I could say, tho, as far as multitrack recording goes, if you look at that scenario only - the Bluebox only has one clear advantage and that is its multiple ins, which is extremely convenient if you record from say a Tempest, a Rytm, a Digitone Keys, an Analog Four MKII or a TR-8S or something. It’s all in there and you can get to work right away.
But for now, there’s no way to rewind or fast forward, punch in or loop sections, so navigation in larger recordings is awkward. I’m gonna assume this will be adressed in an update, but I don’t know for sure.
On the Blackbox side, it’s quantized recording, your option to define the exact length of a recording or a timed stop if you’re recording custom bars but still want perfect end points, the fact that you can arm it no matter if you’re sending or receiving midi, makes the Blackbox the better option if you’re good with single take recordings where sync is what matters more than anything else.
But the comparison is also not entirely relevant, because recording multiple tracks at once is just a convenience in the Bluebox. It’s great that it can do that and it does it really well, but it’s when you start mixing stuff around, its real use comes into place and when it comes to widening a track, opening it up, applying that space and room and just shape it, the Blackbox got nothing on the Bluebox. And I don’t say that lightly, because the Blackbox holds its own fairly well when it comes to just making a track sound good on its own within that box.
But yes. You assemble your material on the Blackbox, work out its character and write a song. You make it shine with the Bluebox.
I’ve put the EQ to the test this day, building a simple drum loop on the Blackbox with some ambience going on, and then recorded all that in two takes - Blackbox three outs into Bluebox three ins (1, 2 and 3), and then another layer of field recording noise into Bluebox channel 4.
I deliberately didn’t try to make it sound all that good within the Blackbox, just recording it raw into the Bluebox to see what I could do with the eq and fx if I had a raw mix where each part on its own was okay, but together pretty awful until one applied the mixing touch to it.
The eq is quite efficient to both filter out unwanted stuff and bring out some of the details you hardly knew were there. You got a four-band eq per track and you can assign each band to its own duty, creating anything from the ordinary to quite odd results (mind your ears, shit can get nasty quick if you don’t). Then, you can apply yet another layer on the master as well (though I’m finding that’s overkill - you either tweak each track or just all of them together), and all of this then runs through the compressor.
I guess it goes without saying that it can really bring out a track, since that’s what a mixer should do at its basics, beyond summing the parts. But still, at this price point, a mixer with four bands per track and on the master, compression, two internal fx slots and one outboard slot for external fx which you can render into a recording if you like, it’s beginning to look like a pretty attractive deal.
1010 needs to make a Bruised box that combines the Black and Blue boxes into one, with multiple inputs and outputs. I would probably buy one of those even though I have almost completely sworn off hardware. The blueprint is there.
I was just thinking about this device yesterday after setting up for a quick jam. If I could simply hit record as soon as my jam was flowing, that would be a nice time-saver and enhancement to my necessarily quick jam sessions. At the moment, I have to setup the laptop, launch audacity (or other recording software), setup the interface, etc. It’s not the biggest deal in the world, but still a distraction. The 3.5 mm jacks still kinda bug me, but I can get over that. Heck, some of my gear only has 3.5mm outputs anyway. How heavy is the unit? If I had a bunch of cables plugged into the back, is it going to want to tip over, or is it fairly stable on a shelf / desk?
It’s flat on its surface, so you’d have to use tungsten cables to even budge it in the slightest
I’m currently cross comparing it to the SSL SiX and the Toraiz SP-16, running the same loop through these other devices to see where the differences lie in workflow and quality. There’s no doubt the Bluebox is a quality piece of kit, but the more I use it, the more I feel it’s at its most relevant when you got multiple gear running simultaneously and want to record your live session with no hassle, or an instrument with many outs where you want to capture all aspects of your live session on separate tracks. The Rytm and the Tempest come to mind as two very organic instruments where you’d want to separate the outs but still have it all recorded in the same session, for example.
Im currently using an old beat up behringer mixer which seems to be in its last legs. I need at least 5 stereo ins. Smaller form factor (although it doesn’t need to be as small as the blue box). My setup is the laptop plus a digitakt, a4, OP-Z, organelle and a minilogue with some guitar fx through a send chain.
This box seems to meet fit the bill at a price point I can deal with but I kinda hate the use of a screen instead of dedicated knobs in a mixer. I also don’t really need the recording but I guess that might be cool. I feel like the zero 8 was close to my ideal mixer if Korg could have ever made the thing work.
Any alternative suggestions to the blue box would be greatly appreciated
I can take a look. I’m on 1.0 now but haven’t updated yet. But I can check later today. From what I’m reading in the 1010 forum, though, the idea is that cc will be supported for this purpose.
@circuitghost am I correct in thinking that you can easily use one of the stereo outs as send-return via some fx pedals, back into one of the Bluebox stereo inputs?
Yep. I’ve used my Chase Bliss pedals to wire stuff out from Bluebox Out 2, assign any of the six channels to this out and through the pedal, back into the Bluebox and recorded the results, while monitoring the whole thing with no feedback.
Blackbox can do this too, but it’s more fiddly. Bluebox has streamlined this, traditional mixer board style.
Funny you should ask, I’m actually trying this right now for the review I’m writing, so your timing’s uncanningly perfect
True, thanks for detailing your process with it so far…Cant wait for your review !
Also cant wait to have mine arrive, it seems like a convenient little notepad for recording ideas and mix / export tracks on the fly.
One of the weaknesses of my process, is that I am constantly jamming and swapping gears in the process…sometimes whitout even recording (record your jams guys !)
Plugging gear into this little thing and recording at the same time seems like a no hassle operation that could help a lot of dawless peeps…
Yep, and there’s something to be said on the process of recording straight into a linear experience, as opposed to working and reworking loops and never quite get out of it.
I’m doing something else with it now, building a song in layers and recording each take as it grows on me. So I got one thing going from the Prophet 12 which is about two minutes long, and that’s my song. And then I go, well, what can I add to this? I add another layer, and so on.
Without the 64 step loop structure which you can tweak forever, if you got a start to end progression to relate to, you build on that and I tend to finish things easier that way. There’s a natural level of commitment to that workflow for me.
Here’s my first finished track on the Bluebox. It’s not the best work I’ve done, but I made a point out of using the Prophet 12 only and see what live jams combined with additional synced multi-track recording would add, as well as the Bluebox onboard fx, eq and compression.
So there’s a lot going on here that’s due to the Bluebox but given the somewhat ungrateful task of being the recorder and mixer, it’s not easy to know what’s thanks to the Bluebox and what’s native Prophet stuff
But all reverb is Bluebox, as is all delays except for the opening lead, which uses the Prophet delays. The spacing is all Bluebox, as is compression and eq. Before the eq, the track was more cramped and muted, so the Bluebox opened it up quite some.
