Time stretching - only "sync clip to bpm" and no "free range" stretching?

[nobuyoshi]

Hello everyone,

... sorry if that question has been brought up a lot of times already, I consulted the manual and tried the forum search to no satisfying avail.

I am on the lookout for a portable sampler and I´m eyeing the blackbox, but as far as I found out, it only supports syncing clips to bpm - whereas I need a "free range" time stretching, to fire vocal clips etc, and I´d also need to modulate the speed in realtime. In case I´m right and that doesn´t work (yet), how do I find out whether it´s on the development roadmap or whether I´d better move on?

Also, I´d like to know how good the time stretching sounds, but I haven´t found any decent examples online...
(Actually, I´m not looking for "hifi" but rather the "mid 90s Akai S-series sampler robotic time stretch sound")

Thanks for all and any pointers (and again, apologies if I missed obvious discussions of these questions).

[Georges]

Actually, in blackbox, clips sync to a time unit (eg 1/8 note, 1/4 note, 1 bar) based on the total number of time units (among which Auto), and not directly to bpm.

[jpablo91]

The clip mode is relatively basic and like Georges say you sync the clip based on time division length. You can also get some timestreching effects using the granular mode, where you can modulate the speed in real time.

[nobuyoshi]

Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately, that doesn't quite do what I need so unless a dev chimes in to tell me "it's on the roadmap", I'll have to go with [competitor's product redacted]...

[Steve]

jpablo91 & Georges have the right answers. You can control speed in granular mode. Not sure if that will get you what you want. the blackbox is a pretty capable little box.

[nobuyoshi]

I´d probably have to hear clear examples of how the granular speed control (slowing down and speeding up) sounds. For slowing down, I´m after the kind of sound one hears in Boards of Canada´s "Color of Fire" vocal sample (it´s right there on youtube, I don´t know whether I should post a link here...), and for speeding up, it should work well enough for drum loops (from hip hop and funk up to jungle speed).

[Steve]

post examples and I can let you know.

[nobuyoshi]

This is Boards of Canada, the color of fire - you´ll hear a super slowed down vocal right from the start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-eo20jpSKs

[Steve]

I can recreate that effect using the current granular controls in blackbox 2.0. Really, just adjusting the Speed control will do it. The effect in that song is very subtle (in a good way) compared to what is possible. Speed is modulatable by the internal LFO and/or external MIDI CC. So you can perform that effect in real-time.

[nobuyoshi]

That´s good to know, thanks for your effort - I´ll just give it a shot and order a Blackbox on 30-day-trial at my local store then (in case I can´t get the result I desire, I´ll be back ).

[Steve]

Load a vocal sample, set sample mode to Granular, adjust the speed control. I did this with an external MIDIfader because it has a longer throw and is a bit easier to perform. If you get stuck, come back and I'll help you figure it out.

[Cholobeats253]

How do u adjust the speed control in Granular mode?

[Steve]

Turn the corresponding knob or assign a modulation source to Speed.