Twisted-Electrons Introduces BlastBeats FM Groovebox User Manual

: August 30, 2024
: Twisted-Electrons

Twisted-Electrons Introduces BlastBeats FM Groovebox

Thank you for choosing Blast Beats! Please visit our website to stay up-to- date with the latest ﬁrmware updates. As the feature set is expected to evolve regularly, we highly recommend checking the website for updates to this manual. We highly value any feedback or ideas you may have, so please do not hesitate to contact us at info@twisted-electrons.com.

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 multi-tracking 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 a 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.

Power supply Specs

Please use the included power supply. For your information, BlastBeats requires a 9-volt, center-positive supply that can provide at least 550mA.

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

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 LEDs 1-5, to reﬂect algorithms 1-5).

Step Edit Mode

Entering Step Edit Mode:
To start editing individual steps in your pattern, activate Step Edit Mode by pressing the Step button. While the sequencer is playing and you’re in Step Edit Mode, the 16 buttons at the bottom represent the steps of the pattern on the current page.

LED Chasing
Each step will briefly blink to show the sequencer’s current position. Patterns can extend over up to 4 pages (64 steps). By default, the blinking indicator for the current step is only visible if the step is on the page you’re viewing. If you want to see the blinking indicator loop through every step, regardless of the page you’re on, you can change the setting. Simply hold down the Function button and then press the Step button. This action allows the step indicator to blink for every step, making it easier to track the sequencer across multiple pages.

To return to the default setting, where only the steps on the current page blink, repeat the process: hold the “Function” button and press the “Step” button again.

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 aka “top10” will briefly indicate the current page. Refer to the “Length Mode” section of the manual to learn how to add pages.

Selecting an instrument
Blast Beats includes 10 voices, comprising 6 drum voices and 4 synth voices. To edit a specific voice, press any of the top 10 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. This will also clone any automation 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.

Step nudging / micro stepping
To enhance the rhythmic variation of your pattern, you have the option to delay the triggering of a step. To specify the delay duration, press and hold the desired step for a second, then press one of the top buttons to set the delay time.
To uniformly adjust the timing (nudge) of all steps within the selected track, press and hold the function button, then press one of the top buttons to apply the desired nudging value to the entire track (useful to quantize after a record).

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. The synth will play the new note.

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 before 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 octave (recording)
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/pattern, step, or function buttons, respectively.

Changing the synth octave (playing)

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 it down by two octaves.
The Step button: Sets the default mid-range octave.
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 MIDI 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 stop 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.

Arbitrary step synth MIDI input
Press and hold a step button of a synth track for at least one second. While holding the button, play a note on your MIDI controller that is set to the same MIDI channel as the synth. This will input or change a note for that step in the sequence. If the step button you are holding is already lit, indicating it has a note assigned, playing a new note will update it to the new note you play.

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 the function and pressing REC in step mode.

Page rotate
You can rotate the steps of the selected page to the left or the right, effectively shifting the steps backward or forward. To do so hold the step and press the kit/pattern to shift the pattern to the left or function to shift the pattern to the right.

Key / Scale Change Mode

In this mode, you can modify the key and mode of your pattern, which will affect all synth tracks simultaneously.
To access the key change mode, hold the step button and press the run
To exit this mode and return to the previous mode, press kit, step, or function depending on which mode you wish to enter.

Transposing
Once you have entered the key change edit mode, use the 16 bottom buttons to transpose your pattern. These buttons represent the keys of a piano, with the illuminated buttons representing the white keys. If the REC button is illuminated, you can also record the key changes. To clear automated key changes please refer to the clear function.

Setting the tonic
Hold the function and use the 16 bottom buttons to choose the tonic (the root note).

Scales and Modes

The top 10 keys are used to choose the mode according to this list:

Chromatic – A scale consisting of 12 pitches, each a semitone apart. This mode applies no constraint to the incoming note.
Major (Ionian) – A diatonic scale characterized by the intervals: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half.
Minor (Aeolian) – A scale with a natural minor tonality, noted for its intervals: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole.
Dorian – A scale that combines a minor third with a major sixth, with intervals: whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half, whole.
Lydian – A major scale but with a raised fourth, creating a distinct sound, described by the intervals: whole, whole, whole, half, whole, whole, half.
Mixolydian – A major scale with a ﬂattened seventh, known for its intervals: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole.
Blues – Characterized by its use of the ﬂattened third, ﬁfth, and seventh, the Blues scale provides a unique sound with intervals: minor third, whole, half, half, minor third, whole.
Melodic Minor – A scale that ascends with the intervals: whole, half, whole, whole, whole, whole, half, and often descends like the natural minor scale.
Harmonic Minor – Distinguished by the raised seventh interval, creating a distinctive sound, with intervals: whole, half, whole, whole, half, augmented second, half.
Gypsy – Known for its minor third and augmented seconds, creating a very distinct and exotic sound, with intervals: whole, half, augmented second, half, half, augmented second, half.

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 Kit Management Overview:

Each song in Blast Beats can utilize up to 10 unique drum kits, with each kit offering 4 variations. This means you have access to 40 variations per song.
Starting with ﬁrmware version 4.0, Blast Beats introduced a feature that allows each song to have its own set of drum kits. This means the drum kits are now “sandboxed” for each song, ensuring they don’t overlap or interfere with kits from other songs.

How to Use Separate Kits for Each Song:
Prepare Your SD Card: For each song you have on your SD card, create a new folder named KITS inside the song’s speciﬁc folder.

Loading Kits with Songs

When you select a song on BlastBeats, the system will automatically look for a KITS folder within that song’s folder.
If a KITS folder is found, BlastBeats will use the kits located there for that song.
If no KITS folder is found within the song’s folder, Blast Beats will default to using the general KITS folder located at the root of your SD card. This behavior is the same as in ﬁrmware versions before 4.0.

Utility Tool for Easy Kit Management:

We’ve included a utility tool named copyKit.zip. This tool is designed to simplify the process of copying your default kit folder into every song’s subfolder on your SD card. Follow the instructions provided inside the zip ﬁle for both Mac and Windows users.

Changing Kit
Press a top 10 button at any time to change the kit assigned to the current pattern. You can automate kit changes per step: simply change the kit with REC lit! To clear kit automation hold kit/patt and press clear.

Kit Reload
You can reload a kit from the SD card at any time. This will clear any unsaved changes. To do this, hold down the function button and press kit/patt

Cloning Kits
Cloning kits come in handy when you want to create variations of the same kit. To clone a kit, hold down the top 10 buttons of the kit you wish to duplicate, and press the destination kit’s button (or any other top 10 buttons) to paste it.
You can make multiple clones at once.

Changing kit Variations
To select a variation of the currently active kit, follow these steps:

Ensure you are in kit/pattern mode by pressing the kit/pattern button.
Hold the kit/patt button and then press one of the ﬁrst four top buttons to select a variation. The LED corresponding to the active variation will ﬂash to indicate your selection.

Cloning kit Variations
To duplicate a kit variation onto another, follow these steps:

Press and hold the kit/patt button.
While still holding kit/patt, press and hold one of the ﬁrst 4 top buttons corresponding to the variation you wish to copy.
Without releasing kit/patt or the button for the source variation, press any of the other ﬁrst 4 top buttons corresponding to the variations you want to overwrite with the copied variation.

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 last page of the current pattern. In this case, the next pattern will be indicated by a blinking bottom 16 LED. All tracks resync after a pattern change.

Cloning Pattern
To clone a pattern, simply hold down the bottom 16 buttons of the pattern you want to clone and press any other bottom 16 buttons 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 the bottom 16 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/pattern 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 top 10 button to select a folder, Then tap a bottom 16 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/pattern 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 the function to enter this mode to edit the following functions:

Safe Mode

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 top 10 button, and conﬁrm the location within the range of 1 to 16 by pressing any bottom 16 buttons. 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.

Save kits (sounds)
Press the ﬂashing kit/patt button to save the kits. This will not save your patterns!

Length Mode

Adjusting Track Duration
The “Length Mode” feature provides you with the ﬂexibility to set the duration of a track, ranging from 1 to 64 steps. This is done by deﬁning the number of 16-step pages and adjusting the endpoint of the track on the ﬁnal page. For example, to create a track of 20 steps, you would allocate 2 pages, with the second page ending at step 4. This indicates the track concludes 4 steps into the second page, offering precise control over the track’s length. This functionality enables you to alter the length of individual tracks or all tracks simultaneously, ensuring versatility in your music creation process.

Selecting Number of Pages:

To set the number of 16-step pages across all tracks simultaneously, use the ﬁrst four buttons at the top. This action sets the same number of pages for every track. To apply changes to the selected track only, press and hold the function button while choosing the number of pages.

Selecting the final Step
Use the bottom buttons to specify the ﬁnal step on the last page, determining its overall length. To adjust the endpoint for all tracks at once, press the bottom button to set the last step. To adjust the endpoint for a selected track only, hold down the function button while setting the last step.

Important Note
Track 1 (BD), known as the master track, plays a critical role by governing the timing for chaining patterns and automating sequences. Its settings inﬂuence the overall project timing and sequencing.

Manual Resynchronization:
Adjusting the duration of various tracks can lead to unpredictable results (which is intended). If you need to quickly re-sync the tracks to step 1, hold the Function button and press the Run button.

Quick change of selected track:
To adjust the lengths of different tracks without leaving the length editing mode, simply hold down the ‘Step’ button and press one of the top buttons to select another track.

Copy Page
When in length mode, hold the REC button and press a page to copy it. Then, press any other page to paste it, this includes all voices. To paste only the data from the selected voice, hold the function button while performing the paste action.

Clear Mode

Single fader automation: Hold clear and move a fader to erase its automation.
Track Automation, Pattern Automation: Hold clear and press REC a ﬁrst time to clear all automation associated with the selected track. Press REC a second time (without releasing clear) to clear all the automation associated with the current pattern, including tricks, tremolo, vibrato, kit change, volumes, and routing automation
Track clear (single voice): Hold clear and press a top 10 button to erase the steps and automation of a single track.
Pattern initialize: Hold clear and press kit/pattern 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

Wiggle Mode
This function adds randomness to any fader. To assign the wiggler to a fader, hold the wiggle and move a fader. Set the depth of the wiggler: press any of the top 10 buttons once to apply the wiggle depth to the current pattern. Double-click any top 10 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 tool to enable or disable this option

Swing Mode
Use the top 10 buttons to set the amount of swing. Each pattern of a song has its 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:
Pressing Swing while holding Function activates “Wonky Swing”: instead of even-numbered steps, odd-numbered steps are offsets by Swing

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

Mute Pages (or skip page playback)
You have the option to skip certain pages within a pattern by muting them. You can mute up to three pages simultaneously. To mute a page, press and hold the Mute button. While holding Mute, press the page button you wish to skip. This page button will start ﬂashing, indicating that it is now muted and will be skipped during playback. To unmute a page and include it back in the playback, press the ﬂashing page button again. It will stop ﬂashing and remain lit solidly, indicating that it is active and will not be skipped. By muting pages, you can creatively alter the pattern playback to suit your performance or composition needs.

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 the prob and use the top 10 button Now release the prob and set the level of probability (chances out of 10 of triggering) with the top 10 buttons.

Stutter / Drill
This function enhances performance by allowing you to quickly repeat the current Step, similar to a Blast Beat in drumming. To activate this, press and hold the top 10 buttons. This will repeat the current Step at different speeds, which are fractions of the current tempo. For added variation, you can hold the wiggle button while executing a stutter; this will randomize the steps of each stutter. Any stutter performed will be recorded if the rec (record) indicator is on. The Stutter feature offers two unique modes: the standard Stutter and Drill. To switch between these modes, hold the tempo and press stutter. In drill mode, the sequencer doesn’t pause but instead repeats every step of a pattern in its sequence, ensuring a continuous ﬂow. Conversely, the Normal Stutter mode maintains a single step, repeating it for as long as the Stutter is active.

Bend (spindown effect)
Hold bend to bend the global tuning of the FM chip downwards. Use the top 10 buttons to set the bending strength. Hold function during a bend to spin up!

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)

Tremolo
Use the top 10 buttons to set the tremolo rate (each pattern has its 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. The are 3 available speed ratios: slow, normal, and fast a. Hold them and press kit/patt, step, or function to adjust the speed ratio.

Vibrato
Use the top 10 buttons to set the vibrato speed (each pattern has its 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. You can also adjust the maximum range of the vibrato. Hold the function and press any top ten button to set the maximum depth. The are 3 available speed ratios: slow, normal, and fast a. Hold vibe and press kit/patt, step, or function to adjust the speed ratio.

Vibrato / Tremolo waveform
To enhance the vibrato and tremolo effects on your device, you have the option to select from 9 additional waveforms.

Here’s how to customize these effects: First, activate function mode. While in this mode, hold down the trem (for tremolo) or vibr (for vibrato) button to initiate waveform selection.

Selecting a Waveform: With the trem or vibr button still held, press any of the top 10 buttons to choose a new waveform. The device’s ﬁrst 8 buttons roughly correspond to waveforms depicted on the device’s top, including an updated ramp waveform assigned to button #5. Buttons 9 and 10 are designated for random waveforms, adding an element of unpredictability to your sound. Here is a visual representation of the available waveforms:

Automation of Waveform Changes: Waveform changes can be automated within your sequence. With the REC function active, adjust the waveform selection as desired.

Phones
Use the top 10 buttons to set the phone’s level (recalled at startup). You can automate this parameter per step, just change it with REC lit.

Mix
Use the top 10 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 the route and press a top 10 button to select a target instrument. Release route and now press the ﬁrst 4 top 10 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.

Route presets
You may ﬁnd it beneﬁcial to adjust routing dynamically to align with a particular conﬁguration, such as directing speciﬁc voices to designated effects pedals. This ﬂexibility is facilitated through the use of routing presets. To save the current routing setup, simply activate the routing function, hold down the REC button, and press any of the top ten buttons to assign the setup to one of the ten available slots. To retrieve a saved preset, hold the function button and select any of the top ten buttons. Routing presets are stored on the EEPROM independently from songs or cards. The latest used preset is reloaded a startup.

Sequencer Clock

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 the 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). The 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 the 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.

For example to set Blast Beats to 123 BPM: Hold tempo and tap ﬁrst, second then third top10 button.

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 the 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 at 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 playback 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 delete the respective automation.

Step Editing trick automation
You can edit the trick automation using the 16-step buttons just like you would edit the steps of a regular beat. To access the trick step edit the page hold the step and press stutter, bend, or freeze to access the respective editors. You can edit tricks across multiple pages of your pattern. Press the step to turn the page. To exit the trick step editor press function, kit/patt, step + any top10 button, or repeat the same procedure you used to enter the trick step editing mode.

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.

Enable / Disable Bend and Freeze automation
When you ﬁrst power Blast beats on bend and freeze automation are enabled. Hold the function and press bend or freeze to enable or disable them respectively. Repeat to enable them again.

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 the 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 top 10 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

Enable / Disable stutter automation
When you ﬁrst power Blast beats on stutter automation is enabled. Hold the function and press Stutter to enable or disable it. Repeat to enable it again

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 the 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 att(ack) and dec(ay) faders keep the envelope speeds within pre-set ranges judged useful for drum machines. When the 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 the bend button at startup to toggle this on or off. the LED of the button will blink once or twice to indicate the setting. Once=on twice=off. When a 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 bank folders X 16-song folders). There are 3 main folders on your card labelled KITS, SONGS & VGM. Each has 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)

Starting with ﬁrmware version 4.0, you now can associate a unique set of KITS with each song, enabling you to tailor the KITS speciﬁcally for that song without altering the main kits located in the root folder. This feature essentially creates a sandbox environment for each song. To utilize this, simply drag the KITS folder into your SONG folder, and the system will prioritize these kits for playback. If no speciﬁc KITS folder is found within the SONG folder, the system will default to using the KITS folder located at the root of your card. We’ve developed a set of script ﬁles—one batch ﬁle for PC users and one shell script for Mac users—that simplify the process of duplicating your KITS folder across all the song folders on your card. This functionality allows you to effortlessly create a copy of your kits folder within every subfolder of your card. You can ﬁnd these essential ﬁles along with readme instructions inside the 4. X update zip ﬁle. 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 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 labeled 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 BlastBeats

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 labeled “UPLOAD_DISK”
Now delete the ﬁle located on the disk and replace it 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 labeled:

SD_USB_MSC_Application.bin

This is the ﬁle we need to feed to BlastBeats

Update Method 1 (SD): RECOMMENDED!

Copy the bin ﬁle to the root of the micro SD card (using a card reader or micro SD 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 the 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 to easily conﬁgure parameters within Blast Beats. The tool is hosted on a web page and requires no drivers or software downloads. I do however require a WebMIDI-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 BlastBeats 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

PARAMETER	MIDI CC# RANGE
Bass drum carrier volume	20
The bass drum carrier waveform	21
Bass drum carrier feedback	22
Bass drum carrier multiplier	23
Bass drum carrier tune	24
Bass drum carrier fall	25
Bass drum carrier attack	26
Bass drum carrier decay	27
Bass drum modulator volume	28
Bass drum modulator waveform	29

PARAMETER MIDI CC# RANGE

Bass drum modulator multiplier| 30| 0-127
The bass drum modulator multiplier fall| 31| 0-127
Bass drum modulator attack| 32| 0-127
Bass drum modulator decay| 33| 0-127
Snare volume| 34| 0-127
Snare waveform| 35| 0-127
Snare multiplier| 36| 0-127
Snare tune| 37| 0-127
Snare tune fall| 38| 0-127
Snare attack| 39| 0-127
Snare decay| 40| 0-127
Hats Volume| 43| 0-127
Hats waveform| 45| 0-127
Hats multiplier| 55| 0-127
Hats tune| 56| 0-127
Hats fall| 57| 0-127
Hats attack| 51| 0-127
Hats Decay| 54| 0-127
Tom vol| 42| 0-127
Tom waveform| 44| 0-127
Tom multiplier| 48| 0-127
Tom tune| 46| 0-127
Tom fall| 47| 0-127
Tom attack| 50| 0-127
Tom decay| 53| 0-127

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

Volume OP1| 20| 0-127
Waveform OP1| 21| 0-127
Feedback OP1| 22| 0-127
Algorithm all operators| 23| 0-127
Multiple OP1| 24| 0-127
Attack OP1| 25| 0-127
Decay OP1| 26| 0-127
Volume OP2| 27| 0-127
Waveform OP2| 28| 0-127
Multiplier OP2| 29| 0-127
Tremolo| 30| 0-127
Vibrato| 31| 0-127
Attack OP2| 32| 0-127
Decay OP2| 33| 0-127
Volume OP3| 34| 0-127
Waveform OP3| 35| 0-127
Feedback OP3| 36| 0-127
Tune| 37| 0-127
Multiplier OP3| 38| 0-127
Attack OP3| 39| 0-127
Decay OP3| 40| 0-127
Volume OP4| 41| 0-127
Waveform OP4| 42| 0-127
Multiplier OP4| 43| 0-127
Tremolo| 44| 0-127
Vibrato| 45| 0-127
Attack OP4| 46| 0-127
Decay OP4| 47| 0-127

VGM Jukebox mode

Blast Beats can play VideoGameMusic 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 uncompress 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: BlastBeats won’t boot – all the LEDs ﬂash 3 times endlessly! Solution: This occurs if BlastBeats 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 Windows 10 computer appears corrupt.
Solution: Please check that your motherboard USB chipset is fully compatible with Windows 10, indeed Windows 10 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.
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