END OF THE MPC STANDALONE!!!

That blackbox thing is just a simple playback type devise.Very uninspiring.....lol

dryad-66 wrote:That blackbox thing is just a simple playback type devise.Very uninspiring.....lol

i dont know if we watch the same video or not but it does what the mpc live does.

Features:

Record/edit samples and sequences to create songs via a fast, intuitive touchscreen interface.
Expandable microSD memory slot for importing WAVs, hours of audio recording/playback time and saving samples and Presets.
Combine loops with different tempos using built-in BPM synchronization and beat-slicing.
Play one-shot samples and loops from pads and/or a virtual keyboard.
Create and edit sequences using a standard Piano Roll interface.
Connect external hardware via USB to expand performance and control capabilities.
Make music anywhere thanks to a compact and nearly indestructible design.
Includes a sound library of beat packs with loops and one-shots by SoundTrack Loops and Loopmasters.
Input/output connectors to easily integrate with other studio and live sound tools: MIDI IO and Clock via USB and TRS, one 1/8” Audio In, three 1/8” Audio Outs plus a 1/8” Headphone/Stereo Output and USB power.

Well ok it records samples of course but.......it still looks uninspiring to me.The video did not do it justice probably also.It is small and portable tho : 0 ]

Blackbox can reliably play 16 voices across all pads simultaneously and it has 4 pulses per quarter (PPQs)
OUCH! This is not good.

until charles dropped that i was going to say it seems like where the 404, op-1 and live meet. I recall someone who is beta testing in a video or chat saying they would use it for launching clips live, thye didn't seem to impressed with it when asked about it.

CharlesRandolph wrote:Blackbox can reliably play 16 voices across all pads simultaneously and it has 4 pulses per quarter (PPQs)
OUCH! This is not good.

Post a link to the info

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcADNN9_Sok this thing well end the mpc standalone

I agree. Post a link. It’s 16 pads per preset, 16 sequences per preset, 16 songs per preset.

Each pad can have a sample up to 4GB size for a total of 64GB capacity per preset. Samples can be either sample, clip, or slicer and if sample is chosen for that particular pad, up to 4 note polyphony. That’s 4 note polyphony each pad x16 pads.

If clip mode is chosen for the particular pad, it’s 2 note polyphony for that clip or 2 note polyphony for the slice per pad if slice mode is chosen for that particular pad - Again x16 for the preset. So if a preset had 16 pads with sample chosen per pad, it can play up to 64 note polyphony for combined pads at 4 note polyphony each. Each sequence can have up to 128 steps and steps can have a resolution up to 64th notes.

No info on 4 pulses per quarter note anywhere.

If slice is chosen for the pad it can have up to 128 slices - only two slices on that particular pad can be played simultaneously but if all 16 pads were set to slice, then the preset is capable of 32 note polyphony (2 note per slice pad x16). The same for clips. If clip mode is chosen for all 16 pads in the preset, then up to 32 note clip polyphony per preset.

The only limitation I see to the sequencer is that only notes and velocity information can be sequenced. No parameter sequencing yet. No p-locks like Elektron machines or Deluge or Spectralis. It has stereo input for sampling anything connected to input, 3 stereo outs or 6 mono outs, built in fx, a USB midi host input for powering usb midi keyboards or pad controllers.

This streams directly from SD card with max 512GB SD card size.

Gonna laugh at a $600 machine that does all that but talk about servers with 256GB RAM. If only one 4 core CPU and 256GB filled RAM slots you are talking about a $4000 machine unless you bargain basement shop everything which doesn’t sound too pro to me. Have you ever heard a server start up that is equipped with 256GB RAM and needs to keep internals all cool? They have at least 6 fans, more likely 8 fans and it sounds like an airplane starting up until full bootup done and fans throttle back but are still noisy as hell. Whatever company puts that out has now cutoff all consumers that are DAWless solo artists playing live, all bedroom solo producers, and anyone else that just wants to have a portable groovebox sampler they can take anywhere on batteries. You have limited the market to pro studios only.

Keep laughing at Blackbox while they sell product as fast as they can get it. Watch the loopop video on the breakdown for all this info.

How do you think 1010Music’s support will be compared to Akai also? You think they are gonna ignore customers and take two years to not even complete promised functionality? Akai is the only one that can get away with that and only because of die hard MPC heads.

Sure, it can’t do some of the things the new MPC’s can do, but it also can do some things the MPC’s can’t do and it’s $500 cheaper than the live and $1500 cheaper than the X.

The Blackbox is a standalone Bitbox. So what ever the module does the BB should.
https://1010music.com/product/bitbox-eu ... ouchscreen

Info here Blackbox User Guide.
https://1010music.com/wp-content/upload ... v1.0.2.pdf

It still does not seem very inspiring to lookat/use tho.But ive ive only made a quick view.Let me know how you get on with it...

edit-no resonance yet....i wonder what else is missing.

The Mpc Live although more expensive, bulky and bitched about has just the rights features, I/o etc for me. This thing could be cool , but I’m not excited for it. To me this thing would be marketed to someone itb and wants to take the first step into hardware. Maybe a cool couch sketch pad, but’s not tactile enough for me either. Same argument as running bm3 in iPad really.

4 pulses per quarter note is for an analog CLOCK input (audio pulse), not Midi Clock input. It can receive midi clock in whatever the other source is putting out. It’s internal clock and ability to receive midi clock is still high resolution.

But whatever. I get it. It’s not enough for my needs either and really stripped down next to the Synthstrom Deluge I bought instead of a Live or X. The Deluge has built-in FM and Subtractive synths, is a full fledged sampler capable of playing multisampled instruments, is portable with built-in battery, has track mode, song mode, Arranger mode where you can record your live play into the arranger, streams from SD Card with only limit on card size being the limit of Fat32 which is about 2 terabytes realistically but anything you want to format fat32 over 32GB you have to use a Linux box or Mac to do (a Linux Live CD OS will work where you don’t have to install it, just boot up with it and restart for return to your windows OS) as windows only sees 32gb as highest fat32.

You could load a grip of stems from your DAW project as samples and have them all play no matter the size with disk streaming on the Deluge. It doesn’t touch RAM for samples. RAM use is for some sequencing data and synth/fx data. CPU only taxed if running many many synth tracks. Synth tracks (piano roll sequence) and Kit tracks (drum grid sequence or piano roll sequence) do not take up a midi channel. It exports stems also. Has 128 pad grid for sequencing, keyboard playing, wave editing start/stop points with zoom in to single line resolution displayed on the 128 pad grid, and a lot more. Was the cost of the Live though.

$600 still not bad for Blackbox. I’d probably look at a Digitone or Digitakt to compare to. Not really an MPC comparable product.

I’ve come to realize after being here since pre-launch of Live/X though that since this is “MPC-Forums”, just about everything will try to be compared to an MPC even if completely different cost bracket.

The Blackbox and Synthstrom Deluge doesn't have enough Audio I/O and MIDI I/O for me. Also. I'm pretty much passing on most gear, that does not have Dante. Personally, my next standalone Drum Machine, has to be a desktop computer replace.

The Ren or X will work great as controllers. I'm still waiting on the MPC Software to improve. So I can dedicate my build to just that program.

Wow!

@QuickStrike @Wormhelmet

1. I need to stop reading and watching videos at 3 am. So the 4 ppq is on clock in and out, what is the ppq for MIDI OUT? It does MIDI CLOCK, does it do MMC, SMPTE, or MTC?

I totally missed the part where he said it had 8 mono outs or 4 Stereo outs. I wonder how much cross talk happens when splitting the 1/8 stereo output. The device seems to be very usable. However he did mention the in/out do record and output at Euro Rack Level. Also if you work at 32 bit /96 Khz, does everything cut in half? Effects, Output, Etc.

Maximum Number of Voices Supported

Them:
Nothing in blackbox will prevent you from trying to play 4 voices on all 16 pads at the same time. However, the CPU can be overloaded if you play too many notes at once while also using sequencing and fx.

How many is too many?

Them:
You can reliably play 16 voices across all pads simultaneously. Beyond that, you may encounter some sound quality issues like crackling. The exact breaking point depends on whether effects are running, the CPU load and other factors.

How many and what effects can run before the breaking point?