TWISTED ELECTRONS OPL3 10 Voice FM Electrons Blast Beats User Manual

TWISTED ELECTRONS OPL3 10 Voice FM Electrons Blast Beats

Features Overview

At the heart of this Groove Box lies a YMF-262 Chip, also known as the OPL3 FM Chip. This is the same chip that was previously used in the SoundBlaster16/ SoundBlaster PRO2 sound cards, which were found in 90s computers. The Blast Beats is equipped with two Stereo YAC512 DACs, which allow for four individually assignable outputs, providing flexibility when it comes to multitracking and instrument routing. Blast Beats features 10 voices, which include 6 drum voices: kick, SD, tom, closed hat, open hat, and cymbal; as well as 4 synth voices. Each synth voice can be dual or quad-operator, depending on the chosen algorithm.
Other notable features of the Blast Beats include 8 waveforms per operator, 56 faders with per-step automation, and 32 illuminated buttons. This includes 3 mode buttons (top left), 3 transport buttons (bottom left), a top row of 10 voice buttons referred to as “top10” in this manual, and a bottom row of 16 step buttons referred to as “bottom16.”
The Blast Beats also comes equipped with a DIN5 MIDI IN and OUT, allowing each track to receive and transmit MIDI, as well as USB for firmware updates. Additionally, it includes 4 assignable MONO T/S 1/4″ outputs, 1 MONO T/S 1/4″ MIX output (with all instruments mixed to one output), 1 DUAL MONO T/S 1/4″ headphone output (which is the same as mix on both sides), analog sync in and out via 1/8″ mono TS jack, and a MicroSD for data storage.

About Drum and Synth Voices

The YMF262 FM chip synthesizes drum sounds using several FM operators. Some operators are shared between instruments. As a result some of Blast Beats’ faders affect several instruments at once:

• Hats and Tom share the same pitch modulation;
• The multiplier of the snare will also affect the pitch of the hats & tom.

This hardware limitation/quirk can however lead to interesting surprises.

There are 4 synth instruments. Synths 1 and 2 are monophonic (one voice) whereas synths 3 and 4 are duo-phonic (2 voices) and differ in the way their 2 voices are triggered:

• Synth 3 has 2 overlapping voices useful for duo-phonic chords. You can record 1 or 2 notes on each step for synth3.
• Synth 4 triggers both voices at once. They can be detuned using the operator3 tune fader allowing fat bass lines or chord stabs.

You can choose between 5 algorithms for each synth instrument with the algo fader. The Snare drum is special in that some waveforms silence the instrument. As a result we have disabled waveforms 4,5,6.

Synth Algorithms

The synth voices of Blast Beats comprise up to four oscillators, which are referred to as operators. The algorithm icons display numbered boxes that represent the operators, and the arrows represent the modulation signal path. When an operator receives the signal from a previous operator, its frequency is modulated by it, also known as frequency modulation (FM). Certain operators feed back into themselves, which is represented by a line joining the top and bottom of the operator. Blast Beats has five different algorithms for the synth voices:

Algo1

Operator 4 serves as the carrier. When operators 1 to 3 are muted, operator 4 produces a pure waveform. However, operator 4 is modulated by all previous operators in the chain, making this algorithm capable of producing the most complex sounds. Operator 1 modulates operator 2, operator 2 (also known as op1+op2) modulates operator 3, and operator 3 (also known as op1+op2+op3) modulates operator 4. The amount of modulation stacks up with each step, so operator 4 is likely to distort at the end of the modulation chain.

Algo2

Operator 1 is left unmodulated, but applying vibrato with the op2 fader will cause it to bend. Operators 2-4 are set up similarly to Algo1. Operator 4 is the carrier and is modulated by operator 3, which is in turn modulated by operator 2.

Algo3

This algorithm splits the chain into a pair of 2op synths that can be detuned using the tune fader. Operator 4 is a carrier modulated by operator 3, and operator 2 is a carrier modulated by operator 1.

Algo4

Operators 1 and 4 are carriers with no operators modulating them, while operator 3 is a carrier modulated by operator 2.

Algo5

In this final setup, all operators are carriers singing along together as individuals.

Note: When selecting a synth track and moving some of its faders, the algorithm used by this instrument is shown as a reminder by a blinking LED (top row LED’s 1-5, to reflect algorithms 1-5).

Step Edit Mode

Step Edit Mode allows users to edit individual steps of a pattern to create custom beats. To enter this mode, simply press the “Step” button.

Selecting a page
If a pattern is longer than one page (more than 16 steps), users can select different pages by pressing the “Step” button to flick through them. The top row of LEDs labeled “top10” will briefly indicate the current page. A pattern can be up to four pages (or 64 steps) long. Refer to the “Length Mode” section of the manual to learn how to add pages..

Selecting an instrument
Blast Beats includes 10 voices, comprising of 6 drum voices and 4 synth voices. To edit a specific voice, press any of the “top10” voice buttons. If the sequencer is stopped, selecting a voice will trigger it, allowing you to preview its sound.

Cloning a synth
To copy the sound of a synth to another, hold down the top button of the source synth and press the top button of the destination synth. For instance, to copy synth1 to synth3, hold down top button #7 and press top button #9.

Cloning a step
It is possible to clone steps from one step to another by following a simple process. This will also clone any automations applied to the step. Firstly, ensure that the REC button is unlit. Then, hold down the REC button and press the first step that you wish to copy.
Finally, press any other steps where you want to paste the copied step. This will change the state of the step, including its on/off status and note number.

X0X style step input
When the REC button is disabled, you can easily switch individual steps on or off by pressing the lower 16 buttons. If the sequencer is not running, synths 1 to 4 will play the note of the selected step, making it easier to identify which note you are enabling or disabling.

Transposing a synth step
Hold a synth step and press the kit/patt or function button to transpose the step
up or down respectively by 1 semitone.

Real time drum input
With REC armed and Blast Beats running press top10 buttons 1 to 6 to
punch in a drum beat.

Real time synth input
When REC is armed and Blast Beats is running the 16 bottom buttons can be used to punch notes into the sequencer in real time. The bottom LEDs represent the keys of a piano – the lit LEDs are white keys

Synth monitor mode
To practice playing a synth using the 16 bottom buttons prior to recording it without arming REC, you may activate the synth monitor mode. To do so, simply double-tap any of the last four top buttons to toggle the synth monitor mode on or off. When activated, the bottom LEDs of the Blast Beats will represent the keys of a piano, with the lit LEDs indicating the white keys. This feature is a useful tool for honing your skills before recording, and can be easily disabled by double tapping the top buttons once again to resume normal operation.

Changing the synth input octave
To change the playback octave for synths and drums, hold down the REC button and select the low, normal, or high octave by pressing the kit/patt, step, or function buttons, respectively.
To transpose the octave of a specific voice, hold down its corresponding top10 button and use the following menu buttons:
The ‘Kit/Patt’ button: Transposes the playback down by one octave. Pressing it twice will transpose down by two octaves.
The ‘Step’ button: Maintains the current octave without any transposition. The ‘Function’ button: Transposes the playback up by one octave. To transpose all voices simultaneously, double-tap any of the aforementioned buttons.

Step by step synth input
To activate or deactivate the step-by-step synth mode, hold the REC button and press the run button. In this mode, when Blast Beats is stopped and REC is armed, you can input a melody step-by-step by tapping the bottom 16 buttons. A blinking bottom 16 LED indicates the currently edited step. The LEDs will chase from left to right once step-by-step mode is activated.
If you reach the end of the sequence, which is 16 steps for a one-page song, it will loop back to step 1 and overwrite endlessly. You can input a rest by pressing the step button. Additionally, you can input notes via MIDI using channels 1-4, or other channels depending on the MIDI channel routing.
If you wish to start over at any time, toggle REC off, then on again to reset the step recorder to the first step.

Undo/redo
Whenever you press REC before recording some changes, Blast Beats creates a snapshot of the current pattern. You can undo (and redo) the changes by holding function and pressing REC in step mode.

Key Change Mode

In this mode, you can modify the key of your pattern, which will affect all synth tracks simultaneously.
To access the key change mode, hold the ‘step’ button and press ‘run.’ To exit this mode and return to the previous mode, press ‘kit,’ ‘step,’ or ‘function,’ depending on which mode you wish to enter.
Once you have entered the key change edit mode, use the 16 bottom buttons to select the new key. These buttons represent the keys of a piano, with the illuminated buttons representing the white keys.
To clear the key changes please refer to the clear function.
Tip: If the ‘REC’ button is illuminated, you can also record key changes.”

Kit / Pattern Mode

In this mode you can change and chain patterns, and assign different kits to each pattern. Press kit/pat to enter this mode.

About Kits and Variations (previously referred to as Banks)
Blast Beats enables the use of up to 10 kits within a song, each containing 10 variations from which to choose. However, it is important to note that only one variation can be utilised per kit throughout the entire song. For example, if patterns 1 and 2 both use kit 3, loading a different variation of kit 3 will modify the sound of both patterns. This is due to the RAM memory constraints that limit the amount of kits that can be accessed at any given time to 10. The approach of handling the kits in RAM allows for faster access thus enabling per-step modulation of kit changes!

Changing Kit
Press a top10 button at any time to change the kit assigned to the current pattern.
Each of the 16 patterns can have any of the 10 kits assigned to it. You can automate kit changes per step: simply change the kit with REC lit!

Cloning Kits
Cloning kits comes in handy when you want to create variations of the same kit. To clone a kit, hold down the top10 button of the kit you wish to duplicate, and press the destination kit’s button (any other top10 button) to paste it. You can make multiple clones at once.

Changing kit Variations
To load a variation of a kit hold the kit/patt button then press any top10 button to load a new variation of the current kit.

For example to select variation 3 of kit 2:

1. make sure you are in kit/patt mode (press kit/patt)
2. press top button 2 (to select kit 2)
3. then hold kit/patt and press 3 (to load variation 3)

Cloning kit Variations
To duplicate a kit’s variation from one location to another, begin by selecting the desired kit by holding its corresponding top button. Next hold down the kit/patt button and press any other top button without releasing the kit/patt button. This action will copy the current variation to the other designated variation location.
For example, suppose that variation 1 is currently loaded for Kit 1, and you wish to duplicate it over variation 3. In that case, press and hold the top button for Kit 1, then press and hold the kit/patt button. Next, release the Kit 1 button and press the top button for variation 3 while continuing to hold the kit/patt button.

Changing Pattern
To change patterns, press any of the bottom 16 buttons. If the sequencer is stopped, the new pattern will start playing immediately. However, if the sequencer is running, Blast Beats will cue the next pattern and make the change when it reaches the last step of the current pattern. In this case, the next pattern will be indicated by a blinking bottom 16 LED.

Cloning Pattern
To clone a pattern, simply hold down the bottom 16 button of the pattern you want to clone, and press any other bottom 16 button where you want to paste it. Note that when changing patterns, the assigned kit will be loaded automatically.

Chaining Patterns
You can chain together up to 256 patterns to create a song. To do so, first press the REC button to arm the sequencer (the REC LED should begin blinking). Then, press the first pattern in your song to begin recording the chain. This will overwrite any previously recorded chain.
During the chain recording phase, the current pattern will blink to indicate that it is armed. You can include multiple repetitions of the same pattern in your chain.
Once you have reached the end of your desired chain, press REC again to finalize the sequence. The current pattern will stop blinking and Blast Beats will automatically return to the first pattern in the chain and loop the entire sequence endlessly.
If you stop the sequencer, it will reset to the first pattern in the chain.

Clear the chain

Suppose we want to play only pattern 1

• press REC to arm Blast Beats,
• press bottom16 button1,
• press REC again to un-arm Blast Beats (before pattern 1 reaches the end of its cycle if the sequencer is running).

Add or replace patterns in the chain
Start the song by pressing run. Now you can arm the REC button at any point and press bottom16 buttons to swap patterns in the chain. If the end of the chain is reached with REC still armed, you will extend the chain until you disarm REC or stop the sequencer.

Freeze the chain
To temporarily disable the chain (and repeat any pattern) without clearing it you can freeze it. hold REC and press freeze to freeze and unfreeze the chain.
Press kit/patt and function at the same time to enter song mode. Both kit/patt and function LEDS will light at the same time.
The 160 available songs are arranged in 10 folders/banks of 16 songs To load a new song tap a top10 button to select a folder, Then tap a bottom16 button to load a song. 1 song consists of:
16 patterns (up to 64 steps per pattern (arranged in 4 pages of 16 steps)) A chain of up to 256 pattern changes can be recorded per song. Kits and songs are saved separately. The songs share the same kits.

Song Mode

Press kit/patt and function at the same time to enter song mode. Both kit/patt and function LEDS will light at the same time.
The 160 available songs are arranged in 10 folders/banks of 16 songs. To load a new song tap a top10 button to select a folder, Then tap a bottom16 button to load a song.
1 song consists of:
16 patterns (up to 64 steps per pattern (arranged in 4 pages of 16 steps)) A chain of up to 256 pattern changes can be recorded per song. Kits and songs are saved separately. The songs share the same kits.

Function Mode

Press function to enter this mode to edit the following functions:

Save
Save Song (patterns)
The SD card can be updated to save the current song to any location within a designated range of folders and locations. You can choose a different destination folder within the range of 1 to 10 by pressing any top10 button, and confirm the location within the range of 1 to 16 by pressing any bottom 16 button. The current folder and location are lit when you enter save mode.
It is important to note that Blast Beats will only write to the SD card when the sequencer is stopped. If the sequencer is running, it will wait until the next instance that it is stopped (by pressing “run”) to save any updates to the SD card.
Note: The song saving system is optimized to only update the patterns that have changed resulting in variable save times ranging from instant (when updating some steps) to 6 seconds ( when saving an entire song to a new slot).
Save kits (sounds)
Press the flashing kit/patt button to save the kits. This will not save your patterns!

Length
The “length mode” feature enables you to change the duration of a pattern, with options varying from 2 to 64 steps. You have the flexibility to adjust the length of individual tracks or all tracks simultaneously.
To modify the pattern length for all tracks:

1. Use the first four buttons at the top to choose the required number of 16-step pages.
2. Press one of the bottom buttons to set the last step for each page.

If you want to change the length of only the selected track:

1. Perform the same steps as above.
2. However, make sure to hold down the ‘function’ button while selecting the number of 16-step pages and setting the last step.

You can select a different track without exiting length mode by following these steps:

1. Hold down the ‘function’ button.
2. Press the top button that corresponds to the track you want to select.

Important: Track 1 (BD) serves as the master track, controlling the timing of page transitions and the chaining of patterns.
When adding more than one page, it is possible to clone the content of the first page. To do so, hold the first top button and press the top10 buttons 2, 3, or 4 to set the length of the pattern to 2, 3, or 4 pages, respectively.

Clear

• fader automation: Hold clear and move a fader to erase its automation.
• All automation: Hold clear and press REC to clear all automation.
• Clear only the automation data on the selected track: Hold Clear + Rec once.
• pattern clear (single voice): Hold clear and press a top10 button to erase the enabled steps.
• pattern initialize: Hold clear and press kit/patt to erase the current pattern resulting in a blank 16-step pattern.
• wiggle automation: hold clear and press wiggle to reset the wiggle depth automation.
• vibrato rate automation: hold clear and press vibrato to reset the vibrato rate automation.
• tremolo rate automation: hold clear and press tremolo to reset the tremolo rate automation.
• swing automation: hold clear and press the swing button to clear the swing automation.
• Clear Kit (set all faders to zero): double tap the clear button when in clear mode.
• Clear key changes: hold clear and press run
• Clears both track steps and automation data on the selected track: Hold Clear + Top row button.

Wiggle
This function adds randomness to any fader. To assign the wiggler to a fader, hold wiggle and move a fader. Set the depth of the wiggler: press any of the top10 buttons once to apply the wiggle depth to the current pattern. Double click any top10 buttons to apply the depth to all patterns of the song at once. You can also automate the wiggle depth. Simply light the REC button and wiggle depth changes will be recorded and played back.
To disconnect individual faders from the Wiggle hold Wiggle + clear and move the fader. To clear all faders assigned to the wiggler: hold wiggle and press clear.
Shuffle kit: Hold wiggle and press kit/patt to randomize the kit (automatically move some random faders).
Shuffle pattern: Hold wiggle and press step to randomize the pattern (automatically enable or disable steps).
You can configure wiggle to occur on all steps or only the active ones. Please use the website to enable or disable this option.

Swing
Use the top10 buttons to set the amount of swing. Each pattern of a song has its own swing setting.
You can also automate the swing setting. Simply light the REC button and swing setting changes will be recorded and played back.
Wonky Swing mode:
Pressing Swing while holding Function activates “Wonky Swing”: instead even numbered steps, odd numbered steps are offsets by Swing.

Mute
In this mode use the top10 buttons to mute/unmute a channel.

Mute Pages (or skip page playback)
While Function + Mute are held, page buttons can be deactivated (blinking when inactive) and playback skips them (e.g. you can loop pages 1 and 3 only, or page 2, 3 and 4, etc.).

Solo
in this mode use the top10 buttons to solo a channel.

Prob
In this mode set the trigger probability of a channel. Select a channel: hold prob and use a top10 button Now release prob and set the level of probability (chances out of 10 of triggering) with the top10 buttons.

Stutter
This is a performance function, enabling you to re-trigger the same instrument rapidly (like a Blast Beat). Hold the top10 buttons to repeat the current step at various rates. The rates are divisions of the current tempo. Hold function during a stutter and press a bottom button to change the stutter step!
Tip: try holding wiggle during a stutter 🙂

Bend (spin down effect)
Hold bend to bend the global tuning of the FM chip downwards. Use the top10 buttons to set the bend strength.

Freeze
When freeze is held, the communication between Blast Beats and the FM chips is suspended leading to sustained notes and glitches (can be combined with bend and stutter)

Vibrato / Tremolo waveform
By default vibrato and tremolo oscillate up and down (sine waveform). There are 9 other waveforms to choose from to modulate volume and pitch of your operators. In function mode hold term or vibr and press the top10 buttons to change the waveform. The first 8 buttons represent the 8 waveforms printed on the top of the device. 9th and 10th waveforms are random waveforms. Note: waveform changes can be automated per step! Just change the waveform with REC lit.

Tremolo
Use the top10 buttons to set the tremolo rate (each pattern has its own tremolo rate).
This function will continuously modulate the volume of the operator.
A different tremolo rate can be assigned to each pattern.
You can also automate the tremolo rate on each step. Simply light the REC button and tremolo rate changes will be recorded and played back.

Vibrato
Use the top10 buttons to set the vibrato speed (each pattern has its own vibrato rate).
This function will modulate the pitch of the operator. A different vibrato rate can be assigned to each pattern.
You can also automate the vibrato rate. Simply light the REC button and vibrato rate changes will be recorded and played back.

Phones
Use the top10 buttons to set the phones level (recalled at startup). You can automate this parameter per step, just change it with REC lit.

Mix
Use the top10 buttons to set the mix level (recalled at startup). You can automate this parameter per step, just change it with REC lit.

Route
With this function you can assign the instruments to any of the 4 outputs.
Note some instruments are locked together (snare + hats , tom + cymbal).
This is a hardware limitation due to the way the voices are created by the YMF262. Hold route and press a top10 button select a target instrument.
Release route and now press the first 4 top10 buttons to attach/detach the target voice to outputs 1-4 (you can route a voice to multiple outputs to make it louder in the main mix).
You can also automate this parameter per step, just change it with REC lit.

Internal Mode Synching
Blast Beats will automatically start up in internal clock mode.

Analog & MIDI Clock Out
Blast Beats will send a 5V pulse every 2 steps (2PPQ) at all times.
It also transmits MIDI clock through the MIDI OUT jack.

Analog Slave Mode
Plug a 1/8” mono TS cable into the sync input to activate Analog Slave mode. In this mode Blast Beats will advance 2 steps on every received pulse (2PPQ). MIDI clock is ignored in analog Slave mode.
Blast Beats will automatically reset to step 1 if no pulses have been received for several seconds. Pressing run in this mode will reset the sequencer to step 1.

MIDI Slave Mode
Blast Beats will automatically sync to incoming MIDI clock. MIDI slave mode is activated when Blast Beats receives a MIDI Start command. Pressing run in this mode will reset the sequencer to step 1. Blast Beats will go back to Master mode after receiving a MIDI Stop command. Note: MIDI clock is read/handled but not sent by Blast Beats. Setting The Tempo (Master Mode)

Tap tempo
Press a tempo button at least 3 times to tap the tempo. If Blast Beats isn’t running it will start on the third tap.

Manual a.k.a BPM tempo
Press and hold the tempo button then press the top10 buttons to input the tempo in beats per minute. You can input either 2 or 3 digit BPM values.
Example   1: Set Blast Beats to 123 BPM

• Hold tempo and tap first, second then third top10 button

Example2: Set Blast Beats to 51 BPM

• Hold tempo and tap fifth then first top10 button
• Release tempo button to set to 51.

Fader Automation

When in step mode you can record and automate the faders.
Note: fader automation also transmits MIDI CC

Recording a fader
To record a fader simply press the REC button in step mode (the REC LED will flash). Now the sequencer will record and repeat the fader movements. Press REC again to no longer record the faders.
Deleting automation for a single fader
To delete the automation of a single fader press function to enter function mode. Now hold clear and move the fader for which you wish to delete the automation.

Step lock automation (A.K.A parameter locks)
You can record a fader position in non-real-time to any step. hold a bottom button to define the step and move the fader. Note REC must be off.

Deleting all fader automation
To delete all the fader automation of the current pattern press function to enter function mode. Now hold clear and press REC.

Trick Automation and step edit
In function mode you can record and play back the 3 available trick functions that are stutter, bend and freeze.

Recording a trick
To record a trick simply press the REC button in function mode (the REC LED will flash). Now the bends, freezes, and stutters that you activate will be recorded and played back.

Deleting trick automation
To delete trick automation press function to enter function mode. Now hold clear and press stutter, freeze or bend to the delete the respective automation.

Step Editing trick automation
You can edit the automation using the 16 step buttons just like you would edit the steps of a regular beat.
To access the trick step edit page hold step and press stutter, bend or freeze to access the respective editors. Now you can flick through the pages of the pattern by pressing step and the bottom 16 LEDs will light up when automation of the trick is present on a step.
To exit trick step editor press function, kit/patt or step + any top10 button .

Bend and Freeze step edit
Bend and freeze trick automation are edited the same way in that a single press of the bottom 16 buttons will turn the trick on or off for any step.

Stutter step edit
Stutter trick step edit allows you to activate and deactivate the stutter on any step, but it also allows you to choose the stutter rate per step. Press a bottom 16 button to select a step. If no stutter automation is present on the step the LED will light and stutter will be added. Next press any of the top10 buttons to select the rate of the stutter for the selected step.
To clear a stutter on a step, press any LIT bottom 16 button twice.

Special Startup Settings

There are special settings that can be changed by holding a specific button at startup. These settings can also be changed with the TOOL Visit twistedelectrons.com/tool for more information.

Safe envelope ranges
Hold length button at startup to toggle safe envelope ranges on or off. The length LED will blink once or twice to indicate the new setting. 1 blink = on. 2 blinks =off. When Safe mode is on, the attack and decay faders keep the envelope speeds within pre set ranges judged useful for drum machines.
When safe is off, the faders reach the full range of the chip allowing very long to infinite attack and release times (drones).

Faster pitch fall (default=off)
Hold bend button at startup to toggle this on setting or off.
the LED of the button will blink once or twice to indicate the setting.
Once=on twice=off.
When faster pitch fall is on the fall faders will pull the tune of the instrument up or down 4x faster.
Useful for fast paced music.

MIDI channel routing
Hold route at startup to enter MIDI channel routing.
Blast Beats listens and transmits to 5 MIDI channels of your choice:
Drums (default CH10)
SYNTH 1 (default CH1)
SYNTH 2 (default CH2)
SYNTH 3 (default CH3)
SYNTH 4 (default CH4)
To change the channel select a target by pressing the following top buttons:
Top button 1-6 selects the drum voice Top button 7-10 selects SYNTH1 to SYNTH4 respectively Now press any bottom button (1-16) to choose the channel.
Power-cycle Blast Beats to resume normal operation.

Factory reset
Hold clear at startup to reset the settings to factory default. This can be useful if Blast Beats isn’t behaving as expected after an accidental setting change.
These are the default settings:
Fall rate=normal
Current song=1
Current folder=1
Swing=off
Phones and Mix volume=6
All voices routed to all outputs Safe envelope ranges = on
MIDI Channel routing:
Drums=CH10
Synth1=CH1
Synth2=CH2
Synth3=CH3
Synth4=CH4
Factory resetting won’t affect the SD card data

File Structure (SD Card)

IMPORTANT:
The included micro SD card contains all your song and pattern data. The card is required for Blast Beats to operate. At start-up if the card is not detected all the LEDS will blink twice every second until the card is inserted.
From a single SD card Blast Beats can load up to 160 songs (10 folders X 16 songs).
There are 3 main folders on your card labelled KITS, SONGS & VGM.
Each have 10 sub-folders labeled BANK1 to BANK10.
Each main folder contains 16 song folders labelled 1 to 16.
Each song folder contains the following files:
AUTO.BB (automation)
BANKS.BB (kit bank assignments)
CHAIN.BB (pattern chain)
10x DRUMX.BB (drum kits/presets where X= 1-10)
PAT-D1.BB to PAT-D16.BB (drum patterns)
PAT-S1.BB to PAT-S16.BB (synth/melodic patterns)
10x SYNTX.BB (synth kits/presets where X=1-10)
Each kit folder contains the following files:
DRUM1.BB to DRUM10.BB (drum fader positions)
SYNT.BB to SYNT10.BB (synth fader positions)
You can safely mix and match these files between folders

Firmware Updates

Important:
The Blast Beats code was be ported to a different MCU in September 2023 following a global shortage of the original MCU.

As a result there are 2 revisions and 2 sets of firmware. Revision2 aka R2 has the marking BB.R2. in the serial number under the unit.

R2 will only accept firmware labelled R2. Only use R2 firmware if your Blast Beats is revision 2

Update procedure for R1 ONLY:
Connect Blast Beats to your computer with a standard USB type A to type B cable (the kind typically used by a printer). PLEASE DO NOT USE A USB HUB! Some hubs may prevent communication between the PC and Blast Beats.

• Hold the run button and power on Blast Beats. (nothing will light up, blast beats is in update mode)
• Connect the USB cable between Blast Beats and the computer.
• Your computer sees a hard drive labelled “UPLOAD_DISK”
• Now delete the file located on the disk and replace with the new firmware file.
• The disk will automatically eject from your computer and Blast Beats will reboot with the new firmware installed.

Update procedure for R2 ONLY (2 possible methods):

• Unzip the firmware file, you should see a new file labelled:

SD USB MSC_ Application. bin
This is the file we need to feed to Blast Beats

Update Method 1 (SD):

• Copy the bin file to the root of the micro SD card (using a card reader or micros slot in your computer if available).
• Insert the card into Blast Beats and power the unit on. Blast Beats will detect the new firmware and update itself.

Note: The firmware file will be removed from the card after the update is complete.

Update Method 2 (USB):

• Connect blast beats to your computer with the card inserted into the unit.
• Hold run and power on the device.
• After a few moments your computer will display the contents of the SD card
• Copy the bin file to the root of the micro SD card
• The disk will automatically eject from your computer and Blast Beats will reboot with the new firmware installed.

Note: If blast beats doesn’t restart after a while, turn it off and on again. The firmware file will be removed from the card after the update is complete.

MIDI Tool

A MIDI tool is available easily configure parameters within Blast Beats. The tool is hosted on a web page and requires no drivers or software downloads. I does however require a Web MIDI enabled web browser (Google Chrome is a good example). Please visit twistedelectrons.com/tool to use the tool.
To start using the tool choose the MIDI inputs and outputs connected to Blast Beats and press the Read button. The tool will synchronize with Blast Beats then you are free to make any changes.
IMPORTANT: press the Write button to save any changes or they will be lost!
A MIDI interface and 2 MIDI cables are required to connect Blast Beats to the editor. The editor cannot communicate with Blast Beats directly over USB at this time.

MIDI Implementation

Blast Beats responds to the following Note On messages by default. Note that you can change these notes using the tool. Visit twistedelectrons.com/tool for more information.

Drum voices MIDI NOTES
Drums will transmit MIDI notes out of the MIDI port when triggered by the internal sequencer allowing you to use Blast Beats as a MIDI drum sequencer! Here are the factory default note assignments:

INSTRUMENT                                             MIDI NOTE

1 BD| 36
2 SD| 38
3 TOM| 45
4 CLOSED HAT| 42
5 OPEN HAT| 46
6 CYMBAL| 49

Drum voices MIDI CC
Below is the MIDI control change implementation for the drum parts

Synth voices MIDI CC
Below is the MIDI control change implementation for the synth parts

VGM Jukebox mode

Blast Beats can play Video Game Music tunes !
To enter jukebox mode, hold the tempo button during startup.
Blast Beats will search for a folder named VGM on the root directory of your SD card. Inside the VGM folder, Blast Beats requires 10 subfolders labeled 1 to 10. Please refer to the picture for the required file structure.
The top 10 buttons are used to select the folder. The bottom 16 buttons will light up as files are detected. Each folder can contain up to 16 files. If there are more than 16 files present in a folder, Blast Beats will choose the first 16 files in alphabetical order.
To start playback, press any lit bottom button. Blast Beats will play the selected song and continue to loop it if a loop point is present within the song. Otherwise, it will stop and return to the menu.
To interrupt playback, press the run button.

Important: The VGM files must be uncompressed .vgm files, specifically in the YMF262/OPL3 format. You can usually find tunes in a compressed .vgz format on websites like https://vgmrips.net/packs/chip/ymf262.
It’s easy to un compress these files. Simply rename the desired file’s extension from .vgz to .vgm.gz. For example, rename “track1.vgz” to “track1.vgm.gz“. Then, open the renamed file using your favorite file archiver program (e.g., WinRAR, WinZip, 7zip) and extract the .vgm file contained within.

Troubleshooting

Problem: Blast Beats won’t boot – all the LEDs flash 3 times endlessly!
Solution: This occurs if Blast Beats can’t find an SD card, please check that it is inserted correctly…
Problem: I can’t update the firmware, the mass drive that appears on my windows10 computer appears corrupt.
Solution: Please check that your motherboard USB chipset is fully compatible with windows10, indeed windows10 might appear to run fine on some older motherboards but some devices, but there may be issues with some USB devices including Blast Beats. If available please try another computer.

twisted-electrons.com

References

• Synthesizers | Twisted-Electrons
• Tool | Twisted-Electrons
• VGMRips

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