I’ve been using BeatBuddy (mostly successfully) with my iPad and OnSong for the past 4 years in my acoustic duo. I’m now considering buying the Aeros Looper but have a few questions I’m hoping the fine people on this forum can answer:
Is there a way to change songs on the Aeros without touching the screen, and just using the foot switches?
Related to my first question, I currently use OnSong to change the songs on BeatBuddy (via the wireless midi connection). If I add Aeros into the equation, would I lose this capability? I assume the midi out connection from the BeatBuddy midi cable would need to feed into the midi in on the Aeros. If so, does this render my wireless midi adapter useless? (admittedly, I am not the best at understanding midi workflows)
In short, I would still want the ability to just swipe to a new song in the OnSong app., and then have it change the song in BeatBuddy AND the song in the Aeros. Is anyone doing this today?
I don’t have an Aeros but you can plug the MIDI wireless into the BeatBuddy MIDI IN and then run a MIDI cable from the BB MIDI OUT to the Aeros MIDI IN leaving one part of the MIDI wireless unplugged.
Anthony has said that the midi out on the Aeros acts as a midi thru. It shouldn’t be fed back to the BB because the Aeros acts as a slave. I would assume, therefore, that a cable from the Aeros midi out to OnSong should work, but if you want OnSong to control the BB, then just connect your iPad to the BB midi in.
So, I think I need to try unplugging the “midi out” portion of the wireless adapter on my BeatBuddy, and then see if BeatBuddy can pass midi info into another device (not exactly sure how I can test this).
Additionally, does anyone know the following about Aeros:
Can songs be selected via the switches or do you have to use the touchscreen (seems like a “miss” if this is the case).
Can song selections on Aeros be made/changed via midi program changes?
This SHOULD work, hopefully with a Firmware update. My old RC300 will work this way. Seems like an easy fix, but I think they are still building the midi functionality (I HOPE). If not, I’m going to have to return mine.
So, I tried unplugging one side of the wireless midi adapter, leaving only the Midi IN side plugged in (which goes into Beat Buddy). As soon as you unplug one side of the wireless midi adapter, it essentially turns the wireless midi adapter off…and therefore OnSong does not wirelessly control BeatBuddy to make song/program changes.
I did NOT try running into another midi device and then plugging a cable back into the “Midi OUT” of the Wireless adapter. Regardless, I fear that the wireless adapter is not intended to be part of a midi circuit (sitting between multiple devices). Maybe I’m wrong?
Can someone from SingularSound please advise if we lose the ability to control BeatBuddy song changes with the wireless midi adapter (via OnSong) if we’re setting up BeatBuddy with Aeros?
you can put one side of the bluetooth dongle into the beatbuddy and the other into the aeros.
that will power up the dongle. then make a connection to the ipad as usual, make the settings in onsong and enjoy…
Hi Ron - I just saw your post from several years ago. I’ve been trying to get an answer to your question more recently about connecting a looper pedal to the Best Buddy but still being able to control the Beat Buddy with OnSong using a MIDI Bluetooth adapter. I’ve been thinking of using a Ditto X4 rather than an Aeros, but I believe the connection issues are the same. I don’t want to lose the functionality of having OnSong select the song and BPM on my Beat Buddy pedal when I add a looper.
Curious whether you were ever able to figure out a way to make it work for you? Thanks
So, I am using a Morningstar MC-8 midi pedal as the center of my board. I have a CME Widi Jack…connecting to my IPad via Bluetooth… and connected to the MC8. When I swipe to a new song in OnSong…it sends midi commands (via Bluetooth) to the Widi Jack…which then forwards those command to BeatBuddy (Channel 1), HX Stomp (Channel 3) and Boss RC-500 (Channel 5). I’m sending mostly just Program Changes to get each device to a certain preset. I use the buttons on the RC-500 to start/stop backing tracks or pre-recorded loops (stored on the RC-500).
I think you could do the same with a Widi Jack attached to EACH/any midi device… meaning… you could have a looper with a Widi Jack…connected via Bluetooth…and then send it commands via OnSong.
I have not successfully synced up the BeatBuddy and RC-500. I had tried it, using BeatBuddy as the Master and BeatBuddy as the Slave…but it never seemed to work quite right. I “think” it might work better if the RC-500 is the Master…but I haven’t tried this yet.