I don't get Playbox.

Brent Emerson · 2023-07-04T22:13:16+00:00

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Admittedly I've only messed around with it for a little bit, but even after watching a few videos I don't get the value of PlayBox.

The videos show a person playing around with chords and sounds, but what do I do when I find a good sample and effect combination I like? How can I make use of the samples and the effects settings Playbox has stumbled upon? As far as I can tell I need to recreate the sound I liked from scratch from instruments and effect. If I'm looking for inspiration Playbox is a good tool. But if I can't get any useful output from it to help building my tracks what's the point?

Either I am missing some functionality of Playbox or I'm misunderstanding how it's meant to be used.

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shanecgriffo1

you can use it as a starter idea or to add some texture and movement to other tracks

What makes you say you cant get any useful output?

The only thing i find not so useful is that you only have 1 octave on the keyboard to play with

Brent Emerson

Thanks shanecgriffo1. How do you use Playbox with your existing tracks?

I've found that I can record custom chords into the chord panel (not limited to the C3-C4 range, which is just for triggering the chords). That helps. I knew importing was an option.

I also found that I can simply record to my DAW using Playbox as an instrument (pretty straightforward I guess, should have tried that sooner!) I was imagining Playbox as a Tool "off to the side" of my DAW that would let me load assets when I found a good combination. Now I'm thinking its more like a regular instrument with a robust randomization feature and an unusual note-entering method.

I'm still not sure how useful Playbox will be for me, but since it was one reason why I upgraded to 14 I was hoping I'd be as impressed as some in YouTube World are. (And with people like Robot Koch praising it I'm sure it has usefulness I haven't uncovered yet.) I haven't found a video or tutorial yet that shows how to use Playbox in the broader context of song creation and DAW integration, just people playing around with the settings. I'm just a hobbyist and need a bit more hand-holding I guess.

Monochrome

Have you seen these videos?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udjWW45phgU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ead6R0j0SKM

PoorFellow

Have you tried that extremely dreaded thing called a manual ? 😉 🙂

https://www.native-instruments.com/fileadmin/ni_media/downloads/manuals/Playbox/PLAYBOX_Manual_English_2022_03.pdf

https://www.native-instruments.com/ni-tech-manuals/playbox-manual/en/welcome-to-playbox

Brent Emerson

Jef Gibbons' video is very close to what I was looking for (and I share his attitude towards Playbox). Onesto's was very good but explained little re: workflow integration. Thanks for the suggestions, Monochrome.

The manual is a description of features. I want to see (or read) how Playbox is integrated into a production workflow, not how it works as a standalone Kontakt toy.

Kymeia

I’d like to be able to actually play it rather than just play with it

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