Blackbox 1.7.D Feedback

[Aaron]

Version 1.7.D is now available.

Please post your reactions below. Can you play more notes at once?

[jayneural]

Hi Aaron,

any insight on the changes ?

bug fixing I presume ?

thx

[jayneural]

Ok found the release notes on the download thread.

[mojod20]

Holy shit... this looks like it has cleared up ALL my issues on the sample / sequence side.

So far, I have:

- Created a new preset to test all the problems ive been having with samples dropping out and when live recording. Ive tested both recorded samples as well as my library samples, but this time gone on to fill up all 16 pads, adding ALL of them live to the sequence AND trying to push it adding effectsand having no issues at all!

- Tracks previously created that I couldn't go further on because they started dropping out/distoring/slowing and flashing, I have opened ALL of them, played all the sequences together and they seem problem free on a run.

This is only a quick test, so cant comment any further on anything else so far, but fair play, seems a great firmware update for some of the issues myself and others have been having!! When I'm allowed out of lockdown here in the UK and allowed to touch people again, I am flying over to touch you all.

[jayneural]

That’s cool. Will test it as well this weekend.

great job Aaron !

[Michal Ho]

I've been on 1.7.D all day now and haven't encountered any major issues, almost finished a track.
PMd' for some questions regarding slices.

Thanks for the update!

[activedevice]

hi,

i got new firmware and its work fine, great machine. i have some suggestions for the next upgrade...

- pleaseee add roll or scatter mode,
- upgrade the delay and reverb fxs, because now the quality is very low
- works with aif files
- add arpeggio mode

keep in touch

luca

[jayneural]

What’s the problem with the delay/reverb ? I love them !

[jsilence]

Great suggestions! Care to add them to the wishlist thread? That way they don't get lost in the depths of discussions.

[mycoffeeguy]

Wait, this fixes the beginning note in the sequence being truncated slightly, or the issue of live recording the 1st note of a sequence during Play/Rec and that note being left off placement?

[Aaron]

I'm not completely sure what you mean. We did tweak the sequencer and clip playback. Please try it out and let us know.

[wheels]

Thanks for the new firmware. For me it crashes and reloads continuously on start up, until I unplug the unit.

It will install, and then on powering up it loads the blank pads screen for a couple of seconds and then when the previously used pads load up they show for about less than a second before the unit goes off and loads again. This continues until I power off.

FYI I use the BB as a 16 channel stand-alone sampler, triggered from external gear over midi. I don't use USB nor Sequences nor Songs

[Steve]

horstbot were you trying to load that file when it crashed? If not, where was it and how did you determine it was the cause? What is the sample rate & bit depth of the file in question? More info, please.

[horstbot]

Hi Steve , I'm glad you asked because I found errors in my assumptions. I think it wasn't the metadata but rather the 48000hz/mono/32bit-float format of the file. While removing the metadata I also converted the file to 16bit resolution and then it worked.
More info: To get bb to get out of the reboot cycle I changed the settings xml and changed the last used preset entry. The preset was not packed. The wav file resides in a toplevel folder /MINE where I collect all my samples and loops. The file is an extract from a french poem downloaded from LibriVox. Even loading this sample to an empty pad of a working preset, bb crashes - also preview listening while file browsing in the load dialog crashes with this file. If you like, I can send you the perpetrator (2 MB).

[Steve]

That sounds right. We have identified that particular issue with sample rate & bit depth combo. Stay tuned.

[Rmg____]

I can't wait to try this! Thanks Aaron!

[monoNput]

Upgraded from 1.7.4 to this firmware and so far everything is working as expected. Novation LaunchKey Mini MK3 works great (as it did before). I'm absolutely loving this device and really appreciate all the ongoing support to keep making it better.

[pbmike]

I have the following issue with the Arturia Keystep 37 midi keyboard

I have booted the Blackbox with the new firmware and then connected the Keystep 37. At this time, plugging the keyboard via USB made the Blackbox shutting down and reset. Then fine, I was able to use the Blackbox.

Performances were really great, seems way better to me compare to the last version. (thank you for that!)

Unfortunately, I had just recorded a chord on a Poly4 sample with keystep into Blackbox sequencer, and then changed the starting point of the sample while it was triggered by the sequencer, the Blackbox crashed and restarted. Then Blackbox started to enter a loop of crash and restart even with the keystep disconnected

As a side note, I always had issue with the Keystep 37 and blackbox, even with v1.6.5 and v1.7.4, with crashes but not with a crash loop like that. Would be great if it could be fixed with that keyboard, they make a great combo together

Thanks in advance!

[Steve]

Are you powering the keystep from the blackbox?

[digidestrukt]

Maybe try updating keystep firmware? There was a problem before with the smaller keystep that arturia fixed

[pbmike]

It did solve it, thanks!

[Rmg____]

Just had a quick test, really happy to report the mc707 no longer causes the bb to freeze with usb connection. Thanks so much!

I hoped with the mention of slicer playthrough sync that this bug was fixed, but it's still occurring in my test pset (posted in a reply)
https://forum.1010music.com/forum/pr...-with-playthru

[zerocopter]

Can confirm the previous statement. I also hoped, that looping slices are now in sync and are not drifting away anymore.
However, this problem (I reported it in reply #10 of the post linked by Rmg____ ) still persists in 1.7.D.
Any chance to fix that?
It seems there are some sample points missing at the start or at the end of the sliced sample clip when setting it to loop (to fully fill e.g. 1 bar). Maybe just 1 or 2 sample points, since it drifts after a longer period of time with a constant value.

[Aaron]

Regarding slice mode, here is the repro I am working from:

1. Create a new pad
2. Load the factory sound \SoundtranLoops\SL Bossanova\DR L Drum Kit 70BPM
3. Put it in Slice mode
4. Scan for slices at 25% threshold
5. Turn Quant Size to 1 bar
6. Turn Sync On
7. Turn PlayThru to On
8. Turn Loop Mode to On
9. Turn BeatCount to 8
10. Turn Launch Mode to Toggle
11. Turn TOOLS Metronome to Play
12. On the PADS screen, touch this new pad and press the PLAY button

Result: The loop will play in sync with the master tempo.

Follow on test:

1. While stopped, change the song tempo to something else
2. Touch the pad and press play

Result: The loop will play in sync with the new tempo.

Here are some caveats:

1. This is only meant to work Play Thru: ON. If you want to play a single slice in time with the master tempo, switch Loop Mode to off and trigger the slice as you like with a sequencer. This will provide much better results.
2. It may be necessary to place the first slice at the very beginning to help keep the overall loop in sync in the long run
3. Changing the tempo while playing make get things out of sync. Restart the loop or retrigger the a slice to get back on grid
4. The synchronizing is meant for slices that are at least 10ms apart and mark the beats. In the test file you submitted, I wouldn't expect that to work. How is that supposed to sound? Please try something that marks transients you can verify are on beat

[Rmg____]

I added a new example to the thread: https://forum.1010music.com/forum/pr...-with-playthru
thanks for listening!

[Rmg____]

@Aaron here's a test you can try with stock assets:
-load loopmasters>loops>drums&perc>full drum loops>aald 120 full drums 21 into 2 pads
-pad1: sample mode, gate trigger
-pad 2: slicer, threshold 25, gate trigger, playthru on
-press and hold both pads at once, beats go out of sync towards the end

[zerocopter]

Hi Aaron!

Okay, thank you for the explanation! With the playthru option it works as you described it now - thank you!

Also, playing the single slice in time with the master tempo works if you trigger it with the sequencer (as for previous firmwares). However, I hoped that looping a single slice would work also without setting a trigger in the sequencer (that would be an enhancement of the workflow). It is working with the sequencer, but it seems a bit like a workaround if you want to loop a specific part of your clip. Actually, the best option would be to select the start point (e.g. 5th bar of an 8 bar loop) and duration (e.g. 4 bars) of the clip when in the clip mode settings. But that was already posted in the wish list section

Thank you anyway for the brilliant product maintainance!

[Rmg____]

Hi, I noticed the issue of sliced playthru drifting when working with a regular chopped up drum loop, where sometimes I was just triggering short slices and other times holding the slice so more of the sample would play with playthru. On the longer held notes, I perceived it slowly going out of time (it turns out as more slices play one after another). The example is just meant as a way to highlight the issue, would a real world chopped drums example help?