1010music Blackbox

Looks good. Needs some updates - a bit limited for now.

Love the size though.

Wonder if it can live loop without having to set a recording time first.

Recording CV is pretty neat.

Iā€™m ok with limitations as long at itā€™ll let me do what I want do with a quick workflow, with a stable OS. Iā€™m particularly interested in the sequencer. Will probably re-listen/watch the video a couple of times.

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It does look to be a bit barebones, which could be a strength or weakness depending on what you want, it kind of strikes me that samplers these days (with a few exceptions) are much simpler than in the 90ā€™s when stuff like the A series from Yamaha, S series from Akai and EMUs offerings had a lot of parameters for samples but obviously less memory and often lengthy processing times for editing audio WRT things like normalising samples longer than a few measures.

I suppose this might be an alternative to a SP404 or those Akai MPX16 etc.

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It seems pretty cool, but itā€™s size and the amount of menu diving/jumping via touch screen is a bit of a deterrent for me.

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a yamaha a5000 with modern connectivity , in a small box would be nice.
hdmi out to screen
multi outs , dc coupled outs

apart from a few things , deluge is still doing pretty well right now , hopefully they just continue with it and do a new hardware box as deluge v2 (i havent seen any rumours , the current box is donig really well).

this box looks fine , the vid is good (well structured and very informative )
i think iā€™d personally wait for a few more os updates which is unfortunate as iā€™m sure many will make their initial impressions on the initial OS , it could be hard to get the marketing push again when they do a os update (if they do one).
i think the typical consumer would like / expects everything from all the other legacy boxes, plus a few more new things which is very hard to fulfil,

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I think the reason we donā€™t see crazy samplers like the 90s anymore is because of software. Itā€™s so much easier to edit and mangle waves on a big screen with a proper pointing device. Iā€™ve actually liked the more recent simplistic sampling approaches on these smaller devices like the Digitakt and Blackbox (among others). I know that there are a lot of people out there though that want to do much more demanding sample work away from the computer-screen though. This little guy looks like fun though, and I donā€™t normally say that about anything with a touch screen. I think itā€™s got just the right mix of that and physical controls though, and from the few videos Iā€™ve seen on the workflow, it doesnā€™t look tedious to use.

My new setup is going to consist of the Digitone Keys and one of these. (Iā€™ve always got some degree of 4U modular gear kicking around too, so Iā€™ve got analog sound covered there.) I think it will be fun. Weā€™ll see. :smiley:

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I agree. Between processing power, interface, and sample management, I think Yamaha, etc. donā€™t want to take a gamble on releasing a modern version of their samplers because they think they will lose against Kontakt, etc.

That being said, Iā€™d love to see a reimagining of the old samplers by Akai, Ensoniq, etc. Acknowledge the limitations of hardware but design the interface to take advantage of its benefits.

But it probably wonā€™t happen.

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Iā€™m hoping weā€™ll see more hybrid sampler/granular type devices. I like the way the GR-1 looks. Iā€™m not 100% familiar with its feature set, but if it had some good sampler/editor type functionality as well as the more granular oriented stuff, it would be amazing. (maybe it does) I should go read up more. Something like this though that does everything you could want with a sample might be nice. Having that big screen plus plenty of knobs and buttons does give a PC some competition. Maybe not 1:1, but it would cover a lot of ground for people not wanting to sit at a computer all the time.

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Every time I see one of those on Instagram or YouTube I navigate away. It looks amazing. :laughing:

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I love the small form factor of it, and it seems like a great price given what it can do. However iā€™ve always had issues with touch screen based workflows. Iā€™ve got sweaty sausage fingers, so touch screens often become a night mare for me. It would be incredibly cool to see mappable external midi control of the different functions. Iā€™d much rather adjust sample start/end points using a controller than the screen.

Right. Iā€™ve been using samplers since the late 80s (early 80s if you count the SK-5) and none of them are as powerful at sound mangling than the $7.99 FieldScaper ios app. Even the EPS 16+ with all the Waveboy disks couldnā€™t come close.

I imagine FieldScaper plus Blackbox would be a formidable setup.

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Wish the Octatrack could play slices by midi.
If this blackbox has some granular options in the future, Iā€™m sold.

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I agree. I was looking at the features in Eurorack samplers earlier, seeing if thereā€™s anything interesting, the answer is no!

Weird how they are so basic.

You canā€™t compare a Euro module to an entire full featured 90s-style sampler. Thatā€™s only a part of a greater system. Youā€™d have to compare the full Euro synth, in which case it can be as simple or complex as one wants including more 1010 modules. Itā€™s a sampling building block.

You also probably wouldnā€™t want to jam a 90s sampler into a Eurorack.

The Blackbox isnā€™t aiming to be a 90s sampler, so if thatā€™s what you need, you wonā€™t find it in a tiny-compact sampler.

There isnā€™t much that does what it does in such a small space with physical controls, multiple IO, etc. So it fills a niche and does it quite nicely.

Side notes, just how many menu layers are people willing to dive through these days? There is a reason nobody makes samplers like that anymore.

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I have not looked into them in detail but I think there are a few fairly advanced euro samplers no?
Rossum and Othaganol Devices(sp?) spring to mind.

Naturally, as part of a systemā€¦

Rossum has phase modulation, which just sounds like FM to me. Orthogonal I find impenetrable to learn anything about - thereā€™s not even a manual.

Anyway, I have a DT and a Eurorack and was wondering if there was a sampler in Euro to take sample mangling / manipulation to another level but Iā€™m not seeing much. Perhaps Iā€™m not looking hard enoughā€¦

I think in Euro the key is to find something with a lot of CVable parameters. The mangling comes from time/voltage based operations. Throw in some pattern generators, pseudo-random voltages, etc. to rhythmically jump around the sample, reversing portions etc. A bit of a different approach. More like wavetable synthesis in some ways.

So, things like the Tyme Sefari, perhaps with lots of CV functions.

The precision will be a bit different than mangling with a huge and deep UI. Youā€™ll be working more by sound and feel IMO.

Rossumā€™s new one looks cool. Iā€™m not up on its specs though. Phase modulation is very similar to FM but youā€™ll maintain your overall pitch better than linear or exponential FM depending on the range I suppose. PM and LinFM are quite similar, or at least their results are.

Anyway, Iā€™m sure the Makenoise ones willfo the trick as well. Itā€™ll be more about the modulation operations available on the modular. I think this approach is more fun and hands on, but software would be more powerful.

An 80s/90s sampler probably would be too for those that donā€™t mind their interfaces. I never really didā€¦

Fair enough. If you donā€™t need polyphony then Octatrack is probably the best mangler currently, 3 LFOs, slices, etc. But obviously nor euro though modular in some ways for sure.

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I thought Iā€™d read somewhere Dave Rossum was looking at doing another sampler currently. Canā€™t remember where I read this sorry

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