[New release] PLAYBOX is a game changer for creativity and workflow!

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  • Kaiwan_NI
    Kaiwan_NI Administrator Posts: 2,583 admin
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    Seeing that you all have shown so much interest in this drop, we're now opening this post up for an AMA with the creators of PLAYBOX for any questions about the making of this exciting new instrument!

    Inspirations behind its origins? Behind-the-scenes of the development process? Insights into the interface and sound design concept? Go as in-depth as you'd like.

    Leave your questions below and the team behind PLAYBOX will pick some questions to answer. 🧊👇

  • Tepa
    Tepa Member Posts: 1 Newcomer
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    Really love-it, playing with it for few hours now...

    Importing my own samples is so fun !!!

    As said before it would be so nice to play directly our own chord live, it was the first thing i tried to find in the manual ;)

    I also like the possiblity to isolate my samples line from others line for other post editing, so i duplicate my kontakt playbox and import empty user sample as workaround for muting sample line.

    Solo and mute for samples line at least could be a very welcome new feature for i hope some futures updates to that great instrument :)

  • Benjamin Meinders
    Benjamin Meinders Member Posts: 2 Member
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    Great Instrument,

    but is there a way to initialize it? Such a komplex instrument and no Init Patch?

  • LoveEnigma
    LoveEnigma Member Posts: 82 Advisor
    edited March 2022
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    Thank you for giving the opportunity to share our thoughts with the team. First things first, I love PLAYBOX and it is very inspiring.

    A few suggestions/requests for the development team. Some of them are shared by a few of us already, so just trying to consolidate in this post. I will update this post as I recall any further suggestions. Would be nice if these are possible for implementation.

    Basic requests - for what PLAYBOX is:

    • Mute/Solo button for note/sample in the chords.
    • Undo/Redo button for global dice and at other places where it is currently not present.
    • Love the UI. Would be nice if there was a dark skin alternative of the same.
    • An option to record all the 8 chords in one go (with a small time interval between playing successive chords, 1 sec perhaps) instead of having to record one by one.
    • As mentioned by user "badbass" below, most of the times the sounds are momentary only. Would be great if we could create sustained sounds, especially when a note is held for a longer duration. We might be missing something here, so any tip is appreciated in case we can get it to work in the current version.

    Advanced requests - for what PLAYBOX can also be:

    • Ability to play different chords with a single layer of samples - making use of the entire keyboard. So, like a unison of C note, for example with 4 stacked samples on the same C note, and then playing different chords like we play any other instruments. Only difference being instead of one sample per note we take advantage of PLAYBOX's innovative approach of layering more than one same/different type of sample per note/key. [Currently, we can only have 8 pre-selected/recorded chords and it takes some effort to record the chords you want first and to copy the same layer of samples to all those chords using Shift + LMB drag.]
    • A mode to play melodies - again making using of the entire keyboard instead of limiting to 8 notes. That is, to play a melody with stacked samples per note/key. This is related to the above point.
  • badbass
    badbass Member Posts: 4 Newcomer
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    Can someone familiar with Playbox explain how to create sustaining sounds?

    When using the plugin, all I seem to be able to produce are brief(ish) momentary sounds (which are very nice btw) but which do not sustain when a note is held down. I've tried altering the 'Amp' ASDR in the FX section but that doesnt seem to allow for strong sustaining sounds to be formed. Yes, it seems to extend some of the effect envelopes, so you can get long effect tails, but there's nothing feeding the effect chain after a few seconds. Is there a limitation in the factory samples - that they dont have the capacity for a looping sustain?

    I'm hoping I'm missing something as its a great product.

    Could someone kindly advise?

  • LoveEnigma
    LoveEnigma Member Posts: 82 Advisor
    edited March 2022
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    Great point. I also experienced the same and forgot to add it to my list. So, have added it above now.

  • Olihop
    Olihop Member Posts: 152 Advisor
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    Yes, a looping of the tail of a sample would allow to play notes held indefinitely until the note is released. A very interesting feature for this instrument.

  • Truth42
    Truth42 Member Posts: 13 Member
    edited March 2022
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    At the risk of putting a downer on things:

    I bought Playbox on the day it came out. It's nice to look at and everything but I really don't see the point.

    IMO it's a bit of a toy. I can't see it ever having any useful functionality.

    Sorry for the negativity.

  • Peter Harris
    Peter Harris Member Posts: 470 Pro
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    Maybe I'm just being crazy optimistic or I'm not thinking the logic through but I'm curious to see what might come from using the upcoming auto-sampler functions with Playbox (or Play series Kontakt instruments) and whether they could allow for limited but M+ compatible sounds.

    (Loopop did a great video previewing the auto-sampler and I bet he or one of the creators of Playbox could hazard a guess.)

  • badbass
    badbass Member Posts: 4 Newcomer
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    Having probed a little further - the note sustain aspect seems to be patch dependent - a few patches will sustain for extended periods but there doesnt seem to be a way to force a patch to sustain or indeed know in advance if a patch will sustain. Sometimes it seems that the Grain effect will hold a sound but again it seems patch dependent. A work-around is to set kontakt to send midi out and get it to trigger another vst instrument - one that will provide a sustain. Initial investigation suggests that the midi out seems to closely echo what the internal midi note engine is generating - so in this context both instruments stay in key.

    Controlling Playbox using midi cc seems comprehensive. Personally I really like this device - it's an excellent track starter / mood instigator.

  • Peter Harris
    Peter Harris Member Posts: 470 Pro
    edited March 2022
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    Does anyone know if there is a way of changing/choosing the specific sound being used in Piano Mode?

    And when dragging MIDI out of Playbox, is there a way of controlling the note lengths it uses or is it the same chord sequence duration every time? Do we have to just adjust those in the DAW directly? (It may be just my inexperience but in Maschine when I try to stretch the sequence overall it keeps all the same note start points and moves only the ends, rather than maintaining the chord integrity.)

    BTW I absolutely love the product overall!

  • badbass
    badbass Member Posts: 4 Newcomer
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    @PHarris - I think the only way to get hold of the corrected durations is to record the output midi from Kontakt. This is very easy in Ableton and nigh on impossible in Logic. I'm not sure about other DAWs.

    The variability of the sustain behaviour on some patches is quite frustrating as it appears that some patches will allow you to extend them for a bit, while others are impossible to sustain - meaning that the energy of held motif can only be sustained by repeating trigger notes which tends to trigger attack envelope stages robbing the impression of a held sustain.

    It would really help if there was a way to define looping segments for the factory samples.

    Importing your own samples into the engine is a great way to refresh and discover new contexts for your old samples.

    Overall: Great

  • Sam99
    Sam99 Member Posts: 1 Newcomer
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    Can Playbox be used offline?

  • Uwe303
    Uwe303 Moderator Posts: 3,053 mod
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    Use offline yes, you only have to register it once online.

    Uwe

  • Peter Harris
    Peter Harris Member Posts: 470 Pro
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    And the Piano Mode sound question? Can it be changed? Buller? Buller?

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