What is clip quant?
Meaning when a sample is properly truncated to A loop, and you assign it as a “clip”, the BB will automatically time stretch it to either A: keep in time w/ current BPM without changing pitch, or B: allow the change of sample pitch w/o affecting the sample tempo.
I prefer to say “Doom style”. 
1 Like
I’ve asked the same question on the Blackbox Facebook group - you can’t record unquantised, and you can’t micro-nudge sequenced notes slightly off-grid. Also a dealbreaker for me, so I’m keeping an eye on it in the hope they might include it in an update. Is there an alternative sampler/sequencer that already does this?
any elektron
mpc
1 Like
Yup. I had to choose between the MPC live and the OP1. I chose the OP1 
I think the Digitakt or SP-404sx is next…unless Blackbox sorts out the unquantised/micro-nudging situation. I have apps on my ipad that can do this - but I’m drawn to hardware much more strongly when I want to make music.
also the Z can do what u are looking for too
True - I had one for a few weeks, but traded it against the OP-1
I’m hoping they introduce per-sequence humanization. That’s all I really need.
That said, I imagine you could just play live straight into a new sample and use it as a clip. I’m going to try this as soon as I get my hands on a card reader to do the OS upgrade… all of mine have gone missing, as usual, so I’ve got one on order. If that’s too painful I’ll just play from OP-1 or something into it and record clips from that.
Although I don’t have the Blackbox, according to the manual, you can quantize notes down to 1/64. At this level, you should be able to have a few of notes that are off grid or loose.
Double the bpm and you will have 1/128 quantisation
2 Likes
Good Point!
In my experience, quantizing at 1/64 can feel pretty loose. And 1/128 is basically unquantized.
Also, I just got a Blackbox. Its an impressive device that shows plenty of potential.
Got my BB last week, and I really like it. I can confirm that 1/128 is basically unquatized, actually that was one of my biggest concerns.
I have a question for you though: has anyone been able to hook up a Volca sample to the BB via MIDI? I have tried with a retrokit 002 and I can’t get the BB to control the Volca sample…
Here’s a video of someone using the BB to control a Volca kick. I would assume the midi parameters are the same or similar to the Volca Sample.
Had no problem with Volca FM. Just connected everything, set the pad to output on ch 1 and it was good to go. Don’t have a Sample to try with. Do you have a standard MIDI cable to try with? Retrokit adds more moving parts and could be the issue.
On the other side of things I’ve found the latest BB (1.3.3) firmware to be a bit… super full of bugs, so if you’re on that, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was just wiggin out on you. Otoh Volcas aren’t exactly bug-free either.
1 Like
I finally got it working. In contrast to the rest of my volcas the volca sample has a midi channel for each of its ten sample slots. So in order to sequence each channel you need a special retrokits 002 MIDI cable as a workaround that splits the signal. The trick for me though was a setting in the Volca you can access on boot up. If anyone needs help with this issue I could try to explain it in detail.
I have the same impression. The current firmware seems to be quite buggy, sometimes certain things change behaviour e.g. the count in length of the metronome and i think certain midi things. But nonetheless the BB is awesome for sequencing my Volcas
I too noticed the change in Lead In length. It randomly when from 1 bar, to 6, to 3, back to 1.
Also, I found that connecting an external midi controller would make the touch screen unresponsive.
I know they are hiring or just hired someone to test the software. I hope that will help them roll out more stable firmware updates.
For those interested in getting a looser feel on the Blackbox, check out this video:
1 Like
The ASR-10 trick lol. I almost never saw a song that wasn’t double time on that machine lol wonky sequencer kinda, but flavorful for sure
1 Like