They’re all good! [in the right hands]
We make them make the music. They don’t make it for us
how do you route the external fx back into the black box, or you routing to a mixer and sampling everything from your mixer?
just into the mixer, you could resample with Fx also.
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thanks, have you heard any rumblings about 1010 trying to turn the bluebook into a formidable fx mangler, I really like all of the ideas that 1010 comes out with but somehow they don’t seem to go as far as I would think the momentum is there for them to do so, like I thought they would really blow out the black box with sampling features since everyone and their grandmother including myself thought it looked like it was going to be this portable sample maven but 1010 themselves seemed less excited about that possibility ?
I think the BB is already getting to the max CPU, there is talk of a MK2 with the new processor from the BitBox MK2.
But also i think they want to keep it somewhat limited so it isnt overwhelming and keeps its fast workflow.
There is some rumblings that they may port the 4band EQ to blackbox… and I really hope thats true. Only thing thats lacking for me.
Is really frustrating that both my main samplers (Digitakt and BlackBox) dont have a bandpass or lo/hi shelf eq 
The original bitbox gets an mk2 upgrade, still at US$599 / 26HP. You get a new touchscreen with crisper, clearer viewing angles (IPS tech), a new Granular Mode, and
twice the processing power of the original. So slice when you want to, or get granular when you like
Also to answer the original question, no i havent heard any talk of BlueBox being a FX box in future and I dont think it will happen. I seems very focused on mixing only and the 4band eq on up to 12 channels is probably very taxing on the CPU already. The reasoning for no multiband eq on BB was that the CPU couldnt cope with 16 EQ’s (for the 16 channels), so having 12 of them on the BlueBox and reverb/delay and disk recording… Just my guess
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Another thing I noticed when I had the MPC Live was that when I updated to 2.8 I started seeing lagging in my old projects and that kind of sealed the deal for me. I wouldn’t expect it to get any better so I sold it.
Can any MPC users chime in, have you noticed lag?
Another thing the Digitakt does better, aside from taking less desk space, is collect less lint. The rubberized surface was a serious misstep.
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decksaver and sticky paper
keeps it pristine when not in use
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I haven’t noticed this but hope you reported this to akai so they can fix it before I encounter it
Zero lag here.
Thanks everyone, i think my perfect setup will be the Digitakt and an Ableton Push2, complete control over my daw plus abstract elektron machine… can’t wait.
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I think of the mpc as an stand alone audio Swiss army knife, it’s a lifesaver that can be anything you might need at a given time but that excels at being a simple sampling beat machine… and if you decide to get one down the line it’ll fit right in with your setup as it has Ableton Live export right now, and will most likely get the Ableton Live import feature that the force has in the near future.
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Just out of curiosity, and this might warrant it’s own thread, but I’m curious about the age of people and their machine preference. Just wondering if there’s any correlation between age and chosen machine/work flow.
I’m 47 and I’ve settled with the Akai/Mpc/Force environment and workflow. Love what the Elektrons do but hate their way of getting it done.
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FWIW I’m 51 (that looks horrible and sobering written down) and far prefer the Elektron workflow and interface. I don’t mind my old JJOS’d MPC 1000 but really didn’t get along with the MPC Live. Kept digging it out whenever there was a big update but every time reminded me why I didn’t enjoy using it.
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Well that doesn’t bode well for my theory : )
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the Digitakt definitely makes more clicky noises when you play it. 
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Yeh hate to blow holes in your theory, but I’m 46 and prefer the Elektron workflow…
There would definately be a psychology to the preference but I don’t think it’s Ageist…
Maybe we could submit resaults of online personality profiles…
, or at least our star signs…
…no seriously I think over the years I have loaded samples into a tone of gear…and nothing adds as much character as the DT…it isn’t a “garbage in garbage out box”, you can litteraly sample garbage and get a tune going…
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Bah Humbug!
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These 3 for me are a powerful combination, I have euro on one side and a poly synth on the other. The Force (yeah okay technically not an MPC) is my recorder and arranger, it captures ideas in audio and midi, I make keygroup instruments with it and big one shot drum kits (which are rarely drums).
The Digitakt is working as an audio interface for the iPad, over one usb cable I get two way audio streams, the digi samples the iPad and vice versa. Digitakt is such a flexible, immediate creative sampler, it’s a lot more ‘free’ than the force as everything is at your fingertips. It also does polyrhythms and poly meter, the p-locks etc. I often build up ideas on the digitakt which I then capture on the Force.
The iPad is like an uber FX pedal, I use it for the amazing granular, delay and spectra FX you can get on it, plus as a sound source, midi interface and creative sequencer (Fugue Machine).
My portable desert island combo is the Digi and iPad. Force is a really easy studio ‘ideas catcher’
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