Dude, thank you *so much* for narrating your entire process--first ideas, left turns, doubts, confusion, mistakes, bumpin' break thrus. I learn a ton from watching you create.
... the black & blue together, with their multiple stereo outputs, i find to be the most useful two devices that have emerged from the suffocating morass of the music tech industry in the last few years.
I use one of mine primarily for instrument multisamples, having finally worked out how to convert an existing multisample library into what the BB can read. it's very good for stuff like mellotron samples, & I've filled mine from my own m400 so I don't have to schlepp the latter any more. 🙂
woah, you threw me. intro had no sound and i thought something was up with my computer 😂 thanks for the video, informative, entertaining and inspiring as always 🤟
This is such an amazing time to make music! There are an overwhelming amount of instruments that can single handedly do EVERYTHING 🙌♥️ that kinda makes it a hard time to make a decision though 😋
seriously, what's even more amazing is i end up making the same-ish type of track on every device and no device makes me a "better" musician. Honestly just pick your poison haha
Ricky, I put the kettle on, to watch a quick review, forgot to engage the whistle, kettle almost went dry, you drew me in and what a trip it was. gotta get myself a BB or 2! you got a relaxed and engaging style - thankyou, B
Damn you didn’t eject the sd card, i’ve never had the balls to do that respect ✊. Also I totally agree the Blackbox is incredible piece of hardware. It’s workflow is so open ended that you don’t really know what you’re doing at the beginning but then you realize you can do basically anything, in any way you want and it’s awesome.
Great to see you getting the BB out again. In some ways It's limited in it's feature set but I find it to be an awesome starting point for ideas. As for the live set problem you mention, I've been tempted to get a second one and use it as '2nd deck', maybe run two of them into an octatrack and you've got a live sequencing powerhouse and effects.
toooootally. i've done a video in the past where i just record my 2-4 bar loops into it and get "ready" for a show by just jamming... finding something cool.. can grabbing it and playing it out later!
@@RickyTinez I’d love to see a video of building a whole track, not just a 2 or 4 bar loop. I do this a lot. Lots of hot loops, no full tracks - other than recorded jams which are fun but mostly not publishable material
I love my 1010 Bitbox Micro in eurorack. I'm planning to add their Lemondrop granular synth as a standalone instrument rather than a granular module, it's that well-thought out and capable on its own with any midi controller.
I don't use the presets during a live set or a long improv session, except for an initial setup- "fetch me some of the things I might use & put them here, here & here" sort of thing. I discovered that you can quickly reload samples into the pads while the thing's running, & working like that allows a set to develop & evolve, rather than stop-start or relying on another bit of gear to lay down some covering fire while you reload, so to speak. of course, I have three BBs anyway, & the bluebox recorder which is excellent. 😀
Love this, the weekend ain’t the weekend without a new Ricky video. I got lost in this too, forgot it was a tutorial, just got into that groove and been dancing round the room! 🔥 🔥 👏👏👏👍
I was wondering when you were going to take this out again, with the update... Such a fun piece of gear. I am still blown away by its sound. Great work!
yea something happened with this thing where it really did get way better. the functionality is great. Sure i wish it had more modulation sources or env->filter would be the ONE that i really want.. but honestly it does so much at this point that i don't even mind..
@@RickyTinez you can use saw (or is it reverse saw, can never remember) LFO with beat sync to emulate env->filter. This can work nicely. You can use this thing like a synth! The resonance really helps take a sample a lot further too. Some people are doing this with single cycle samples, and I’ve done fun flanger type effects on things like hats using the same samples and sequences twice with one just slightly detuned or with a tiny amount of LFO on pitch. Then just resample to save the slot back. So much you can do if you use it creatively.
Also did you try the new firmware? It can make the sequencer have layers (like an A,B,C,D section). Pretty awesome. Imagine if they add parameter locking.. WHAAAAT
heyyyyyyyyyyyyyooooooooo no intro music haha i thought i had my speakers on mute lol anyways, thanks for this, i have the eurorack version of the blackbox and very very very under use it
I love the blackbox, but I only use it for sampling as I find the sequencing and song mode too confusing (and my fingers are too fat for the tiny sequencer settings), that's why I always use it with the Polyend Seq to trigger one of 16 tracks via MIDI. I might also try to pair it with a DJ Techtools Midi Fighter Twister to get a knob with 3 functions for every track. Still, even if you only use it as a sampler, the blackbox is one of the best gear out there for THE best price.
Remember when apple devices had sd card readers included? Wild. My latest MacBook Pro (work not my own) just has a load of usbc ports. Adapters needed for everything other than the charger.
I just got mine. Updated firmware and added a heap of my own loops onto sampler ready to go. But it's got some demo track and fast BPM. Do I have to start a new song and just not enter song mode to just start with fresh pads, the bpm I want and no sequences?
#DopeSession 👌, more like this please . Give some advice to 1010music to improve the step sequencer ( still no note repeat and no arpeggiator unfortunately ) .
Can you do a (video where you do a) track with this that records guitars for verse and chorus, uses the sequencer for the drum part, and then add a midi piano part?
I first heard about the blackbox from your vids. I just upgraded the blackbox with an internal 3000mah lipo battery yesterday(lasts 4 hours after charging). Helps my GAS for the M8!
@@FredAlert its pretty easy, took about 30mins to install. I didn't see any real guides, just the vid from 'greasy conversation', and the 1010music forum topics 'battery hack' pics. I used a slider switch for a low pro look instead. Probably the hardest part is cutting/drilling the case to fit the switch.
Hi Ricky, I would like your advice: for the same Blackbox features like the Looper or being able to be a main Midi/Usb HUB peripheral for all other machines connected to it, for a better Workflow, what do you think would be a good alternative to the Black Box? Thanks
Don't normally comment but cheers for all the videos Ricky. Had the BB since it came out and it is still the best bit of kit I have, love it. Peace from Austria 👍
@@RickyTinez When I travel it is the one piece of gear I take along. At home it is really the heart of my set-up, which is of course always fluid. Currently have lots of fun with this running the Roland TR8s both into the lovely Xone 96, with effects on a newly acquired Alexander pedals 'Fever Pitch' ..just an awesome pedal you must have a look at this sometime Ricky. Cheers for the reply 👍
It would be immensely cool if you could run a series like this with the little sampler boxes. I'd like to see if you can get such a good groove on so easily with the circuit Rhythm. Edit: that fresh trim is looking tidy by the way
Yo could you be thinking of the analogue pocket ?? Little gameboy shaped emulator that I believe comes with LSDJ preloaded onto it, pretty cool device ! P.S. I love the way you build these tracks up, always a blast to see the process. I’m sure you’ve said it before but is there somewhere you’re posting the final productions of these songs from the videos? Would love to hear how they end up
I actually bought the Blackbox back in 2020 during the height of the pandemic and played around with it, but something about it intimidates me. I think it's just that I'm so use to my DAW workflow and trying to transition into hardware, that it keeps me from using it. I do want to get into using it at some point with my Korg Minilogue XD!
when it comes to making the beginning of the song middle and end it can be a bit of a chore compared to a DAW. if you get the idea started in hardware and then use the DAW to its strengths you're golden!
Always great content - thank you. Good tip on separating tracks. An easy way to bring parts in and out. A few things: I like the portability of the blackbox. I have a power bank that will run it for hours and hours. I can plug a (powered) mic into the bb and record straight into it. @Stimming_official does some creative things with this in live sets.
Hello, I am interested in buying a Black Box Sampler Studio. Before that, I would like to know the maximum number of seconds I can upload a pre-made sample from Ableton. I want to include this machine in my live setup to play backing tracks of complete songs (5 minutes or more) and additionally play other live machines I have. Do you think the Black Box would work for this purpose? Is it possible for the sample track I upload to the Black Box to sync with my external Groove box and other machines? Thank you very much
Awesome video. Big help. I’m probably gonna make the plunge. But got a question. Can I set the Key and scale on BB. I’m not a musician and rely heavily on all the tools available. If I can do key and scale that would be awesome. Also is there a song mode in BB?
Owned one of these and returned it. The tiny screen made it very hard to edit sequences. If you’re not a sure handed player, this box makes the process of record / edit / tweak rather difficult. (It did for me anyway.) …When I checked into the user forums and people were talking about buying styluses to manage edits on the sequencer screen, I packed it up and shipped it.
I dont own it, but I've borrowed it from a buddy a few times and had the same problem. I did find that once I had a note placed it was actually very quick and intuitive to edit its position, length etc. with the knobs. I just wish there was a way to place notes in without the touchscreen.
@@tezeta3725 yeah the knobs are a preferred method for movement, but tedious in their own way. Just thought they should have had a much more straightforward method for placing notes in a sequence to begin with. The box *does* have 8 buttons…. Not exactly rocket science, right? But where I ended up is just that they made this for somebody other than me. Happy MPC One upgrader here. 👍
Great video, Ricky! Which would you consider for a sampler used for singer/songwriter solo and band usage for synth, beats, sounds in general, Blackbox, Roland SP 404 mkii, novation rhythm, or something else?
Loving the vibe! I suck at making house, although that's the sound I' am after now. I feel like I need to build myself a library for good drum samples as it's the foundation. Any recommandation?
honestly that's the most important part of house is having good drum sounds. i wasted a LOT of time trying to make club music with hip-hop samples and was frustrated with why it never sounded like club music and way chill haha. Brawther has some on his patreon. and the Samples From Mars samples are great too
@@nickskywalker2568 727 is like a Top Kit, for high hats and percs. 909 is a more standard kit. Use whatever x0x you want in house, whatever sounds good to you, but try branch out and use homemade sounds rather than just samples.
@@nickskywalker2568 Yeah, mix it in. Its just percussion kit, but more organic sounds. I use samples from mars. Just 909 will be fine too :) 808 even. Roland kind of pioneered this :)
How long did you scroll through the sample? :) I would love the blackbox to let us tap somewhere for the ins and outs, instead of having to scroll through the samples for ages.
0:20 Do you mean lsdj for the gameboy Or nitrotracker for nintendo Ds Or the instrument NerdseQ Or the sequencer RK8 Or the raspberry pi pocket /pocketpi with milkytracker Efflux would also work
Thanks so much Ricky. My son is trying to sort a drum machine. While I know difficult, it would be great for you to do an overview of the pad programming vs grid and synth vs samples scenarios. And YES PLEASE. Do a Bluebox for track playback video. I think it’s stellar for that and would love to hear your thoughts. Also a bb w/Novation pad control if you haven’t done that already. Thank you. ❤️
Hello Ricky, I'm quite curious about the Bluetooth headphones you are using. When plugged in, headphones usually sound much better than when used wireless, is the practicity worth it compared to the sound quality or are these so good that the difference is not big enough? As far as I know, Bluetooth can only transmit at 320 kb/s, but it might vary depending on the codec.
So these headphones are NOT bluetooth! they have a transmitter that is lossless audio and super low latency! I've been in LOVE with them lately, you can check them at my link here aiaiai.audio/rickytinez I also did a video on them here as well. -ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1OEBNZGzD_M.html&ab_channel=RickyTinez
It’s not so much slept on, but more about value. 700 bucks. I cant help but think why not get the MPC 1 for instance? I would love to have it but choices need to be made. But more important you missed a happy accident @17:56?
I'd like to try using this for stems live instead of a computer (as you mention at the end) together with a modular set up. I know it can record CV data but do you know if it can it playback midi files too?
Yup, it supports playback of MIDI files. While on the piano roll, it's listed as "Import" in the Edit menu. Page 72 of the manual has the relevant info.
I would recommend the bitbox MK2 or micro. I have one for my modular and it is very versatile. You can use it to multisample plugins or other synths, as a playback device, drum machine or warp samples.
2:38 ... "in collaboration with the original artist who in some cases may not be alive anymore, which is really cool" ... oh no... 😂 (I know, I took it out of context)
haha did you fuck up the audio in your intro? :') also wow those trippy visuals are so weird. I guess it's the way the LED screen works? Anyway I gotta check out this update. Looks like they fixed a lot of complaints people have made (including myself lol)