Add MIDI commands directly into custom songs

For using BeatBuddy to control complex arrangements with loopers or other MIDI devices

Many modern guitarpedals accept PC+CC commands

This one, the EHX Mod Rex, not only accepts PC+CC commands, but each of its parameters can be set to be controlled by the MIDI Clock In, imagine the possibilities if this feature was added and you owned this pedal :slight_smile:

https://www.ehx.com/products/mod-rex

It would be controllable from the Midi Maestro, and it can get clock from the BB. This type of synching With effects is not new. The Adrenalinn iii could do this 12 years ago!

12 years ago is “modern” by my standards :slight_smile: that would make it the third most modern piece of gear in my rig after my BB and my looper

CC changes in the .sng file itself seems advantageous to MIDI Maestro control for several reasons, not least of which is I’m poor and was only just able to afford the BeatBuddy itself today, after pinching my pennies and dreaming about it for a few months :slight_smile: but also ease of implementation and the convenience of having it controlled by the transitions you were already triggering (or maybe there’s a way to still do it with one button press with the Maestro i’m not entirely sure) there’s something to be said for the KISS / “Keep It Simple, Stupid” principle, and seems to me that CC changes in the .sng file itself are just about the simplest way to do it… no extra parts needed and it’s all done with elements that were already there / being used anyway, no second device to purchase, no patches to write, etc

(for real tho, (and yes i know you’re not an official dev :slight_smile: ) I’ve spent the last couple weeks digging through the forums while I waited for my BB to get here, and it seems like lately a lot of feature requests are being met with “the MIDI Maestro can/will do that” whereas if it was a post from '15-'18/19 or so the idea would have been at least considered for the BB… And maybe it would be better for an introduction post that I should probably make, but even tho I jest about being poor it is the truth, I’m only 33 and have been fighting cancer for the last 5 years, and my “5 year survival” odds are ~17% so who knows if I’ll even live long enough to purchase a MIDI Maestro and see those features patched into it… =/ I digress sorry)

edit – i’m known for rambling and editing a lot as well, hi, I’m pharmakos :slight_smile:

Thanks for that thoughtful reply. I really wish I knew what the potential for the BB hardware was. I have been told that some things are not possible with the pedal as it now stands. One thing I had wanted was the ability to have a kit larger than 100mb. Or, the ability to change kits mid song. Some things, we have seen progress on, like being able to have different times signatures in different song parts, but we still can’t change a signature within a part. And even at that, if I recall correctly, the changing times may have worked in BB Manager, but not in the pedal itself. i just work around that. But, the midi in the pedal has been somewhat crippled from day 1. Originally, we couldn’t have note off commands, but that was fixed. So maybe there is hope for CC commands. I know some folks use OnSong to send midi triggers unavailable in the BB itself, but that gets even more complicated and expensive - iPad, Bluetooth adapter, etc. When some of us starting using the BB for more than just drums, I sometimes fear we opened a door that should have remained closed, and we could have kept things simpler. And, I wouldn’t have to get pissed off at people who can’t stand the idea of a one press song, or folks who don’t understand you can play a song that has a bass/keys included without triggering the bass and keys, if you use the right kits. But, I also digress. The Midi Maestro was supposed to overcome many of the playing limitations imposed by BBManager and the design of the pedal and extension pedal. But, we still don’t have an iPhone app to configure the Maestro, and the Android version is still not an official release. And, while you situation is certainly more dire than mine, I also wonder at age nearly 64, obsese, diabetic, and with two failed knees, if I will be around to see the features I need in the Midi Maestro and Aeros. I’ll keep you in my thoughts.

2 Likes

thank you phil2 :slight_smile:
also commenting to add that i meant both CC AND PC changes, whereas i previous just mentioned CC – i’m enough of a MIDI noob that I just had to look up what the difference even was.

earlier post edited with what i actually meant anyway tho just cause i thorough

thank you phil2 :slight_smile:
also commenting to add that i meant both CC AND PC changes, whereas i previous just mentioned CC – i’m enough of a MIDI noob that I just had to look up what the difference even was.

earlier post edited with what i actually meant anyway tho just cause i thorough

This is a really interesting idea you have here, automatic CC or PC commands sound like a nice feature to add and may be possible, that being said it is not currently a very high priority since (as far as we know) not many people would use it and the MIDI expandability of the BB (through units like the MIDI Maestro) is really a big part of our vision for the BB and handling MIDI commands.

Out of curiosity how would this be implemented, a command sent whenever a song part change is made? Or would song part changes all have to be pre-set in order for this to work?

Although our development of the BB doesn’t currently prioritize this, the good news is we have made the BBM open source, and this could possibly be something our committed online community may want to take on.

I like this feature. Im relatively new to midi but my whole set is based around my songs programmed in the beat buddy. It would be nice for the song itself to trigger the presets or models on my Hx stomp, light scene on the dmx controller or only arm the aeros at certain parts of certain songs. I know this can be done with the MM and I have one but use it mostly as a controller for the beat buddy to get through folders and such. Programming the above in the MM seems difficult like I would need to program each song in a button slot and would lose the ability to navigate and control the beat buddy

It really depends how you set up the MM, remember you can use the footswitch+ to navigate pages so you could use all 60 commands fully.

But we agree that this is cool, still a more advanced functionality.

i was thinking it would have to be individually programmed in BBM. a + sign in the bottom left corner of the Main Drum Loop field, expands a text box taking up the bottom ~20% of said Main Drum Loop field and continuing overtop of the bottom portion of the Drum Fill field ONLY when the text box is currently selected and active. user types in everything by hand there, (if you are messing around with this stuff, you probably already have an idea of exactly what you want, so just straight down-to-business text is ideal i think…) yeah so no GUI stuff to hold your hand, probably would just get annoying when sitting down to do a whole song’s worth of commands. all commands get sent as that song part begins, at the moment the leading transition ends.

so yeah, lots of words, but obviously it’s simply “as chorus begins, send CC for distortion on” “as verse begins, turn off distortion, turn on delay” etc.

you know, final thoughts on general design for the BeatBuddy going forward… largely, you’ve got an amazing QOL drum machine / pedal here, so adding more stuff for easy out-of-the-box fun would just be gravy at this point. if you want the BeatBuddy to evolve, stay relevant, and even grow it’s userbase to a whole new segment that hasn’t quite been interested yet, all you need to do is add really barebones but OPEN ENDED customizability stuff like this. just unlock the door for us, you know? we’ll do the rest. if we screw it up too bad we can always factory reset :slight_smile: and best of all, even tho this is the a great idea for all the reasons already stated, it’s also the sort of thing that’s significantly easier to program. :slight_smile:

and hell, even if the BB didn’t get a single new feature from this day forward, i’d still be happy with it, this thing is awesome! thanks so much dude, take care

Interesting, thank you for the suggestion, we’ll definitely look into it!

Take care yourself! Hope to see you on the forum again :blush:

1 Like

I kind of thought that this could be implemented by just sending all data from the midi file to midi out. Then your editor is your DAW.

haha damn yeah dude, cut out the middle man, and i thought i was keeping it simple with my ideas