI CC number on a specific MIDI Channel If you swap out MIDI controllers and the new controller uses the same MIDI CC number and channel it will continue to modulate the assigned parameter The MIDI channel assigned to a pad does not need to match the MIDI channel used for MIDI CC modulation There is a maximum of 8 MIDI CC mappings pe...

Page 92: ...rom 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 This doesn t impact how the MIDI device or Keys screen plays the slices MIDI Choose a MIDI channel not used by other pads or the MIDI Pads or MIDI Keys settings We want to see the difference between the default MIDI behavior on th...

Page 93: ...s the MIDI Pads channel on the TOOLS screen If the MIDI Keys parameter is set to Omni and the incoming notes are on a MIDI channel that has not been specifically assigned to anything else a pad s MIDI In or the MIDI Pads parameter then the currently selected pad will respond to notes on this channel If the MIDI Pads parameter is set to Omni and the incoming notes are on a MIDI channel that has not...

Page 94: ...ols 2 Touch the MIDI In tab at the bottom of the screen 3 Turn the knob next to the ProgChange parameter to select the value desired If you set ProgChange to ON when you initiate a MIDI program change on any connected MIDI channel blackbox will change to the corresponding preset NOTE Blackbox supports using MIDI Program Changes to access the first 128 presets This limit is the result of how MIDI m...

Page 95: ...ce 1 Connect your MIDI device to the blackbox MIDI TRS Output jack and configure it to use the desired MIDI channel 2 Configure a pad you want to use to drive the MIDI device You can use any WAV file in the pad and then mute the pad on the Mix screen if you don t want blackbox to generate sound for that pad 3 Push PADS and select the pad you want to use to drive the MIDI device 4 Push INFO twice a...

Page 96: ...rnal Clock When no other clock input is provided blackbox will use its own internal clock Set the BPM on the Song screen to adjust the clock speed 3 You can control whether blackbox responds to the USB Device MIDI input the TRS MIDI Input or ignores MIDI clock on the TOOLS screen 1 Push TOOLS and then touch MIDI In at the bottom of the screen 2 Turn the knob next to the ClockSource parameter to se...

Page 97: ... out a MIDI clock signal through the TRS MIDI output If you are using the TRS MIDI port be sure to check TRS Mini jack compatibility See Pin Mapping for Mini TRS Jack to MIDI 5 Pin DIN Connectors below for more information about compatibility Blackbox sends an analog pulse clock through the Clock Out port You can configure the PPQ sent out on the TOOLS screen Reset the Clock You can use the follow...

Page 98: ...e using an external USB MIDI device with blackbox you will need to ensure you have an adequate power supply to drive both blackbox and the MIDI device Use the provided USB power cable with one of the following to ensure adequate power The power supply provided to plug blackbox into a standard power outlet A power adapter that delivers at least 2 amps at 5 volts Newer iPad adapters will work The fo...

Page 99: ...ch the pad mode icon on the top left of the screen and then select New Recording to remove the WAV file mapping You will now see the Load and Record screen 3 Push INFO again to see the Parameters screen for this pad 4 Choose the Pad Mode on the Main page of the Parameters screen 5 Use the buttons across the bottom of the screen to choose the desired page and update the parameters as you normally w...

Page 100: ...hen needed Here s how to configure this option 1 Open the parameter pages for the pad that is experiencing aliasing 2 Touch ADSR to select that page 3 At the top of the screen to the right of the Exclusive grouping option is the interpolation algorithm option which is set to Normal by default Touch this to display the options menu Touch High Q to select the High Quality algorithm Note The High Qua...

Page 101: ...Disable the reverb by making sure no pads have FX2 applied on the FX screen This is an expensive algorithm that can also be done off board Keep in mind that the reverb will continue to run for 60 seconds after you disable it so you won t get the benefit for a short while Use mono samples instead of stereo where appropriate Stereo samples are twice the work to load and play Use 48kHz samples when p...

Page 102: ...from the microSD card onto your computer To Install New Firmware Here are the steps required 1 Download the desired firmware onto your computer You can find the latest firmware images on the forum 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 Make sure...

Page 103: ... forum 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 Keep in mind that you will ...

Page 104: ...lowed double quotes forward slash back slash question mark asterisk less than and greater than symbols the colon and the pipe symbol File names must be less than 256 characters including the path name Files that do not conform to these naming constraints will not be recognized by blackbox Maximum Number of Voices Supported Blackbox can support playback of up to 32 total voices across all pads at o...

Page 105: ...5 Pin DIN signals to mini TRS jack connectors The diagram below to the 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 For more information on the use of adapters read the blog post on...

Page 106: ...ive community of users of 1010music products at forum 1010music com If you have a question about blackbox 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 Us Are you loving blackbox Have questions You can contact us through o...

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