Aeros Loop Studio Digo 2x2 video

Aeros Loop Studio General
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I’ve watch this video rather intently to try to follow the actions. I thought it might be helpful to go through the steps.

First off, the BB is set as the Master. There is another video that @AnthonySostre posted discussing the BB settings for this. Although it does not go over any Aeros settings. So I am wondering if I need to do anything on that end. And, if anyone wants to add to this discussion with settings or anything that I may have missed, please chime in. This is my reaction of what is happening here based on the video, and given my very little time with the Aeros, I suspect I may not be spot on with regard to each element. Anyhow, here is my guide to the video:

0:10 - Press BB Start. BB plays intro and moves into main loop 1. Aeros follows BB automatically, and arms track 1, part 1 for recording.
0:13 - Guitar playing begins. Track 1, Part 1 is being recorded.
0:22 - Loop end. Digo presses right RPO button, putsdown guitar and picks up bass. Aeros is playing Track 1 part 1.
0:28 - As Loop1 finishes a loop around, Digo presses the middle RPO button, which activates and arms Track 2 part 1. Digo beings to record a bass part on Track 2.
0:38 - Digo closes the bass loop with a press of the middle RPO. The bass and guitar are now being played by the Aeros on Part 1.
0:47 Digo gets his guitar back and plays along with the 2 parts. Nothing new is being recorded. He is jamming along with a little rhythm lick.
0:52 Digo presses the BB to begin a transition. Upon release. Part 2 is now armed and ready to record while playing main loop 2 on the BB. He records on Track 1 part 2.
1:01 Right RPO press. Ends recording of Track 1 part 2, gets the bass again. Track 1 part 2 plays.
1:09 Middle RPO press. Arms track 2 part 2, and begins recording bass.
1:17 Middle RPO press. Closes recording of bass. Aeros is playing bass and guitar from Part 2. Time to change back to the guitar.
1:25 Press of the BB gets us back to Main loop 1. Aeros follows along playing part 1. Digo play lead.
1:31 Digo presses left Aeros button to bring up mixer. He uses Aeros Loop volume control to lower volume with his foot.
1:39 Digo presses left Aeros button to get out of mixer view. Returns to track view and continues to play along with Part 1.
1:54 BB press for transition to part 2. Jam along.
2:11 BB press for transition to part 1. Switches to bass.
2:20 Transition to part 2.
2:23 Somehow we got back to part 1. I am not sure of how this happened.
2:33 He’s playing a new bass line. He got into the mixer view. At first, I thought he deleted the original bass line, but maybe he just lowered the volume of the original. Now, I am pretty sure it’s just the volume and that he has retained the original bass line (based on the track view), and that he is just jamming along on bass.
2:55 BB Outro activated and song ends.

Am I right? Are there more details here that I missed? Please chime in.

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@AnthonySostre This video is really cool. I imagine that there is some setup that has to happen both on the Beatbuddy and on the Aeros to make it work. Can this setup be posted somewhere?

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Here’s an excerpt from an update we’re working into the manual now:

BeatBuddy Integration

Your Aeros Loop Studio has built in plug and play functionality with the BeatBuddy, our hands-free drum machine pedal. There are two ways to connect the two. Either with the BeatBuddy as master and the Aeros as slave (recommended) or with the Aeros as master and BeatBuddy as slave.

AEROS AS SLAVE, BEATBUDDY AS MASTER
To use the Aeros as a slave, you’ll need a MIDI cable, the PS/2 to MIDI BeatBuddy breakout cable, and a BeatBuddy. Plug the MIDI Cable in the “OUT” port for the BeatBuddy breakout cable, and the “IN” port on the Aeros.

At this point your pedals should be good to go, but depending on the version of BeatBuddy firmware you’re running you may need to check that the next song part command is enabled. This can be done by going BeatBuddy settings (push drum set and tempo knobs down at the same time) and select: Main Pedal > MIDI Settings > MIDI-OUT > Next Part (CC-102), and select “Enable”.

It’s also recommended that you disable the Aeros looper’s count in as it can cause the looper to start recording out of sync with the start of the BeatBuddy’s main rhythm parts (see “Song Settings” p.xx).

In both 2x2 and 6x6 (with default settings), starting the BeatBuddy with an intro will trigger the looper to start on the first beat of the main rhythm part. This can be configured in the BeatBuddy’s MIDI settings to also start on the first beat of the intro if you prefer, by changing the setting located at: Main Pedal > MIDI Settings > MIDI-OUT > Start.

Additionally, with default settings, the looper will stop playing/recording at the end of an outro fill and/or when the BeatBuddy is paused. This can be changed to stop the Aeros either when the BeatBuddy is paused only, or only when the BeatBuddy ends playing the drums. That setting is located on the BeatBuddy at Menu > Main Pedal > MIDI Settings > MIDI-OUT > Stop.

In 2x2 only, triggering the next song part with the BeatBuddy will cause the Aeros to switch song parts at the end of the BeatBuddy’s transition.

In 6x6 you’ll need to manually select which song part you wish to transition to, using the looper’s bottom left button, and then transition using the BeatBuddy. After which, the looper will switch to the selected song part at the end of the BeatBuddy’s transition.

Of course, at any point in both 2x2 and 6x6 you can use the Aeros to transition as you would normally, to keep the rhythm the same while the song part changes. Additionally, adding fills and accent hits with the BeatBuddy has no effect on the Aeros’ loops, giving you the ability to vary the drums while keeping the song part the same.

I’m actually sorta using y’all as guinea pigs here, as if the above doesn’t give you everything you need to know about the way it was setup in the Digo jam, then I need to add to or rewrite it.

So, let me know if there are any questions as that’ll help me write better content for the manual. :slight_smile:

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I saw the youtube video you made showing setting up the beatbuddy and then the aeros in 2x2 and 6x6 mode. That was helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvAiCoIxXa0

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So, I need a standard MIDI cable as well as the breakout cable?
I ordered the breakout cable when I preordered the Aeros but I thought that was all I needed…

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Yes, you’ll need a standard midi cable to connect from the breakout cable midi out to the Aeros midi in.

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Thanks Phil. I’ll have to grab a short one then. I want to be prepared when my Aeros shows up…

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Can the integration of the BB and Aeros handle non-linear song structure without having that order locked in advance? That is, with more than two song parts, can you move through them in any order? 1 -> 3 -> 1 -> 2?

Seems like the Aeros (as master) would be a bit more fluid in this regard in 6x6 mode. You can tap next song part multiple times to get to the next part of your choice. With BB (as master), you have to tap-hold multiple times which is probably cumbersome assuming it works? This is all just a guess from reading the docs.

FYI, I looked at the BB Midi documentation and it says very little about CC-102 (next song part). From another post elsewhere, the command sends the part number with the message. I suspect there are other gaps?

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great “play by play” there @Phil_Flood. I was confused as well with the video and looks pretty complex (for a novice looper person like myself) but yeah it would have been good to have a running play by play in that video in text overlays (or one upcoming) to tell us exactly what is going on there.

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Agree. That is what I had asked Customer Support to provide all the users in the box or a link to a website as many getting the Aeros have a BB and want to know how to connect it straight away and not try and figure it out. Nothing about BB connection / setup (for menu settings) was provided to batch 1 owers of the Aeros so…thats a MUST for sure.

Replying to @johngale77 -
Maybe they need to add this in the product description for WHAT YOU NEED for anything not included in the box like you see on software: “Minimum Hardware Specifications” but in this case it would say: “Also needed (but not included: xxxxxx…”

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Great info Anthony. This should also be linked on the Beat Buddy page so those who have the Beat Buddy and get an Aeros can find it on either page (Aeros and/or Beat Buddy)

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In 6x6, even with the BB as master, you can move out of order. You simply need to select the appropriate song part on the aeros, then have the BeatBuddy do the transition command.

It’d look something like this:

Current song part: 1
Current rhythm part: 1
Using the Aeros part select switch, you tap twice. The first tap selects part 2 (but does not transition) the second tap selects part 3 (but does not transition)
Then, using the Beatbuddy, hold to transition
at the end of the bar, you’re now in rhythm part 2, song part 3.

make sense?

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I’m glad you clarified that. From what I picked up in your 6x6 demo, it was pretty clear that you could keep your instruments on the same tracks of different parts.

On another note, though what is happening at 2:23 in Digo video to get back to part 1? Did I miss something?

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if I recall correctly he accidentally tapped to go to the other song part when he intended to go to the mixer view, so he did a quick tap to switch back to the prior song part before opening up the mixer. 2:20 is that first tap, 2:22 the second tap, followed quickly by the hold to get to the mixer.

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I did a little video about using the Beatbuddy with the Aeros but I tried to keep it really simple by just counting out the beat with a metronome. I really struggled with setting up the 6x6 until I did it this way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Tf7aUnPSo&t=79s

At the end, I suggested that Singular Sound change 2x2 to [1-6]x2 and allow us to select the number of parts a song has in the ‘Edit Song’ page. I believe a change like this would make the Aeros more intuitive to use with the Beatbuddy. Does anyone else agree?

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That’s a bit of complicated toe tapping and should be improved. Thanks for taking the time to share that video @GeeMatt. It’s a bit hard to understand this without a device to play with.

Not sure I understand the suggested Nx2 mode, but I’m hoping SS can integrate these two devices 100% seamlessly. The BB and Aeros together have 5 buttons and 4 “knobs” (add the footswitch or expression pedal and you have more). That’s a lot of controls. There should be some way to make this all work nicely so they complement each other. Having to do more than one click/hold/etc. (e.g., click multiple buttons in a sequence) to perform any one action (e.g., goto next part), is a big clue that something is off (and multiple presses across two devices is even worse). Imagine if having to extend a BB transition took two clicks; SS designed this BB feature elegantly.

Can’t the BB tell the Aeros what part is next and make it start playback/record at the end of the transition? Why does it matter if the BB is in 6x6 mode? I must be missing something…

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I think they intend the 2x2 mode to be simple and intuitive and the 6x6 to be for experts with complex use cases, like the guy with the cool looping song in the video at the start of this thread.

I’m moving from an EHX 45000, and there is a lot of toe tapping for it to do something similar. I tamed it by using a MIDI controller to automate the steps. Hopefully, when the Aeros supports MIDI, we might be able to customize it to our style of playing that way.

When I play guitar and sing cover tunes, holding down the transition button on the BB is about all I can handle and the 2x2 mode does it perfectly. Knowing that they support 6 parts in the other mode, made it frustrating to have to change over to the 6x6, when all I want is one or two more parts. So, I am hoping Singular will add an option in the 2x2 (they can default to 2) but let us tell it that there are more parts so we can have that nice, simple one press system for the songs that don’t focus on the looping process.

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That makes sense. I do think we can make 6x6 better and easier by default.

It would be great to have simple default behavior that covers 90% of the transitions as planned (e.g., record/play next part in sequence of the song (per BeatBuddy)), as well as a slightly more complicated way to select the next track out of order (which happens less frequently). Ideally this works with both BB and standalone Aeros. The simple default would be one click on the BB, the “choose next part” would require a multiple clicks on the Aeros and BB.

“AutoRecord” on or off is a bit too crude. Let me type in the desired structure (ABACA) and follow that (and keep the autorecord setting to give me some more options).

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Wait, the Aeros doesn’t support midi?

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As of version 2.3.1, it does not support Program or Command Changes. I emailed their support and they replied that they are working hard to get it in there.

It does support the MIDI Time Clock (MTC) in slave mode. Meaning, it responds to BB sending out start, stop, time signatures, BPM, etc. You literally only need to plug in the MIDI cable from the BB MIDI out to the Aeros MIDI in to get that working.

The BB MIDI support is deep and rich, so you can select songs, transition to specific parts, change the volume, BPM, etc all by sending MIDI commands.

Hopefully that level of MIDI functionality will show up in an Aeros update soon. I would hate to see them rush it and slap a MIDI command to replace the buttons clicks and call it done, because it will be very hard to automate it in new ways. I would much rather they take the time to implement a command for every function that the Aeros could do, such as specific commands for record, play, start, stop and, in particular, move to specific parts. That would let us decide how we want to use it, just like the BB.

We’ll see what they decide when that update comes along.

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