blackbox 3.0.7 feedback

[_monomakes_]

3.0.7
A sequence entered via the KEYS keyboard is erased upon viewing.
If entered into the piano roll individually, the same thing happens.

The video shows this behaviour.
Sequences don't work for me. The BB has become a drone box or soundboard - cool, but, I mean...

https://youtube.com/shorts/DEHqkxiSpqM?feature=share

This issue is also present in 3.0.9.

[Georges]

A little bit of a missed opportunity that all relevant sequences/pads start from their respective beginning in a new song scene. It would be great if Keep could be used to let the seqs/pads pick up from their respective playback points.

Example. Imagine a 16 bar loop, as the longest sequence or pad in a song scene, and another shorter 7 bar sequence. The scene will therefore be 16 bars long. At the beginning of the next scene, if both seqs are meant to be there, instead of letting the 7 bar sequence play from its 3rd bar (7+7+2=16), it will start from bar 1 again.

With Keep on that 7 bar seq I was intuitively expecting it to continue playing from bar 3 instead of restarting at bar 1. To no avail. So I checked the guide and found out that Keep only works for pads/seqs triggered manually outside of a song scene and not for those previously triggered by another song scene.

[Christine]

Did you dial down the quant size for the 7 bar sequence? It's on the SEQ tab of the Sequence parameters screen. Set it to your step size.

[Georges]

Hi Christine, thank you for the suggestion, are you sure this will work? The quant size in the sequence is already set to 1 bar, same as the step size. The sequence has 7 steps. The clip, which was recorded with custom rec to an exact 7 bar length, plays on toggle mode with a single event stretching over the 7 bars in the sequence.

[langley]

I tried the keep mode and found that, for long samples, the left hand "pad event" grid needs to be used for the sample to continue to play rather than the right hand "sequence" grid. This makes sense as, previously, sequences had to be created that were really long but with just one sample triggered which was a bit odd. Now I can have looping sequences and long samples sitting side by side - nice!

[Georges]

yes, that’s its intended and limited use case

[Jack Pimiento]

Hi all.

Sequencing an External synth over USB? BB 3.09

BB connected to the Micro Freak via USB. USB out on the BB to the USB in on the Microfreak

The release notes say:

• USB MIDI output is also back--with some special options to help with routing and troubleshooting.

I've selected a sequence.
Selected type 'Midi'
Selected the pad that matches the sequence via the grid in the top left. (do I need to do this?)
Pressed 'Seq' and adjusted the midi channel to the desired channel. Checked the synth is receiving on that channel also and is expecting it via usb. .

Tools. (not sure how necessary this is)

Enabled Midi out
Enabled USB dev out

I can't get the BB to sequence my Microfreak.

What am I dong wrong?

[DarkShadow]

Hello,

I have a strange issue with 3.0.7 and 3.0.9, multiple reload attempts with different cards tested also , all loading processes go normally and all functions seems to function as should, however my output on all ports has a very raspy pulsating noise / (scratches like very dirty vinyl) sound overtop of all audio no matter what settings I try, levels, or anything (event just metronome). All was perfect with other version but with these newest versions all audio outputs get this distortion on them. Thoughts?

Thank you!

[Steve]

That sounds troubling. Please get in touch with us directly, and we can help you figure it out.

[TimBaba]

Hey hey!
First of all, thanks to another amazing update!
I just updated to 3.0.9 and I can‘t enter MIDI notes in the sequencer via MIDI keyboard. Tried different devices on MIDI in and via USB. It‘s only working when I first record one note with the internal keyboard or pad and delete it, but just in sequence A. The others won‘t enter even with the weird work around. Anybody else got this issue?
Thanks for any help!

Cheers

[focal sounds]

That's odd. Mine works floorlessly.
You will have a very obvious setting out of place.
Cross check everything with the updated notes and video release. The required set up is in there.
If still having trouble, I'll check my settings tomorrow and drop them here. Good luck!

[emcephalitislethargica]

I really would like to be able to sequence Toggled Clips in the Sequencer again

that was my entire workflow with the Black box prior to this update. I dont want to rollback and lose the working midi sequencing or break my old presets or anything, but I need that functionality back if possible.

My process is to record quantized, sometimes synced Clips (set to Toggle) in the PAD screen one by one while the clock plays and just keep layering and layering -
Then, I go to the Sequence page set to PADS, hit record, go back to PAD page and live record my Clip launch/toggle actions as if im launching session clips/loops in Ableton to create a song.

I think song mode is good, but the only solution i can find here is to manually add one new clip per Song "Scene" which is not anywhere near the same as my original process and doesn't work for me. Samples dont seem to work either. I dont want to have to trigger an event for every loop or have them unquantized or set release to max on a sample envelope so it doesn't fade out in the middle of a sequence. It feels like the new Song Mode should incorporate that functionality, be an extension of it, rather than replacing it with a tracker style manual entry page.

It doesn't seem difficult and I can't imagine it's not a desired behavior than others beside me have used to build arrangements from loops/clips

Please add that functionality again

[Steve]

emcephalitislethargica It wasn't removed. You now have to explicitly set the length of your notes in the sequencer. So if you trigger a Clip and want it to loop for 4 bars, set up your sequence and ensure the note's duration is 4 bars long.

[georgesbraco]

I have a big bug. In seq edit mode, when i switch to "pad", all the note of the sequence disapear.

[Christine]

This is by design. The pads and keys sequences are stored differently. You can't switch between them. Try Undo.

[maxman]

a new bug mentioned here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U64qVRs7TdQ

basically it misses the note stop signal for external gear...

[focal sounds]

Steve
Is it possible when utilizing midi in thru - to still have the midi seq channel work as a thru (not triggering) to multiple instruments.

For example.
I have a midi keyboard sending data over channel 5.
I have midi seq channel set to 5.
I have midi in thru enabled.
I have another midi pad controller to send data over another channel and thru into an external sequencer.
External sequencer then triggering pads in the BB.
I am not using the BB sequencer to trigger anything other than operating as a selector for different midi outs.

My concern is, if I have midi in thru enabled - does this prevent the use of my midi keyboard passing data over channel 5 (midi seq channel) ??

Hope that makes sense. I can't try this right now because I'm waiting on a midi host device to arrive.

Any thoughts?

[Steve]

Setting MIDI In Thru means anything coming into the TRS MIDI port gets forwarded to the TRS MIDI Out port. In theory, yes, you should be able to do what you describe. I am not in front of my gear now, but I think it should work.

[focal sounds]

Thank you
I'll update here once I attempt it.

[focal sounds]

Hi Steve, I tried a soft version of it today and it doesn't seem to work. If midi-thru is selected it seems to disable the ability for Seq Midi channels to send any data out. Is this something you guys are aware of?

I also noticed while playing around with a few configurations that there may be a small midi clashing bug - but this may also be me over estimated what the BB midi is capable of.

When using both USB and TRS midi ins. Even if channels are separated correctly. The BB seems to want to favour one or the other.
Along with some very strange behaviour like midi notes being sent to BB via USB are effecting Seq Select cells even if on different midi channels etc.. Let me know if you would like more information regarding the set up.

If I unplug the USB midi and plug back in it favours the USB midi. After I start using my Midi Keyboard over TRS Midi it turns off any data coming from the USB Midi in.

Any thoughts?

[Steve]

Maybe send me a short video so I can see this. However, it is true that when you Thru data, you give up sending MIDI from the internal sequencer. This is an either/or compromise.

[comradecry]

Is aliasing issue on 3.0.7/9 known, or is it just me? I think something is up with bitrate conversion, as most of my files sound rough now, even without changing pitch.
Using a lot of 44.1 wavs, and i remember they were sounding good before.

I took a recording thats clearly highlighting the issue https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fSl...usp=share_link
Here is the original file for comparison https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Dq...usp=share_link

Recording was taken on a freshly made new project, with untouched parameters, and is accurate to what i hear using headphones.
Im also noticing clicks and noise that werent there before in other samples.

[Steve]

Have you tried the HighQ parameter? Also, the DAC is 24/48. Yes, the blackbox can playback any combination. However, using a combo other than 24/48 does require the CPU to do unnecessary work. Try converting to 24/48 and check again.

[comradecry]

Thanks for the responce Steve!
HighQ makes non 24/48 samples sound fine.
I think what confused me is that HighQ setting was also on for "Play" function in the file browser, prior to version 3.
Or it was affected by the cell setting before. But now its always off inside the browser, so its difficult to hear samples that dont match DAC specs.

[arteom]

what I'm having a hard time with is slices with midi/keyboard. In the past I could select the pad that had a sliced sample, play my keyboard and it would play the slices in that pad. Now the only way I can do that is to set the sliced pad to the midi channel of the keyboard, do my thing, and then again switch to another midi channel (so it doesn't keep playing this pad. This is cumbersome, as in the past I could just select the pad, play the keyboard, then select any other pad and it would no longer play the sliced pad. Any ideas?

Another issue is controlling an external device (synthesizer) with my keyboard. I can do this now if I set MIDI Out to "midi in thru", but the downside of this is the blackbox no longer sends start/stop messages to say the likes of my drum machine. To make that work I have to set MIDI Out to "Enabled". But then I lose the ability to play my external gear.. The way this worked in the past was to set a sequence to the midi channel of the external synth, my burner pad, and play that burner pad. This would play the external synth.

I'm on version 3.0.9.

[Steve]

I believe your first paragraph is referring to Global MIDI Keys being removed. In that case, you must set up the pad-level MIDI channel to match your external controller if you want to trigger slices individually using different notes/keys.

A MIDI sequence will thru data sent from the MIDI Seq channel when a sequence has a MIDI out channel set. This should let you always thru data.

[arteom]

I am not using a MIDI Sequence. Let me give that a try and get back to you. Won't be able to follow up for a few days.

[arteom]

using a midi sequence took care of the midi-thru issue. thanks Steve!

[focal sounds]

Unless Midi In Thru is enabled. Then the Midi Seq Channel is by passed. Is this the desired feature? ... Or a small over site? Would be amazing (and make sense) for Midi Seq channel to still act as a Thru when Midi In Thru is enabled.