Bitbox Mk2 Custom Firmware Overview

video upload by Ville Walveranta

"I created a custom patch for the official 2.3.4 firmware that adds a screen saver, speed change without pitch change, vertical waveform zoom, and an easy way to reset parameters to their defaults."

Additional details via the developer:

"I’ve put together a free, unofficial customization of 1010music Bitbox MkII firmware 2.3.4, adding a few features I’ve wanted on my own module. The customized version identifies itself as 2.3.4+c.

What’s added:

Vertical waveform zoom: pinch/spread vertically to adjust waveform height from 25–3200%. This makes quiet samples easier to see and lets you shrink loud waveforms. Horizontal zoom still works normally. A stationary two-finger tap restores 100% vertical zoom and horizontal fit. This only changes the display, not the audio.

Optional screen saver: a black screen after 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes of inactivity. It’s disabled by default, under Tools → Disp. Playback continues while blanked. The first touch, button press, or encoder movement only wakes the display, preventing accidental edits.

Optional MIDI/CV-trigger wake: choose MIDI, CV triggers, or both. MIDI clock and active sensing are excluded. Unlike physical wake controls, the first incoming musical event still performs its normal action.

Pitch-preserving Speed: 50–200% playback speed, with a dedicated SPEED dial on the Sample-mode LFO/Spd page. It supports live adjustment and the normal INFO modulation editor, including LFO/CV modulation. At 100%, it uses native playback.

Double-tap dial defaults: double-tap a numeric dial to restore its default base value. Modulation sources and amounts remain intact.

Speed/Pitch limitations

The added Speed processing has a deliberate restriction based on testing:

Only one voice can use Speed at a time, including when multiple voices come from the same pad.

While Speed is active, Pitch is blocked everywhere, including on that same voice.

Conversely, multiple voices can still use native Pitch simultaneously, as in stock firmware, but active Pitch blocks Speed globally.

You can still edit and prepare settings while the resource is busy. A blocked operation plays at neutral—Speed at 100%, or Pitch at 0 semitones—and shows a busy/restart indication. It won’t suddenly engage when another sound stops: restart the refused sound to try again. Live changes from neutral can acquire the resource when it’s free.

Speed targets supported forward Sample-mode playback. Clip and Granular retain their existing algorithms; some source/loop configurations, including loop crossfade, fall back to native playback.

Patcher and downloadable reference guide:
https://vwal.github.io/bitbox-mkii-patcher/

You supply the official 2.3.4 firmware. The website verifies its SHA-256, applies the patch entirely in your browser, and verifies the result before downloading. No firmware is uploaded.

I’ve tested this thoroughly on my own MkII, but it’s an independent, unsupported modification, offered as-is. Back up your entire SD card before flashing. The page includes installation instructions and a detailed PDF guide. Make sure the patched file on the card is named exactly BITBOXMK2.bin, without a duplicate-download suffix such as (1).

Bitbox MkII only—this patch is not for the original Bitbox or Bitbox Micro."

"You can find the patch at https://adhoc.link/bitbox"