blackbox 3.0 beta feedback (current version is 2.9.1)

[Interlooper]

Hi everyone, amazing job and thank you! I'm testing the new version and it forks fine so far. One question tho it may be just me....I can't find where did the CLR button go that clears a sequence?

[puffycaps]

Clear is in the Edit menu of the piano roll sequence page.

[Aaron]

Look for it in version 2.9.1

[stuartm]

"dr.snuggles commented
Today, 08:58 AM
using beta firmware and hoping for no bugs makes no sense :P Wait for 3.0 (likely 3.0.1 to fix bugs introduced...), they share this so we can test it, report bugs..."

I'm fully aware that it is a beta, and did not say I was hoping for no bugs. :P
I reported that MIDI Host Bug with Novation LCXL, which I have since transition from 2.0.0 to 2.1.0 and lenghtly discussed in the linked thread, is still there.

[dbot_dbot]

Great update, as said before, if you could sneak in a mono mode with glide as the other non sequence/song releated feature it would rock. This really is something that is missing and would go well with all the fancy new seq features

[groovelove]

Hey, thank you for the continuous BB updates!

Is it correct to assume that PSETS created with previous firmware versions have to be redone with the new update?
I noticed that in a lot of them the samples played in the sequences are pointing to different pads than before.

For example I usually use the bottom pad row for drums (from left to right: BD, SD, HH, TOM) and usually the bottom sequence row in the same order. (Seq1 for BD, Seq2 for SD etc.)
With version 2.3.2 every sequence in the bottom row is pointing to the BD pad instead to the different samples.
Sometimes it looks like it can be fixed when changing the sequence from KEYS to PAD, that makes the sequence play the correct sample however removes the midi notes.

It feels like the new update does not retain the sequence type from previous versions or something!?
Maybe I am not understanding something correctly. I definitely have to take a closer look.
It works again when going back to an earlier firmware version, so I am not worried for now.

[Aaron]

At this point we haven't put any effort into migrating the sequences and song sections from old presets. We still have some work to do. On the other hand, everything on the PADS screen should work as before.

[Aaron]

2.0 level preset import is implemented in 2.9.1. Please check it out and let us know how accurate the conversion is.

[Suspect Frequencies]

Hey, thank you for the continuous BB updates!



It feels like the new update does not retain the sequence type from previous versions or something!?
Maybe I am not understanding something correctly. I definitely have to take a closer look.
It works again when going back to an earlier firmware version, so I am not worried for now.

From the release notes…

’Please note that this new version is only partially compatible with existing presets--please make a back up of your work for safe keeping. Please consider this version a beta for evaluation only. We do not believe this version is ready for a performance.’

I always recommend having an additional SD card on hand that you can install beta and new firmwares on for testing and experimentation while the beta and testing bugs are ironed out. Undoubtedly the team will try their best to make the final version compatible. It is feasible that some areas and features may turn out to not be compatible with the final release. Time will tell.

[jayneural]

I notice most of my presets aren’t compatible indeed.

Probably they will add a kind of conversion process in updates or make the code backwards interoperable.

[-thus-]

Possible SEQS bug report: "PADS mode" does not show newly recorded notes if pads are triggered via MIDI in.

I have a kick and snare on pads 1 and 2, respectively. Steps to reproduce:

1. Set pad 1 MIDI In to Ch 1.
2. Set pad 2 MIDI In to Ch 2.
3. My midi controller keyboard is split so that the left hand triggers the kick via midi Ch 1 and the right hand triggers the snare via midi Ch 2.
4. Press SEQS, select Seq 1.
5. Press INFO, and set the mode to PADS. The grid shows the pad numbers along the left axis.
6. Press REC+PLAY.
7. Play a kick-snare beat with a midi controller for 1 bar (the length of the sequence).
8. Press REC to stop recording while the recorded beat plays back in a loop (confirming that the beat was recorded correctly).

Expected: The sequence grid will show when pads 1 and 2 are triggering.
Actual: The sequence grid is empty.

Note: If I record the pads using the screen of the Blackbox instead of an external midi controller, PADS mode grid shows the triggered pads as expected.

[Christine]

Nice find. I have logged the bug. Thanks for the detailed bug report.

[-thus-]

Thanks, Christine!

[arteom]

Thanks for the update 1010 team.

One issue I'm seeing is that if I switch from one sequence layer to another it will immediately stop playing the current layer but not start the next until it loops back around. Ideally it would stop/start in sync based on quant size setting.

[Christine]

This is by design. Only one layer may be played at a time. Perhaps "layer" is the wrong name. We will look for alternative terms.

[arteom]

Christine I understand that. The issue is how layers stop. If you have layer a playing and you press button for layer B, layer A stops immediately but layer B doesn't start immediately. You're left with a period of silence until layer B starts.

[Aaron]

Thanks for reporting this one. It is fixed in version 2.9.1

[Asconwe]

A few requests for the vastly improved song mode:

Please allow looping of the whole song

Please allow setting a length in bars for scenes - this would make it easier to work with sequences of different lengths

[jayneural]

Those sound both relevant and easy to implement ;-)

[Christine]

Regarding scene length defined in bars, we went with a loop count so you wouldn't have to do the math. But there are certainly trade offs. It gets tricky to define the "scene length". We will consider the length in bars option. Thanks for the feedback.

[chrith]

Great!
But...
Can one now connect more than one USB controller at a time?
(say: a launchpad x and a usb keyboard)

[Christine]

You can connect one USB MIDI device and one TRS MIDI device. There is nothing new in this regard.

[jayneural]

A couple of bugs I notice after I tried a example project on 2.3b :

• When transitioning from a section to another in SONG mode, there's something wrong with the sequence events, for example on my project I have a simple kick going then I transition to B variation on section 2, which just adds a snare every 8 steps. For the first time it plays section 2 it adds a snare along side the first kick for some reason. No problem if I play individually in SEQ or If I start directly from section 2 in SONG.
• In SONG, when using the first grid to select the active pads, that has no effect on the "mute" state of the pads, I an hear them all even if I activated only the first one. I understood this was a sort of SONG making based on activating/muting individual pads but maybe I misunderstood.

I attach the example project I made if that can help.

• if you play it as is in SONG mode and wait until section 2 starts, you'll notice there's one extra snare that we cannot find in variation B of the unique sequence in SEQ.
• and if you play with the first grid in SONG to activate/deactivate pads, there is no effect on the mix, they just all can be heard.

Hope it helps in fixing the issues.

[jayneural]

OK that solved both of my issues. Thanks for helping me clarifying this, I read the doc but didn't get the concept.

Well I really like the way it works actually because you can mix a loop based and a sequence based workflow !

Would even work with one shots for special FX or long background sounds. I'm twice impressed now ! \o\ \o/ /o/

[-thus-]

That’s great!!!

[Christine]

We may be able to support one shots in the samples grids, but right now they aren't work well. For example, the plan is that the clips and sequences define the length of the Scene. Long samples could be triggered as a backing sound. Use the "keep" function to keep them playing without restarting. For this to work, the sample, slicer and granular pads don't impact the scene length. But in the beta they do. I would just avoid using samples in the beta. Clips should work, though.

[Suspect Frequencies]

Great!
But...
Can one now connect more than one USB controller at a time?
(say: a launchpad x and a usb keyboard)

I did not read anything about that in the beta release notes.

[jayneural]

Don’t you have an issue with multi-samples not playing well with this version ?

Like if they were playing two octaves down and with no note length.

[Oddkeys]

Thank you for the update!

I have been paying today and found some bugs with the song mode.

1) The 'keep' arrow and the bank letter (A-D) remain 'above' the top menu, when there are enough song sections to cause you to scroll. This is just a minor interface gripe but it's worth fixing nonetheless.

2) More importantly.. I have set up a song with 8 scenes. Each scene represents part of a song (intro, verse, chorus etc).

At the moment every scene is identical except for the 'play count' of each scene. The first scene also triggers a long sample which is 'kept' thgough every other scene. In other words I have set up a simple drum beat, then recorded a long guitar part in one of the banks in scene 1.

This works great for the first 5 scenes, and then something goes a bit amiss - even though the same sequence is playing in every scene, some of the beats don't sound in the 6th scene.

I've tried duplicating the previous scene, (ie so it's a "working" scene) but the issue still happens.

3) In this same scenario, the play count for my 6th scene is also ignored - it always plays 4 times regardless of what the play count is set to. Every other scene has the pay count working correctly.


I am very happy to provide whatever information I can to help, let me know what you need.

Cheers!

[Christine]

1.) Nice catch on the scrolling bug.
2.) Are you using a pad in sample mode or clip mode? The sample mode pads are not working properly right now.
3.) I will look into the loop count issue for the last scene.

[Oddkeys]

Thanks Christine,

2) Yes- everything is in sample mode. They seem to work fine for the most part though. I've never used clip mode but will look into it.
3) it's not actually the last scene, it is any scene after a certain point, things start to go a bit screwy with scene length. In my test project, the playback is consistent and right up to around 40 bars. At that point it is supposed to switch to a 6th scene, but it's stuck on the 5th scene for about 8 bars longer than it is supposed to be. When it does switch, I get missing beats, which looks like it happens because the switch seems to happen mid-bar. (Or at least after the first beat).

I hope this helps track the issue down a bit

[manu_controvento]

Hey, awesome! Thanks! just a doubt... the 4 layers per sequence are intended to play all together overlapped, or you have to choose which layer to play?

[manu_controvento]

Yes, in fact it was my doubt as well... "layer" made me think about something overlapping in arrangement. But they're not, they're more like "pages" or "patterns" or even "banks"

[Christine]

We see the confusion of using the term Layer. We are considering other options. Variation is the term that stands out for me, but we haven't finalized it yet.

[Paranormal Patroler]

Christine "Take" or "Alternative" would be good options for the term, as it designates that they are substitutes and not to be played simultaneously. If the UX permits the size, I would go for "Alternative" if the intended purpose is to be able to switch between those as you progress in a Song. "Take" is more of a Bluebox term and associated with recording audio, not so much sequencing, but it could work in the context as well. </UX copywriter hat off>

[bobamess]

Do I understand correctly that it is not possible in beta (and planne for final I assume) to play a highlighted pad in the pad view with a globally set midi channel?

[-thus-]

Apologies for my incorrect comment earlier. I’ve edited it so that no-one is misled by it.

[Lucas]

You could setup each pad for the same MIDI channel and use the Mute page of the Mixer to "select" aka unmute the desired Pad.

[bobamess]

Thx for your answers!
I´ll try your suggestions as soon as I´m back in my studio, yet I´m stilll thinking, it was a pretty handy function. Maybe there is the possibility to have both the seq and keys channel?