Bitbox Micro Firmware: Clip Modes

Turn your Clip pads into a jungle sampler. Drop in a break at any tempo and it locks to your clock, stretched the way early-'90s samplers did it, or sped up like a record. Pitch it, sequence melodies into it, and re-cut it live with 24 Live Flip modes. Then reach for the hold buttons. Rewind it, power down the decks, brake it or scratch it, and let go to land back on the beat.

Stock Clip Sync keeps a loop in time by jumping back into place when it drifts. Clip modes stretch it instead, so a 170 BPM break plays smoothly at 134 and follows the tempo as it changes.

Every control is a CC on the pad's own MIDI channel. They need a Clip pad.

1Choosing a Method

Each press of CC 112 steps the pad to the next method.

Method	Sound	Pitch
Stock	the module's own Clip Sync: jumps back into time when the loop drifts	unchanged
Vinyl	speeds up or slows down, like a record	follows the speed
Jungle	the grainy stretch of an early-'90s sampler	unchanged
Key Lock	a clean stretch that keeps transients intact	unchanged

Vinyl behaves like a turntable. A 134 break played at 120 drops about two semitones. The pad's Pitch knob has no effect in Vinyl.

Jungle stretches by repeating or skipping short slices of the loop. CC 115 sets their length. Short slices buzz, and long ones repeat audibly. CC 116 switches between Modern, with smooth crossfades, and Old Skool, with the rougher fades of the old samplers.

Key Lock places each join where the sound lines up and away from drum hits, so the loop sounds untouched.

2Manual Tempo

CC 113 takes the pad off the clock and gives it its own tempo. Press it again to rejoin the clock. It rejoins in time.

CC 114 sets the Manual tempo, from 1 to 255 BPM. The first time you switch to Manual, the pad starts at the current tempo. After that it remembers the last tempo you set. CC 114 has no effect while the pad follows the clock.

For a slow, stretched break, put the pad in Jungle, switch to Manual and halve the tempo. A pad in Stock switches to Vinyl when you press CC 113.

3Pitch

In Jungle and Key Lock, pitch and timing are independent. The pad's Pitch knob, pitch modulation and MIDI Keys change the key, and the loop stays on the beat. You can sequence a melody into a vocal chop, or drop a break by a fourth.

4Live Flip Modes

CC 117 selects a Live Flip mode, which re-cuts the loop as it plays, in time. Its range is split into 25 steps, starting with Off. The modes need Vinyl, Jungle or Key Lock.

The chop modes find the hits and syllables in the audio, so they work on vocals and chords as well as drums. The harmony modes, 20 to 24, cut the loop into short grains and pitch every other grain. CC 115 sets their length.

#	Live Flip mode	What it does
1	Off	plays the loop as it is
2	Rotate	starts each bar from beat 2
3	Tail Loop	repeats the last beat through the second half of the bar
4	Half Repeat	replays the middle of the bar in its second half
5	Two-Bar Repeat	replays the middle of bar 1, twice, as bar 2
6	Threes	cuts the bar into a 3 + 3 + 2 pattern of 8ths
7	Riddim	keeps only the kick and snare, in a dancehall pattern
8	Figure Loop	loops a six-step figure against the bar
9	UKG	swings the bar and moves the kick, garage style
10	Subtle Chops	swaps one or two hits a bar for others
11	Lift Chops	adds short off-beat chops, some an octave up
12	Reverse Swell	plays each downbeat reversed into itself
13	Reverse Reverb	adds a reversed reverb tail into some downbeats
14	Mix Subtle	plays the loop as it is, with an occasional other mode
15	Mix Gentle	changes mode every two bars
16	Mix Wild	changes mode every bar
17	Pitch Roll	ends each phrase with a rising or falling snare roll
18	Call & Answer	answers bar 1 with bar 2, an octave up
19	Chop Stabs	chops the loop with gaps, some as chord stabs
20	Fifth Up	pitches alternate grains a fifth up
21	Fourth Up	pitches alternate grains a fourth up
22	Minor Third	pitches alternate grains a minor third up
23	Octave Down	pitches alternate grains an octave down
24	Octave + Fifth	rotates grains through the root, a fifth and an octave
25	Half-Time	plays the loop at half speed, at its own pitch

5Hold Buttons

A hold button acts while held and stops when released. Send 64 or more to hold and less than 64 to release. When you let go, the loop returns to where it would have been. Hold buttons need Vinyl, Jungle or Key Lock.

CC	Button	While held	On release
118	Roll	repeats from the press point: 8ths, then 16ths, then 32nds	back in time
119	Pitch Roll	the same, a semitone further each repeat, up to an octave	back in time
104	Freeze	holds a short grain from the press point	back in time
105	Pull Up	flicks the record back and lets it slow to a stop	back in on the next 16th
107	Power Down	coasts to a stop, like a deck switched off	spins back up onto the beat
102	Brake	stops quickly, like a deck's Stop button	spins back up onto the beat
78	Baby Scratch	rocks the record back and forth in 16ths	back in on the next 16th

Rolls last four beats. Each press of Pitch Roll reverses its direction, rising first. Pitch Roll is also a Live Flip mode.

Pull Up, Power Down, Brake and Baby Scratch play one at a time. Pressing another takes over. As the record slows, the sound fades, and a stopped record is silent.

6Pop-Ups

CC 112 and 113 show the method above the tempo the pad follows.

Method	Top line	Bottom line
Vinyl	`VINYL`	`Clock 134 0.0st`, with the pitch shift in semitones
Jungle	`JUNGLE`	`Clock 134 Modern`, with the flavour
Key Lock	`KEY LOCK`	`Clock 134`
Stock	`CLIP TEMPO`	`Stock`

In Manual, the top line adds MANUAL and the bottom line starts Manual. Any other pad type shows Clip pads only.

7Things to Know

Beat Count

A loop's tempo is worked out from its length and its Beat Count. On Auto the module guesses. Loops of three or six beats, or loops far from the preset's tempo, can then play at double or half speed. Set the pad's Beat Count to fix this.

After Power-On

An external clock takes over only after it sends a Start. Until then, pads follow Preset BPM. So restart your sequencer once.

Preset Loads

A preset load returns every pad to Stock with its Live Flip mode off, as it does with your other CCs. Keep CCs carries them over. Power-on always starts in Stock.

Long Holds

The module keeps about two bars of each loop in memory. A Baby Scratch held longer than that fades out.