1010music Bluebox

Whoa. Dude.

:blush:

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Bluebox arrived today. Itā€™s not yet on firmware 1.0 so Iā€™ll just say nothing until it is. But it sure looks neat right next to the Blackbox, that Iā€™ll say no matter the firmware :slight_smile:

EDIT: All right, so Iā€™ll say this as well - recording is super easy. Iā€™ve just finished a track made with my Prophet 12 only. I figured, letā€™s just plug in the Prophetā€™s multiple outs (four in total) into the Bluebox and see if I can figure out how this thing works.

Took me about ten minutes to fire it up, connect it, figure out how to record and multitrack a mix in one take. Sound quality is great, no noise or anything, again from my very brief test that is :slight_smile:

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Looking forward to hearing more when it hits 1.0!

Come ON. Donā€™t do this to me (joking, of course). Iā€™m a big fan of my SSL SiX (I know apples and oranges, but Bluebox could fill a similar role for me), so Iā€™m curious, maybe even nervous. I keep telling myself not to make changes to my setup, in an effort towards some kind of continuity. However, this device is intriguing.

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Yep. As you know, Iā€™m into the SiX as well. And as you know, I run a tight ship. So weā€™ll see whatā€™s left when the dust settles.

One thing I can say, just plugging stuff into the Six and playing them, really opens them up. The Bluebox is neutral, it seems to neither add or subtract anything of notice if you do nothing. Great for a digital mixer but if you love that SiX space, then yeah ā€¦ you wonā€™t find it by default in the Bluebox.

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Did a little experiment. Recorded something from all the Blackbox outs into the Bluebox. Slammed on the fx tracks, turned down the track volumes and cranked up the fx volumes. Instant ambient. Pretty sweet.

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To answer your notes, so far -

This seems to be its primary use case, actually. Iā€™ve recorded two tracks now, one of them quite complex as far as structure and sound scape goes. The eq, fx and summing all work really well together and the compressor squeezes it nicely into a coherent whole. Since you can name each take from each track as you please, exporting to daw is very easy if you just want to use this to record multiple tracks at once and then take it elsewhere. But thereā€™s no doubt I can use this for final mixing, in the contexts where Iā€™m active.

Like the Blackbox, the Bluebox has a very generous headroom and once you start working the tracks with the eq and fx, it really opens up. Iā€™ve only used it in limited context so far, but itā€™s been around potential disturbing outside sources such as other gear, lots of lighting, computers and television sets and stuff, and thereā€™s no noise going on as far as I can tell. Iā€™d describe the overall character as clean and crisp, with the onboard fx, eq and compressor designed to enhance that. Especially the eq is pretty flexible as far as shaping the track goes, I suppose you could approach it as a sound designerā€™s tool (like the fx, but Iā€™ll get to that in time), but I get the vibe this mixer has no character, but expects your source material to supply all that. Which is exactly how I like it for recording and mixing.

Nothing on midi yet, havenā€™t tried it, but it seems to be about clock only and potentially (I presume) synced recording. But I donā€™t know yet. There is a ā€œLearnā€ function in place, but so far, it doesnā€™t seem to do anything.

@Alume as far as fx goes, you can approach this in two ways - the internal ones, which you can route to any of the tracks at any level, and also balance the levels between the dry and wet track, to transform anything that sounds ordinary into ambient reverb delay crazy mayhem lush. External fx seems to work as such that you assign the second output to your favourite external source and then just route that back into one of the inputs, on a separate track, where you can record the results or just enjoy them as is, live.

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Have you had experience with Blackbox learn function? If so, sorry for posting the following, itā€™ll be nothing you donā€™t know yet. Otherwise, maybe helpful: I remember Ricky Tinez super interestingly and quickly mapping the Blackbox to his LCXL, in the following video from 4ā€10sec. But again, maybe you all know this already and itā€™s actually just not working yet on the Bluebox.

Thanks for the first recap!

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Hello, yep, Iā€™ve used it extensively both for external control and modulation. Here, though, the Learn feature doesnā€™t seem to do much yet. Itā€™s placed in a very strange context and it doesnā€™t respond to anything incoming.

Mind you, Iā€™m on pre-release beta firmware so this could be placeholder for features to come.

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At any rate, synced recording works well. It accepts sync and sends it as well, but it only seems to be able to start an actual synched recording, you canā€™t arm it and then wait for an external cue.

It doesnā€™t make much of a difference, I recorded six separate takes from the Deluge now and then mixed them together, all takes recorded with midi sync, no latency. I donā€™t know how it handle 30 minute ambient meanders, but a few tight disco beats, it managed just fine :slight_smile:

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Thatā€™s ace

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Damn! Im gettin so pumped for the shipment of this thing, also for your full review!

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Thanks for the insights so far! The synced recordings opens up even more possibilities than I initially thought ofā€¦ looking forward to your other insights.

Couple of scenarios Iā€™m currently trying, with positively unexpected results. Iā€™ll share in awhile what I mean, but for now, some pics of doubtful quality -

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At some point your users experiences of where the black ends and the blue begins will be really interesting. For example the first cases I imagined to use it for, would be in line of how you did multiple Deluge recordings. But the Blackbox could also do that, and give you a bunch of other goodies. Curious in your experience how far the limits of Blackbox stretch and from which point the Blue would best take over.

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This reminds me that I should get a Deluge to pass off as fancy Christmas decoration ā€“ just look at that light show!

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Funny you should askšŸ˜Š Iā€™m just starting to take notes for my review and thatā€™s one of my first points, actually. Iā€™ll save that one for later but their defined limits clearly set them apart as much as they work beautifully together.

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Yes, and when itā€™s running, itā€™s like a kaleidoscope of dreamy lights :star:

@circuitghost Are you using individual plug adapters for recording gear with 1/4" plugs, or do you have a more elegant solution?

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No adapters, I got a set of different cables to make it work depending on the source. But when you squeeze all six inputs, itā€™s tight. Not all cables will work, there needs to be a tight design to the protection around the plug or you wonā€™t fit all six next to each other.

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