Well that's the idea bruh, I gotta love it to enjoy using it!
Why else do you think it has taken me so long to refine my chosen hardware setup

It''s all good now, cause I know I'll love the MiniFreak due to previously owning a MicroFreak. I know what's what with the SX/A cause I used to own one of those. So really all I have to do now is decide on something for pitching and I'll be sorted for gear (gear that I'll love using and enjoy the sound of).


I once thought I'd discovered a Pan trick for the 404 SX/A!
Truthfully I had, but I later found out that someone else had discovered it before me

Get the op-1 field

No way bruh, it's very nice but it's extortionately over-priced and the MiniFreak's a far better synth anyway, we're talking buttery-smooth FPGA goodness and real analogue filters!

Tell you what I am looking at though and that's the Blackbox sampler, and here's why:

"Reach Out, Touch Beats.

Record, edit, resample, and sequence using a familiar touchscreen interface.
Integrate synths, drum machines, and other devices to form your tabletop studio.
Capture samples, arrange sequences, and create songs without using a computer.
Get into the groove with a fast, fluid, and intuitive workflow.
Connect external hardware via USB and MIDI to expand performance and control capabilities.
Record and play back hours of music with an expandable microSD memory slot.
Combine loops with different tempos using built-in synchronization and slicing.
Perform with drum loops and samples using one-shots.
Use granular mode to create new sounds from your existing WAV files.
Map up to 80 samples to different key ranges for realistic sounding instruments.
Mix down samples and route to 3 stereo outputs and the headphone jack.
Loop samples and clips.
Create dynamic sounds by controlling level, pitch, ADR, loop points, the granulator, effects and more using MIDI control surfaces and an internal LFO.
Send the output of your pads through delay and reverb effects to further customize your sound.
Sequence nuanced rhythms with off grid recording and editing.
Surprise yourself with per note probability settings in sequences.
Tap out a tempo to stay in the groove with a jam.
Polish your final mix with a 4 band global EQ.
Add live looping to your set with MIDI triggered recording and playback.
Include other gear in your composition with MIDI out sequences.
Quickly pack up all of your samples for a preset to move to another device or microSD card.
Make music anywhere thanks to a compact and nearly indestructible design."


Just took that from their website and highlighted a certain feature in green, cause sadly that feature never existed the first time I looked at it, but it's been added in an update and now that it has, it allows you to create your own wow and flutter and tape/vinyl wobble effects. Custom Wah effects and a whole bunch of stuff. The EQ on it is a proper parametric equaliser as well, not pre-set jumps in frequency like some brands I could mention.

They've designed the Blackbox in a very professional way and I really like that about it. It's a bit smaller than I would like but it certainly ticks all the boxes and, like I said, does so in a very professional way. Just watching the videos of iy you can see how logical and well designed it is. Even setting-up the LFO to effect stuff is very intuative and exactly the way I would have done it myself, I think it's really well done.

I even love the font they used, that's the best font ever, it's as super-crisp and readable as it was in the 80s before all that 'font smoothing' bullshit came along. So I really like it and take my hat off to the designer of it, he clearly understands professsional industrial design in ways that sadly the larger manufacturers do not, and you can tell it is an absolute pleasure to use as a result of his skills in (quality) industrial design.

So if I were to buy that and MIDI it up to my MiniFreak, I would even have a 'proper' chromatic sampler with 'proper' pitching as well, and no pointlessly limited nonsense whatsoever. It even has zoomable piano-roll style editing, the works!

Other features I especially love about it are the quality of the audio output, it has a very strong, fat-sounding output stage (lots of people have noticed this) and the fluidity of the controls, snappiness of the screen are super-responsive just as on the MiniFreak.

So I'm thinking of getting that to pair-up with the MiniFreak and using them together as a synth and music production powerhouse - no computer requred. This will allow me to make my own stuff to sample, then I suppose I could just get a second-hand old-school SP to sample from it and to join in the beat battles here.

In other words, the MiniFreak and Blackbox sampler will basically serve the same purpose as a collection of vinyl (I'll use them to create the sounds, phrases and songs that I'll eventually sample into the SP). I wouldn't actually need an SP with those two, but I still want on old school SP regardless once I decide which one.

You see, this is why I rant so much, it's because I know what sort of quality and usability should be coming from these big musical instrument companies, but it is not.

I was just watching this, I've set the link to automatically play from the 10:00 point but if it does not just skip to 10:00 and watch and listen. See how smooth and responsive that EQ is? See how well it is implemented? See how (as with all the other parameters on this thing) the adjustments are all high resolution?

Now go and look at an EQ on the most expensive Korg, Roland or Yamaha muisic workstation you can find and compare it. See how laggy it is. See how poorly implemented it is, see how limited it is in knob resolution.

That Blackbox is a beauty, perfect for pairing-up with a MiniFreak (which is also a well designed, fantastic-sounding beauty). I love well-designed, good sounding gear, so decision made - gonna look for the best price and get it ordered!

Blackbox EQ Implementation (Should play from 10:00):
https://youtu.be/SwjJJlpDWRQ?t=600

Smooth as fuckin' silk, high resolution and super-responsive, just as it should be

Well, that's the MiniFreak cancelled (for now anyway). It's still very much on my radar for exactly the same reasons it was originally, but I was getting concerned that it might end up getting sent out to me before I'd even had a chance to read the manual.

I expected to have read the manual by now, and not only that, since I'm embracing second-hand gear now, my options have opened up a fair bit!