blackbox 3.0 beta feedback (current version is 2.9.1)

[Dansterism]

I'm trying to update from 2.5.1 to 2.9.1
I drop the downloaded firmware onto the SD card to overwrite 2.5.1.
Pop the SD card out and back into the BB... still says 2.5.1
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks
Dan

[Steve]

Are you holding BACK + INFO when powering on? You hold both buttons during power-up to initiate the update process.

[Dansterism]

Oh god thank you so much! Duh

[editech]

Hi All, Just got to know the new OS. I'll stray away from feature requests and keep it to bugs .

At first try, my previous song was absent of any structure and had to be rebuilt. All of the song parts were listed, but no sequences were assigned to the song parts. So I had to rebuild all of my songs. Not a big deal as it taught be how to use the new song mode. I like how there is now a way to assign different sequence parts to the song structure and each sequence can have 4 banks, which is definitely cool.

Another thing that happened is one of my sequence parts came in blank, so I had to rewrite the sequence, it was a simple drum pattern so not a big deal.

When trying to record a new sequence, nothing would happen, I hit record, bang on the pads and no sequence data gets recorded. I made sure I was out of song mode prior. After several tries, I was able to finally record the sequence. I'm not sure what I did to get it to work to be honest.

I noticed that using an external keyboard, when drumming, I selected the sequence screen, the keyboard itself starts selecting sequences. I don't see a benefit to this and is a bit confusing. So I think I have to stay in the pads screen to drum.

[jayneural]

looks like the sequence destination selection is not determined by your current PAD anymore.
You have to choose it manually inside SEQ. I have very hard time to get used to this change.
Makes the Blackbox from "pretty straightforward" to somehow confusing for me.

[-thus-]

I noticed that using an external keyboard, when drumming, I selected the sequence screen, the keyboard itself starts selecting sequences.

There is a MIDI setting in TOOLS called MIDI Pads that lets you choose a channel for operating your Blackbox remotely with MIDI notes, mapped to pads and sequences. It’s mentioned in the 3.0 firmware post and in the 2.0 user manual (p.94). Make sure it’s set to None or a different MIDI channel if you don’t want notes on your MIDI controller to trigger pads and sequences.

[fabioneves]

This one straddles the line between bug and feature request, but I noticed that sometimes it's hard to tell if a sequence has data on it depending on which notes are recorded (see video).

Also, are there plans to add CC automation recording/editing?

[Steve]

Please show us the actual sequence so we can see where the notes are.

[fabioneves]

First of all, thanks for the quick replies. I've added the preset to this post - please check attachments!

I went back to this after reading your comments and noticed that:
1. The sequence modes were set to PADS. Once I changed them to MIDI the notes showed up on the SEQ page. Great! BUT...
2. No notes show up on the sequence page itself no matter what I do! So there's definitely still a bug there.

I've uploaded another video showing the issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29SEry-4PMg

[Steve]

Thanks for sharing this. I believe I understand the issue. I found something similar on my end. There are still a few weird things going on with sequences as we work through the beta.

[offliner]

Hello. Please help me what am I doing wrong? notes are not written in the sequence if you play through the piano roll.
Version 2.9.1 on version 2.1.5 did not have such a problem.
There is a link to the video. Thank you.

[Interlooper]

Enter the Sequence Pads are now default, you can select Keys or Midi.

[Steve]

This video is not available to me

[offliner]

thank you very much)

[WarriorLite]

Switching off song to avoid progressing has now some drastic effects, sometimes sequences just stop playing in unison.
Ideally, switching off song mode would do only this, allowing you to safely progress with your guitar solo beyond 32 bar mark.

[jaydsp]

It would be useful in my setup to be able to selectively filter MIDI Outs for transport controls , clock, and possibly per-channel if the 3.0 Thru option is included.

In my use case, my two Blackboxes are sending MIDI sequences to a variety of devices via a MIDI Merge box. But the clocks they receive are external, as are transport controls, all via the same MIDI merge box.

So I ran into this issue where the clocks are multiplied into infinity by that setup (and many devices crash or restart) until I inserted an external MIDI filter on the outs of each BB before the signals are re-merged toward external synths and effects units.

cheers
J

[dicemanpro]

Thanks for the MIDI update, the layering is a really fantastic idea, I've been so much missing before
As I use the blackbox mainly as a sequencer, controlling several synthesizers via different MIDI channels simultaneously, I would like to see on a sequence screen are there any layers exist for every sequence or not. Because I use a lot of presets and I will use a layering lot, I would like to know whether I have the MIDI sequence in layer B/C/D or not.

Thanks a lot for your support, your updates make me happy!

[fiddymen]

Sequencer bug found (I dunno if it's been mentioned sorry) - Duty cycle setting does not carry over to the seq subgroups (B,C,D). Seq. N-A will play the sequence at the set duty cycle, but the others seem to be stuck at 100%. I haven't figured a way around this. [And just to sneak in a feature request it would be pretty sick if we could modulate duty cycle or set it on a per step basis]

Note: This is specifically in regards to MIDI out. I'm not sure if it acts the same with internal sequencing.

[jinglemarsta]

In Sequences, when dealing with different layers, I found that CLR (clear) clears all the layers for that sequence pad. For instance I had recorded sequence on layer A, then moved to layer B to record a sequence there, I made a mistake, used CLR, re-recorded it correctly only to discover that in using CLR while in layer B, that it also cleared for me all the other layers. It would be good to have CLR focused on just clearing the layer you are currently editing and not all the sequence layers on that pad.

[Steve]

if you use CLR from the sequencer home screen you will clear all layers. If you use Edit > Clear from the piano roll (layer) you only clear that layer.

[Steve]

Can you give more details? When you are in Song mode and you have a scene playing - you touch Song to disable Song mode. Are you wanting to hang out on the current scene? Or stop at the end of that scene?

[WarriorLite]

When in song mode, with some pads triggered extra, when I got off song mode, the in-scene parts would stop, leaving only the extra. This is good but much more specific situation.

I think it is needed to have a function that just lets you continue your guitar solo beyond 12 bars "scheduled" in song's scene - with a press of a button to let all the active loops go on.