1010 Bluebox

A multitrack mixer and recorder.

One particular challenge with the Bluebox is synchronization. While it has MIDI I/O, there is currently no way to tell the Bluebox to ignore MIDI STOP messages. In practice this means losing out on those delicious tails, which is a total waste! We need a way to filter out such messages so the recording doesn't stop prematurely.

Enter the MRCC, which can do exactly that — sort of. It has an option to filter out real-time messages (STOP, START, CONTINUE) with the click of an encoder. We can accomplish our desired goal by:

1. routing a device to the Bluebox
2. starting the master transport source
3. activating the real-time filter (ideally as an outport fitler)
4. stopping the master transport source (and everything connected to it)
5. manually stopping the Bluebox once the tails have ended

Pam's seems like the obvious choice for a master clock/transport source, with its stable internal clock and MIDI output capability. Testing revealed an important hitch, however: when not running, Pam's does not output clock signals on its MIDI port. This would be fine if not for the Bluebox's internal clock. Once it loses its external clock, the Bluebox switches to the internal one and resets the transport. This reset destroys the ongoing recording.

The final workaround is to route Pam's through another device (such as the Syntakt), then use that device as the Bluebox's clock/transport. Experiments have shown that the Elektron boxes adjust their internal clocks to match the incoming MIDI clock and retain that tempo when the external clock ceases. See the MRCC page for a diagram of our preferred MIDI routing layout.