BlackBoxTutorial

User Guide.

professional support for:

M-AUDIO

BLACK BOX^™

guitar performance | recoding system

The SoundTower BLACK BOX Sound Editor is an exciting product for the ST team. We love the M-Audio BLACK BOX and it was a pleasure to create the Librarian/Editor.

We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to our customers who work the software so much harder and creatively than we ever could have imaged. You are our inspiration as always.

We are confident that the SoundTower Editor/Librarian will only add value to your enjoyment of M-Audio’s BLACK BOX.

INITIAL EDITOR SET UP

The SoundTower Black Box SE has initial set up preferences that if utilized makes life much easier for the user by virtually eliminating the frustrations of lost data, editor setup and patch organization. Under main menu select Preference under File.

that sets editor startup and shut down preferences. They are as seen above. Any or all can be selected or de-selected depending on your particular editing needs.

For MIDI setup information, setting MIDI Clock sensing and Continuous Controller activation go to Midi in main menu and click Midi Setup.

In the setup window you will be given options. Note that the editor senses if it is or is not connected to the BLACK BOX and any other MIDI device that might be connected. In this case by way of example the BLACK BOX editor displays the MIDISPORT 2x2^tm and lack of BLACK BOX connection. (“Not Connected” at top.)

RECEIVING USER BANK DATA

To receive all user data from BLACKBOX, select "Receive User Data" form Midi menu

or use Ctrl+R. and press start. You can adjust timing between incoming Midi messages by adding delay in milliseconds.

TRANSMITTING USER DATA

To transmit User Data from the Editor to BLACKBOX select "Transmit" from Midi menu.

The data you send will be written into BLACKBOX bank memory overriding existing Presets. Transmitting bank data takes little bit longer than Receiving because the editor has to wait till BLACKBOX performs actual writing to its flash memory and sends the "Ready" message.

CHANGING PRESET PARAMETERS

Changing preset parameters is very flexible. You can use on-screen knobs in various ways:

· If your mouse is equipped with a scroll wheel, move mouse cursor over a control or its label and use mouse wheel.

While using a mouse wheel, you do not have to click on any controls to change values.

For you convenience, while playing a guitar, some parameters can be changed by simply pressing assigned computer keys:

PRESET LIBRARIAN

Here is where you can really thrive as a BLACK BOX user. It will pay a lot to familiarize yourself with all Librarian features. Our Librarian lets you store unlimited number of BLACKBOX sounds. In addition you can have as many Library files on your computer as you want.

Each item stored in the library consists of one Preset and one Drum Beat that was linked to a Preset. This way you never have to worry about losing your favorite BLACKBOX settings.

The Librarian provides for you 32 sound categories to organize your sounds and to have them available for immediate use. Initially, we named some categories like "Pop", "Rock" but you are welcomed to rename them according to your styles or needs.

The Library button if clicked once you will see the “Use Loaded Presets” checkbox disappear and replaced with name label “Cat: 0 – Not Assigned –” and the Presets already contained in that Library category are placed in the listbox.

Clicking on, or mousing over, and using the scroll wheel on the mouse you will see the other categories.

By clicking you are presented with a dropdown menu to choose cat from. Below we chose 2. Rock and the label above changed and the listbox is filled with the 12 presets previously placed in Librarian. (See Librarian section for more detail on the workings of the Librarian itself)

With use of mouse scroll wheel the green text label will change to each of the categories in order and the contents will be displayed in the listbox in parallel order in real time.

As stated a single click will set the list box below to the contents of the “Cat 0 – Not Assigned” category already in the Librarian.

A second click will open the Librarian window itself. If you have opened a new library or this is the first time you have accessed the function since installing the BLACK BOX SE then the listbox will be empty. (noted in red circle below)

You can use the Librarian to build a set of Patches from those you are working on in the Editor currently or by sensed changes from the BLACK BOX by clicking the Add Current button.

The other option is to load a pre-existing Library on your hard drive or Load from User Bank Data.

For the next example we shall load in User Bank Data. This results in all patches being dropped into the Not Assigned category (Cat. 0) Circled in red in image below.

To add current Preset select a category to which you want to add and press the “-" beside the category to move the arrow button:

After clicking the arrow we should see the total number of Preset remain the same but the relative distribution between categories change. Here we see 99 in Not Assigned and one in Rock. Also note the list box has adjusted itself making the next preset in the list, MAR 45, move from 005 spot to the now vacant 004.

All categories can be renamed. In the image below, after the empty category field was clicked once and rename category is selected from the Librarians File menu, we create a category Jazz.

A single click on the JAZZ preset and you select it for movement to the new category by clicking the arrow button or simply dragging and dropping it with the mouse.

then if is a simple matter of highlighting a range of preset with a drag of the cursor or select non-congruent individual presets by ctrl + click

Note that 7 presets were selected and 7 show up in the category. The other category the presets were taken from adjusts automatically.

Any preset or group of presets in the listbox can be selected and copied by Copy in Edit in Librarian menu. The selected group can then be Pasted by using the Paste in Edit in menu to copy the selection, with altering the original set of presets, to another category.

In this way the Librarian can be used to select and sort the entire Preset banks for more functionality suited to the individual musician.

SELECTING PRESETS FOR EDITING OR AUDITION

After Receiving User Data, the preset names are displayed in "Preset Bank" section as shown in image below.

In the Preset banks section the two buttons labeled User and Factory load the respective data into the Preset Banks listbox.

If the “Use Loaded Presets” checkbox is not checked then each time you select preset from the list, the editor requests corresponding preset from the Black Box and displays all settings.

Clicking the checkbox “Use Loaded Presets” sends the preset data that is already loaded in the editor to Black Box preset edit buffer for audition and the preset gets displayed in the editor.

BLACKBOX does use patch names and patch names are stored in BLACKBOX internal memory. Patch names are limited to only 6 characters obviously in order to fit on the LCD display.

You can rename patches if you like by double clicking on them in a list and typing a new name into the pop-up.

BLACKBOX preset names use a limited set of characters consisting mainly of a set of capital letters. The editor’s rename function will automatically change any lowercase characters while you type and ignore any characters that are not used by BLACKBOX.

The BLACKBOX character set is: “Space ,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,-,A,B,C,D,E,F, G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z,*,+,(,),\,/,’,<,|>,?,_,{,]”

The Preset bank section can be used not only to select and display BLACK BOX's internal presets but also to perform Preset copy/paste functions. After right-clicking on the Preset name:

· Paste + Write sends and saves copied Preset to BLACKBOX in a new selected location in the User Bank.

· Send to Buffer sends copied Preset to BLACK BOX's edit buffer without writing it to the User Bank.

If you use copy function from window's Edit menu, the edited Preset will be copied.

If you use paste function from window's Edit menu, the copied Preset will be pasted to BLACK BOX's edit buffer without writing it to the user bank.

TEMPLATES: COPY/PASTE PRESET GROUPED PARAMETERS

To further increase functionality of the editor we added separate Copy and Paste functions for preset grouped parameters. They are:

This way for example, you can copy the different grouped parameter settings from one Preset and seamlessly apply it to another by use of the Template system.

For instance if you a have selected the preset called DLXREV and want to copy and paste the AMP parameter values go to the AMP panel and click on “Edit”.

Selecting Copy will sends the parameters to Clipboard for Pasting to other Patch’s Amp grouped parameters you might select next. In the case below we have selected Deluxe as the patch and are set to Paste Amp parameters from DLXREV,

Further, if you had selected the Amp Template with DLXREV you will open a Template window that will have a mirroring control panel. You may then Add the Patch for use at a later time as a Template. (As demonstrated in image below)

You can do this over and over for one Preset after another, modify them in the Template window and see the change on the main Editor window. If the result is of interest you can then hit Add Current again to save this to the Template list.

The power of the Template system is in the one click application of the desired grouping of parameters to another Preset in real time. Any Template in the list can be clicked on when after you have changed to a different Preset and it will be immediately applied to the new Preset. You will then see the parameters change on the main editor window and in the sound of your output.

Templates allow you to browse through AMPS, FX, REVERB and DELAY settings from all presets in the user bank on the fly. You can preload those settings by selecting “Preload from Setting User Bank” from file menu.

The grouped parameters utilize a drop down menu for selection activated by clicking on the name labels in each panel. Staying with the AMP section if the label is single clicked a list is presented to choose the AMP type effect desired. In this case TWNREV is selected.

Note that there is a small toggle button that will expand the list width wise to display more information about the parameter. Above we see that the TWNREV is equivalent to the Fender Twin Reverb. The selection must be clicked again, or the user must click on the main screen, to set the parameter selection into active use by the editor. This allows for browsing without immediate commitment prior to final selection.

PARAMETER CHANGE SENSING

This feature has been added to the editor because it can be used to update the editor when manual changes are done using knob on BLACKBOX and to display the parameter change. Its function is to automatically request Preset and Drum Beat edit buffers in 1sec time interval. Click the button when you want the sensing to commence. The function is operational when the button has turned to blue background (below).

GLOBAL SETTINGS

The global settings are independent of any preset or Drumbeat setting. Here you can adjust the main output level, balance between Drum Beat output level and processed Input signal, Noise Gate, Global Tempo.

A common feature of the BLACK BOX SE in the drop down box selections is the ability to select a parameter with a single click and without having it the final choice. One click to select and a second click to finalize the selection is all you need. You can also click anywhere else on the interface to final select the parameter.

Also, like with any other parameter in the editor, by simply placing the cursor over the control you can use mouse wheel or computer arrow keys to change a parameter without displaying a list.

WRITING/SAVING PRESET TO BLACKBOX

Use WRITE button if you like to save edited Preset to BLACKBOX. In the "Write..." dialog you can select current or new target location within the user bank.

WRITE button is found at the top left panel of the editor, as shown in image below:

Clicking Send Preset sends the current patch to the edit buffer. Clicking Get Preset calls the current patch from the edit buffer. These are found in the same panel as WRITE (see below).

CONTINUOUS CONTROLLER MAPPER

In the Continuous Controllers Mapping window you are given several options for control.

The check box allows for activation of the Continuous Controllers Mapping in a global sense. If not checked, none of the assignments will be active. If checked then the assignments with the On/Off column set to ON will be active.

When Controller No., Chn or Parameter columns are clicked a list window opens for you to select parameters from.

Click once to highlight, (you can browse without committing) and a double click to select.

No. selection 4 is set with Controller No. 5 (Portamento Tm) controlling Parameter 19 (DRM – Tempo) through Chn (MIDI channel) 1. You will note that at the far right there is a further logical control column that allows for setup to be active (ON) or inactive (OFF). This is activated by a single click to toggle between ON/OFF states.

In the Continuous Controllers Mapping window menu you have the option of creating New, Loading saved or saving created maps.

KEYS FUNCTION

The Keys function is found under the Keys menu item or by typing ctrl+k. This function, once activated (as indicated by a check mark to the left of the Keys On menu item) will allow for single touch activation/deactivation of the selected parameter. This is designed for live performance or recording situations where time is of the essence for quick effects changes.

HELP: ONLY A CLICK AWAY

If at anytime you are stuck on editor function you have several options for obtaining help. In the main menu under Help you have a direct link in the drop down menu to our On-Line help pages.

The “Editor Web Page” will take you to the download page where we encourage you to check periodically for updates.

FILTER SEQUENCE EDITING (not currently implemented)

(NOTE: THIS FEATURE IS NOT CURRENTLY IMPLEMENTED IN THE BLACK BOX OS. WE INCLUDE THIS DESCRIPTION IN ANTICIPATION OF FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION BY MANUFACTURER.)

There are three editing modes you can use to adjust Filter Sequence step values.

The editing modes are found by clicking the yellow Edit label on the left side of the Filter Sequences window:

The "Free Hand" mode lets you simply drag your mouse across step controls to "draw" them quickly to desired positions and quickly create right sound effects or simply reset them.

In Line Control you click at a start point and value then drag the mouse to end point and value and then unclick. A straight line with the slope of the line makes up the value range. Good for making triangle setups.

The editor also lets you raise linearly all 32 Filter Sequence step values up or down, move them across from right to left and vice versa by using "group" sliders.

If you like to copy Filter Sequence settings to apply them to some other Preset use Copy/Paste functions or store them in Filter Sequence templates.

DRUM SEQUENCE (not currently implemented)

(NOTE: THIS FEATURE IS NOT CURRENTLY IMPLEMENTED IN THE BLACK BOX OS. WE INCLUDE THIS DESCRIPTION IN ANTICIPATION OF FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION BY MANUFACTURER.)

The Drum Sequence section (bottom left corner of Editor) of the main editor's screen shows Drum Beat linked to a current Preset with some parameters (Tempo, Send to FX level, signal sent to Delay, Input and Reverb.

To change linked Drum Beat from the main editor screen simply move your mouse over the Drum Beat name label and use mouse scroll wheel or click and select from drop down menu.

You will notice the Edit label that, when clicked, brings up a Drum Beat Sequencer window. This will give a sense of what the editor is potentially capable of.

MIDI IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

MIDI implementation in M-Audio’s BLACK BOX is USB driven so the perennial problems associated with MIDI drivers being incompatible for various systems are eliminated. SoundTower Software has taken advantage of this hardwired strength associated with the USB system but cannot take responsibility for USB issues that might arise within the BLACK BOX itself. For this M-Audio would be the best resource.