1010music Bluebox

jemmons · March 24, 2021, 12:10pm

I thought so, too. Then I checked my power supply and found it was only putting out an amp at 5v. I switched to the recommended 2amp supply and it seemed to run cooler after that.

olelovold · March 24, 2021, 7:40pm

Interesting, one would think the supplied power supply would be ideal for the job.

Like you, I’m a little bit on the fence about the Bluebox after a week of using it every day. For a live situation, this thing would rock as it solves a lot of problems in a tiny package. But in the studio, I find myself wishing for multitrack recording direct into the daw as well as more hands-on control. There’s a giant iMac with Ableton in between my speakers, might as well use it sometimes.

As it stands I’ll probably return it for a Model 12, or maybe I’ll just get by with the Digitakt as my interface.

allreitzreserved · March 30, 2021, 4:39pm

Hey,

I’ve tried versions 1.06 and 1.08 but I’m unable to sync the bluebox to my other Elektron gear.

MIDI Setup is the following: Octatrack as master clock (MIDI Out ->) -> Analog Rytm mk2 (MIDI Through ->) -> Bluebox In (3.5mm TRS MIDI). And exactly nothing happens, although the AR syncs perfectly fine. I’ve then tried connecting the Bluebox directly to the OT, no effect. I’ve also tried syncing the OT to the Bluebox by connecting it’s MIDI Out to OT Midi In… no effect.

And all you get from the 1010 manual is like “just hook it up, it’s gonna work, no need for any MIDI settings…”

Duh.

Did anybody manage to get it working? I could try 1.09 but I can’t find a place to download it.

It’s just for the metronome, but still pretty crucial in my setup and one of the reasons why I bought the bluebox…

jemmons · March 30, 2021, 7:40pm

Is there any chance your USB is plugged into something that’s using it as MIDI, too? I’m wondering if it could be getting clock over both USB and TRS and getting confused?

Might also be worth checking if any MIDI is making it in at all? You should be able to use the “Learn” button on the Edit screen to get a sense for this (though it’s broken on on v1.09, so try this before updating)

I don’t know that 1.09 is supposed to fix any MIDI issues, but word is you can still download it by replacing the “108” with “109” in the download link.

dcsux · March 30, 2021, 8:11pm

It does. It fixes the bluebox starting recording in sync as MIDI slave. But they pulled it because it breaks the MIDI learn function. Next fix will hopefully address both. I’m running 1.09 as I don’t need the learn, but the starting record in sync is vital to me.

allreitzreserved · March 30, 2021, 11:27pm

No, I only use the power USB, not the device one.
Also tried slaving the Bluebox to the Digitone via USB MIDI through the usb device input with no luck.

I’ll try the MIDI learn trick tomorrow - found 1.09 and gotta roll back then. (1.09 didn’t help either)

// EDIT // Tried syncing to the Keystep Pro real quick before calling it a day for now - USB works perfectly but no luck with MIDI to TRS…

Phillip · March 31, 2021, 12:17am

Are you using the included midi to trs adapter that came with with the blue box?

allreitzreserved · March 31, 2021, 6:53am

Yeap, it’s the only one I have lying around…

jemmons · March 31, 2021, 12:26pm

Make sure you’re pushing the TRS adapter in all the way. Maybe it’s just because I use them less, but I always find the front jacks to be way stiffer than the audio ones in the back.

EDIT: Oh, and I just remembered there’s a test mode you can boot the BB into. Power on while holding the “B” button to get into test mode, then press the “A” button to jump through screens until you get to the MIDI TRS loopback test. Plug either end of a TRS cable into the front jacks (and make sure you push them all the way in) and wait 10–20 seconds. If that passes, reboot and try again, this time with the TRS -> MIDI adapters and a MIDI cable. If that fails, try a different MIDI cable. That should let you narrow down whether the issue is the ports, the adaptors, or the cable.

allreitzreserved · March 31, 2021, 6:34pm

Oh my god, I’m feeling like a huge moron right now.
After reading serveral interations of “make sure the cable is plugged all the way” which until now I was ignoring like a fool because obvious reasons. Like sure mate, I know how to plug in a TRS.
And guess what… Apparently I DIDN’T. It looks like it’s all the way in but needs quite a bit of force for the last “click”. So yeah. Problem solved, works on 1.08 and I’m so happy and embarassed right now, haha.

Thanks to all of you though for trying to help.

Drinks on me!

jemmons · March 31, 2021, 10:28pm

Don’t feel like a moron. This got me quite a few times, too. Not only are they stiff, but when it’s something like MIDI where you can’t “hear” the connection get made, it’s all sort of fumbling in the dark.

TheGhostCat · April 1, 2021, 12:08am

There are only two types of musician…

Those who haven’t had this happen to them YET…
and
Those who comment stuff like… “check the cable, believe me, it can happen, I KNOW, just check it, please.”

Welcome to the other side

dcsux · April 2, 2021, 7:16am

New firmware (1.011) out.
Fixes the midi learn and start/sync issues.
Haven’t tried it yet.

InTheAM · April 4, 2021, 10:00pm

There are quite a few posts here and I tried searching about the issue but I just spent $50 on TRS Female Quarter Inch to 3.5 MM Stereo adapters for my Bluebox and if I push the 3.5mm adapter into the Bluebox inputs until they “click” the rings don’t seem to align and I don’t get a stereo signal or split signal, I have to leave the male end hanging out of the Bluebox input to get a good signal : (

Seems like poor practice to continue this way, afraid of breaking the inputs and if something moves during a recording I might lose the signal.

These are what I bought and I feel like people on this thread and 1010 forums were having success with them–even recommended by an admin on the 1010 forums.

Nznoonee · April 5, 2021, 5:27pm

Could anyone please measure the length between centers of the inputs ?

jemmons · April 5, 2021, 7:04pm

They vary by around 0.01" between inputs, but it averages to around…

0.54" outer-to-outer:

0.26" inner-to-inner:

Which puts center-to-center at about 0.4" on the money (shown here for scale, not an actual measurement):

Nznoonee · April 5, 2021, 8:07pm

Thanks a lot for such details! Gonna solder adapters myself as it’s hard to get them where I live

Uzinusa · April 6, 2021, 12:03pm

Having just blown 3 hours fannying around with sounds through the Bluebox I must just say this thing puts a jamming-smile on my mush! Thank you 1010Music! Love it! Especially with latest firmware

jemmons · April 18, 2021, 4:50pm

Having spent some weeks with the Bluebox now, I’m definitely not into it. It’s such a frustrating box, not in its design or UI (which are both, IMHO, wonderful) but in it’s lack of focus. It does the first bit of so many tasks I need doing, but does none of them completely or well.

If you like it and it’s working for you, that’s what’s important. I’d say don’t even read what follows because I don’t want something stupid I say to taint that.

But if you’re on the fence and looking for details, maybe something in this completely inexpert review will help?

Many Details and Much Whining Below:

Multitrack Recorder

Let’s get this out of the way, first. It’s a piss port MTR. No overdubbing. No transport control. No looping. The only option is “record armed tracks from the top."

Audio “Interface”

One saving grace is each time we record to an armed track, the BB creates a new .wav file. So it’s not a bad way to build up a collection of takes. But the only thing we can do with these takes is turn them on or off. No comping or overdubbing — though we can “bounce” them by muting everything else, recording to main, playing the whole song, then assigning the new main recording to a new track. Kind of a PITA, though.

Also, everything’s recorded post-fader, so all the EQ, etc. is baked-in. So we can’t adjusting that, either. And if we “bounce in place” by recording to main as per above but assign to the original track instead of a new one, that EQ is now applied twice. We’ve got to zero out all the settings on that track and there’s no shortcut for this I can find. Another total PITA.

So given these limitations, the only reasonable destination for all these .wavs is a DAW. But there are no drivers or class compliance that let us treat the BB as an audio interface. And no way I can find to connect it as an SD card reader. So you’re shuttling your microSD back and forth. And once you get it there, remember everything was recorded post-fader. So either we ignore all the FX and EQ when setting up on the BB (which is more than half the box) or we limit ourselves in the DAW.

Maybe space is at such a premium that we can’t fit an audio interface on our desk? Or our computer lives in another room or something, so moving takes back and forth via SD is actually a best case scenario? But otherwise, it’s hard to see the BB as doing anything but adding friction to this process.

Performance Mixer

Maybe we’ve got 3–5 synths. We want to mix them live at a gig. And we don’t want to cart a computer or DJ-style mixer around with us. The BB could be a reasonable solution — and one that gives us the option of recording the performance to boot.

But in practice, it’s doesn’t feel like a very “playable” mixer to me. To crossfade between two inputs using knobs, they have to both be assigned to either the first four or last four tracks. Otherwise we have to rely on the multi-touch display, which while nice, doesn’t give us the same range of control and isn’t ideal in a live setting, regardless.

Also, adjusting two different params (FX send and volume, say) on two different tracks at the same time is, I think, flat-out impossible. And while I quite like the EQ UI, it’s limited to adjusting a single band on a single track at a time, and is just bad for live adjustments or “playing like an instrument”.

This is where MIDI controllers come in. The BB has impressive MIDI-learn features, and a nice controller can get you around most of the “one at a time” UI limitations. But what you end up with, then, is a petit DSP EQ box recording tracks with an expansive midi controller hanging off it.

This, to my mind, has things completely backwards. If we’re going to have to cart along a controller anyway, the better setup would be to have a legit mixer doing everything in-box, and hang a mini-recorder off it. Better control, better sync, and if something fails, it’s just our recording that dies, not the whole mix scuttling our set.

The BB setup does give us the advantage of recording each track as well as the master mix. But remember, with the BB we’re forced to record post-fader, so we’re not going to have as much flexibility with those tracks as we think. And we’d better hope the mix that sounded great at the club also sounds great in the studio because we’re stuck with it.

Tabletop Mixer

Here’s where I think the BB fits the best. You throw a bunch of gear on your desk, need to mix it together, and the BB is small enough to fit right in there between the boxes or on top of a keyboard or something. We get the levels sounding good, maybe dial in some EQ to get everything sitting right. It’s pretty great at this.

But then I again feel like the BB is at war with itself, because we’ve got our instruments sounding balanced and now we start composing. But the BB doesn’t support automation or arrangement or overdubbing or sections or anything, so it’s painful to compose on. If we’re not ready to record a rehearsed song end-to-end, the SD is out. So we just send the main mix to a DAW or blackbox or something for recording into simples or clips or sections or whatever.

But, again, this means half the box is sitting useless. There’s no need for the SD card or MTR code or even a touchscreen, really. The BB works best when I treat it as a compact mixer with no mic pre, limited FX, and ignored MTR. And $500 feels pretty steep for that.

Maybe it’s Modular?

I can’t help but feel that maybe 1010, coming from the modular world, and me, very much not, just don’t see eye to eye on this. Maybe it’s not about mixing 3 or 4 synths, but a bunch of modules?

I mean, when I think of EQing stand-alone synths (that already have a bunch of sound-shaping filters and effects applied), I think of it as a performance or mastering thing which the BB is bad at. But maybe in the modular world, the performance comes from the CV routing in the patch, the EQ needs to be more static, and trying to “perform” EQ on generative music is a losing proposition, anyway?

And when I think of need for transport or overdubbing to build up sections of my song, what would that even mean in the context of a generative performance? The thing that was here is now gone again. Either you captured it or you didn’t and it’s not coming back. That feels like a very BB mentality, somehow.

So, I mean, ¯\(ツ)/¯. Either way, it’s not for me. But maybe it is for you?

Phillip · April 18, 2021, 5:27pm

Funny you say that it isn’t good for composing, cause that’s all I use it for and I love it.

There’s no need to rehearse, you just let the machines playing in loop and you write on top of that, then record, bring to daw and edit there. I don’t use the internal effects, I use send effects and this is the biggest reason I got it; it allows me to sync and record send effects separately. And with super flexible routing I can make a song with a digitakt and a synth plus send effects, cause I can record the same instrument on several tracks playing different parts.