Alternate Footswitch Functions

BeatBuddy Feature Requests
#1

I bought the BeatBuddy about a year ago. I love this thing. I have been putting together simple drum programs/patterns for about 100 tunes to perform in a duo. I play bass and sing. I operate the BeatBuddy via footswitch after selecting a song at the module itself. Most of the tunes use a single pattern after a count-in measure. On several others, I use an alternate pattern for chorus or other section. I like to keep things very simple.

I keep the module about waist-high to scroll/select tunes.

My footswitch is set up as follows:

  • Left:
    • Tap to start at top of song/count-in
    • Long press to change to alternate pattern
    • Double-tap to outro
  • Right:
    • Tap to pause/stop
    • Tap to resume

Occasionally, while rehearsing, my long press on the left switch can accidentally become a double-tap, and the drums stop. Not good.

After a few months of working the BeatBuddy into a live music situation, I think I would rather have the left switch act like this:

  • Tap to start at top of song/count-in
  • Tap to change to alternate pattern

Or, almost as good:

  • Use the module pedal to start song/count-in
  • Tap left footswitch to change between patterns
  • Tap right footswitch to pause/resume

I am wondering if anyone out there knows how this might be done, either with a hardware or software modification. Thanks in advance.

#2

in the BB footswitch settings, you can disable the outro setting. That will turn off the double tap on your left footswitch. You can then use the held press or a double tap on the main pedal to stop the song. You wouldn’t need to change any other settings. You would wind up with this, given your current settings:

Left:
    Tap to start at top of song/count-in
    Long press to change to alternate pattern

Right:
    Tap to pause/stop
    Tap to resume

Main pedal
Double tap to end and
Long hold to end

I don’t believe that the “tap to change to alternate pattern” option is available.

#3

Phil,

That would be a great solution.

I have played with this for a while and cannot find where you can disable the outro. Tried different settings on the Main pedal. Got this screen for the 1st footswitch function (“stopped” and “playing” are grayed out.)

Could you possibly walk me through making that change? Thanks again,

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#4

I thought you could achieve this by setting the foot pedal to main pedal, and by having the outro disabled in the main pedal. But, now I am not sure, and the manual has not been updated to match the firmware. So, I’ll have to play with this tomorrow morning, and get back to you.

#5

I appreciate you getting back to me. I will poke around some more.

Had another thought. What if I swapped in a latching switch for the left footswitch. Maybe it would read a push as a long hold? Quick on/off for start?

Gotta look around for one.

Thanks again,

#6

I tried my solution, and it does not work. Apparently the Footswitch>1st Footswitch Function>Main Pedal setting makes the footswitch operate in the manner of the main pedal in its DEFAULT mode, and not in its mode based on the the Main Pedal settings. I can see where someone might want that, but it doesn’t solve your problem.

A midi pedal might do what you want, bust that’s an added expense. I am supposed to be getting my Midi Maestro tomorrow or Saturday, and I’ll let you know if I can make this configuration using it. I believe that the Morningstar MC6 can do this, but I’d have to make sure that we actually have midi commands from Singular for these various functions. In any event, I’ll try setting it up with the Maestro first.

#7

The latching switch might be worth trying but according to Singular Sound, in order to use all the features of the newer versions on the BeatBuddy firmware, momentary switches are recommended. So if it works and that’s all you want that switch to do, you could try it but in the long run, you would probably give up future flexibility. I don’t know if the firmware will recognize switches of mixed types e.g., one latching and the other momentary.

If you have an old single button Marshall foot switch that uses a TRS cable, you could give that a try to see if it does what you need.

#8

Phil,

Again, thanks for getting back to me. Let me know how the MM works.

#9

I think I will give that a try. See how it reacts to 1 momentary & 1 latching. Thanks,

#10

Hi Phil, How are you?
I just got my BB and ext foot switch.
Is it possible to turn on a song with click (w/o Intro), Change Pattern, And turn off song (w/o outro), all from just the BB pedal itself? In other words,
Is it possible to set the BB main foot switch to just have count in with no intro on the first short press, and then use the long press for alt pattern? I would also like to then, end the song (w/o outro), with a short press of main BB foot switch.
I would rather use the ext foot switch to navigate song folder, and move forward and back in song list.
Is this possible?
Thank you for your help !
Russ

#11

A song won’t end with a short BB press. You need to double tap to get to the outro, even if it’s blank, or triple tap to immediately stop. The external pedal has different functions for “when playing,” versus “stopped.” Folder navigation is done when stopped, so that won’t affect the ability to set a single press stop.