1010music Bluebox is a portable 6/12-track digital audio hub that integrates, mixes, and records your electronic music instruments on a microSD card.
“DAWless” is a big topic. Moving away from the computer screen towards hardware music-making. A hardware synth for the price of a plugin is no longer uncommon. However, there is one critical point. If you want to bring all sounds together, you end up sooner or later on a computer. 1010music has presented today the Bluebox, which can possibly prevent that.
Bluebox is a portable digital audio mixer in the same shape as the Bitbox sampler. It is an audio hub that can mix, manipulate, and record audio signals on a microSD card. No recording needed, no problem. Bluebox also operates as a classic mixer by routing each track independently to the three outputs and effects sends. The concept is reminiscent of the Zoom L series, only much smaller and handier.
1010music Bluebox
It features six switchable inputs (6 stereo/12 mono tracks) to which you can connect your favorite instruments (Eurorack, sampler, Synthesizer…). From here, Bluebox users can mix them easily with the physical knobs or via the built-in 3.5” touch screen. Each track offers control of volume, gain, 4-band parametric EQ, pan, mute, and solo functions. The onboard delay and reverb effects bring your sounds to life.
MIDI inputs/outputs allow you to sync the clock with external gear for synchronized effects and metronome. A nice feature that shows that the developer has thought about which features electronic musicians need. Thanks to the built-in memory slot, it can also record independent tracks or the main mix in 48k, 24-bit WAV on a microSD card. Further, it’s possible to playback previously recorded track while recording new ones.
Flexibility
One should highlight the flexibility of the connections of the Bluebox. This goes from mono/stereo inputs to the freely assignable outputs 2 & 3.
Lastly, it can also be operated with a standard battery pack that makes mobile music making possible.
Technical Specs
- 6 stereo 3.5 mm TRS inputs
- 12 mono tracks, 6 stereo tracks or something in between
- 3 independently controlled stereo 3.5 mm TRS outputs
- 5” touch screen, 4 knobs, 8 navigation buttons and 3 transport buttons
- 3 effects: reverb, delay and compressor
- Records and plays back 48k, 24-bit audio WAV files
- 4 band EQ per track
- MIDI In and Out for beat syncing effects
- Dimensions: 5.5″ x 5″ x 2″ (14 cm x 13 cm x 5 cm), 1 lb (450 grams)
- Durable metal case
In summary, 1010music has introduced an audio tool that will appeal to many musicians. Mix, manipulate, and record audio signals in one super-compact device. Many will love the good mix of the solid feature set and the portable form factor. I really like it too.
1010music bluebox will be available in December 2020 for $499 USD.
More information here: 1010music
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