Announcement: The First BeatBuddy Plug-In for your DAW (FREE BETA)

BeatBuddy Software BB Software-Announcements
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Hello BeatBuddies!

We are excited to give you guys an early look at the very first BeatBuddy plug-in! This plug-in is an emulator of the BeatBuddy’s playback of MIDI files, and can use any BeatBuddy DRM drumset file. This enables you to load any BeatBuddy DRM file on the BeatBuddy plug-in and hear it played back in your DAW just like it would sound as if you had your BeatBuddy right inside your computer.

Download here!

Please use the correct version for your OS and type of computer

  • Windows (10 + 11)
  • Mac Intel Catalina (10.15.7)
  • Mac Intel Sonoma (14.x)
  • Mac M1 Sonoma (14.x; ARM, M2 and M3)

Download the Quickstart here:

BeatBuddy_Plugin_BETA_QuickStart.pdf (5.5 MB)
BeatBuddy_Plugin_BETA_QuickStart_PRINTER_VERSION.pdf (5.6 MB)

This is a way to easily produce using the BeatBuddy brain without the added noise of using cables, no need of adding any gain to reach pro level, plus instant conversion to all supported sample rates and bit rates. Not to mention easy conversion to an audio file in your DAW.

Using the BeatBuddy plug-in alongside a MIDI editor, you can hear back your edits while you’re working on your midi files in a much more powerful ecosystem. No more guessing about what your DRM is going to sound like or having to export and re-import after plugging your SD back into the BeatBuddy. Now you can do it all on your computer seamlessly by going back and forth on the plug-in and to the drum editor.

The DRM loader will be fully free and open to the public for the beta’s duration. Once beta is over, we will lock the 0.0.x versions of the plug-in to only allow usage of the standard drum set. The official version of the plug-in will also be fully free to download and use the standard drum set, but will not feature access to the DRM loader. You will have to purchase access to the DRM loader by buying the BeatBuddy plug-in from our website.

The BeatBuddy plug-in features a full-on mixer that shows all of the names of the instruments, the associated MIDI note, and gives you the ability to mute, solo, and/or adjust the levels to your liking. The entire drum set can also be muted, and the master level can be adjusted.

To easily produce and mix the individual instruments in your DAW, duplicate the plug-in and solo each version with one instrument. Then commit those tracks to turn them into .wav files, and voilà! You can mix the sounds, adjust them and even load them back into the BeatBuddy DRM using the BBMO editor. You can even load that DRM back in the BeatBuddy plug-in again. An endless cycle of creativity.

This is a beta version that is known to have some bugs. We have some bugs being worked on now, but we think that it’s ready to have some feedback from users before we finalize and release it officially. Please do not use the plug-in on sessions that have sensitive material that you do not want to lose, we recommend duplicating, or using a save as feature before you implement the plug-in onto existing content, or start an entirely new song or session to avoid any sort of corruption.

So far we have not seen any corruption of session files, but we do not have all DAWs on all OS versions, so we cannot say for certain that there is not something we missed. However, we are very certain that it’s working 90% of the time, where it might get finicky is if you have multiple versions of the plug-in open, we are aware of some of these bugs and are working on it.

How to use the Plug-in

  • Send MIDI notes into the Plug-in by adding the plug-in to a MIDI or Virtual Instrument Track. This is a virtual instrument plug-in, please refer to your DAW’s manual on how to load Virtual Instruments onto a track.
  • Set independent levels for each instrument
  • Mute and/or solo each instrument
  • Solo several instruments
  • Collapse or expand the Mixer
  • For now, the plug-in will only work if you are online, offline usage will be limited to the standard drumset, the DRM loader will stop working.
  • Click Select Drum Set Directory to choose the folder where you will have all your Drum Sets
    • Do not select files directly, always choose the folder that holds DRM files
    • You can use the DRUMSETS folder inside any BeatBuddy project
    • Use the BeatBuddy Loader to Export all Drumsets and create a folder with all your DRM files on your computer

Please read all bugs listed below:

  • Drum sets do not show when browsing for drum set folder on PC. Do not worry, you have to select the folder that holds the drum sets, not the DRM itself
  • Multiple instances of the plug-in change to the same drum set in different sessions
    • For example, if you:
      1. open the BeatBuddy plug-in in one song session
      2. save it and create a new song session
      3. Change the BeatBuddy plug in any way, especially changing the drum set loaded
      4. close that session and reopen the original session.
      5. The original version of the drum set will also be altered.
    • We are working on a fix for this and will be ready soon
  • Sometimes the plug-in can be too large for smaller low res laptop computers that have recommended scaling options larger than 100%, we are working on the ability to scroll if the window is too small
  • Sometimes having multiple instances of the plug-in open at the same time, will crash the DAW. Try to open one instance of the plug-in at a time if you have multiple tracks with the plug-in on it.

Download here!

Please use the correct version for your OS and type of computer

  • Windows (10 + 11)
  • Mac Intel Catalina (10.15.7)
  • Mac Intel Sonoma (14.x)
  • Mac M1 Sonoma (14.x; ARM, M2 and M3)

Found a bug? Report it to BeatBuddy Plugin Help & Questions
Have a Request? Post it to BBMO and Plug-in Requests

If you encounter a bug please follow the format suggested in the Tagging of the Forum thread:

Example Bug Report

  • Description: What actually happened?
  • Version Number: x.x.x
    • include all version numbers that may be relevant e.g. Ableton version number, HX Stomp firmware number, computer OS, etc
    • For example, please tell us:
      • The type of computer, like Mac or Windows. If Mac, please specify if it is intel based or ARM (M1, M2, M3, etc)
      • The specific OS version you are using, like Catalina 10.15.7
      • The DAW you are using, and the version of the DAW
  • Steps To Reproduce (Please number the steps for clarity):
  • Expected vs actual Behavior (What did you expect to have happened and what are you seeing instead?):
  • Visual proof : Photo, video, audio

Relevant Logs

  • PC location
    • Find the VST3 file (“BeatBuddyEmulator.vst3”) in " C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3" folder
    • Find the BeatBuddy-Drumset library (“BeatBuddy-Drumset-x86-v0-0-5.dll”) in " C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3"
    • Logs: C:\Users\XXXXXXX\AppData\Roaming\Singular Sound
  • Mac location
    • Find the VST3 file (“BeatBuddyEmulator.vst3”) in “/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3” folder
    • Find the BeatBuddy-Drumset library (“BeatBuddy-Drumset-x86-v0-0-5.dylib”) in “/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3”
    • Logs: Macintosh HD> Users > "User " > Library > Singular Sound > BeatBuddyLogs_xxxxx.txt
8 Likes
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:tada::tada::tada:

1 Like
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FWIW… The BB Plug-In (v0.0.7) installed to Win7 Pro, 16GB RAM, and appeared to run OK in Reaper v7.16 with a multi-track MIDI file which included a drum track for the short time I played with it. Was able to load a different drum kit as well.

If for some reason you don’t want to keep the VST, the location in Windows appears to be as shown below where I assume it can simply be deleted.

bbVST
bbVST730×312 50.2 KB

1 Like
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So badass!!! Thanks much. I use Reaper to modify (time stretch especially handy when you wanna trick beatbuddy in to multiple time signatures in a song) my beats and the plugin I’ve had to use is quite lackluster compared to even just the basic BB Kit sound.
Looking forward to really putting this though its paces.

1 Like
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Ok, I like the idea of this!

I’m using FL Studio 21 on Windows 10. So far, plugin can load drumkits and play samples successfully.

My feedback is mainly with how it works in FL:
When using piano roll to program MIDI patterns, the note range is offset by two octaves. For example, Kick Drum (C1) in Emulator is coming in on C3 in piano roll. There’s also no name tag in piano roll to represent which note in piano roll can trigger the BB samples (more of an FL problem, but if there’s any way to program it to do this it would make things much easier).

In terms of the plugin itself, is there a way to interact with the BB model, like how clicking on it works in Online Manager? Not essential, but might be cool somehow.

Looking forward to the complete plugin!

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Thanks, great concept. I hope you are to work in parallel to make a version for mobile apps like i IPad

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I still don’t really understand the function of this plugin

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You can use BeatBuddy sounds directly in any DAW. So you can compose and arrange your songs without even the need to have the physical BeatBuddy :yum: Assuming you want to have the BB sounds :grin:

Then if you made new beats you can import them to BB with the BBMO app, or from BBMO to DAW. Any workflow should be good :smiling_face:

One thing that I’m looking forward is to record the midi notes from BB to DAW and then we can tweak each sound separately to make a better arrangement :blush: So basically easy way to go from live setting to recorded song :yum:

3 Likes
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Just fantastic @DavidPackouz !!

1 Like
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Got this up and running on my MBP running Ventura (intel) by using the Sonoma Intel version. I haven’t done much with it yet, but in garage band I got it loaded, added to a track, drum set folder selected and validated that playback sounds as I’d expect.

Great job! Just wanted to give kudos and note that it looks like Ventura is supported as well.

1 Like
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I just played with it in Cakewalk by Bandlab. I see potential. I was able to pull up my saved drumsets and import midi from the content folders. Good job.

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Great news, thanks for this it’s definately a winner for me.

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:+1: :+1:t2: :+1:t3: :+1:t4: :+1:t5: :+1:t6:

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Since BB can send notes. I want to use the BB drum kits on the IPad and mix everything on the IPad. Then send to PA system. This is a one person band using QuantiLoop

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Hello Singular Sound,

A Beatbuddy plugin is something I am interested in because I build all the beats I need myself (and sell them too, by demand) using Ableton Live (12, currently). But the BB plugin freezes Live 12 every time and I have to force quit Live.
Logic 11 doesn’t freeze but it doesn’t allow me to select Drum Sets and it has some bugs which I won’t comment on this time since I’m mostly interested in using the plugin with Live.

Please let me know if/when this will be possible.

Cheers!

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Hi, Any step by step guide to accomplish this in reaper, please ? I can load the plugin just fine and I imported a .midi file that I downloaded from one of the user section, but I can’t hear any sound.

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Working very nicely here with Cubase 13 … making the workflow soooo much more easy - big time kudos!!

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I’m a Reaper (v7.16) user myself and had no trouble whatsoever.
The vst3i is the plugin that I am using.
I seem to recall that there were 3 different types of vst in the download for windows.
I don’t know enough about such to say whether or not the other vst types will work with Reaper and Windows but this version definitely does for me. Good luck!

image

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What plug-in version should I down load for Mac Pro running on MacOS Monterey 12.7.5?

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Hi there,

What OS version are you using, and is your mac intel based or ARM (M1, M2, etc)? Also, which version of the BeatBuddy plugin did you download?

Try this:

  1. create an instrument track
  2. add the BeatBuddy plug in to the instrument track
  3. while connected to the internet, open the BeatBuddy plugin and click “Select Drum Set Directory”
  4. choose the folder of DRM files you would like to use, it can be the DRUMSETS folder in a project or any folder full of drm files
  5. play the correct MIDI notes to get the corresponding sound (e.g. C1 = Kick Drum 1)
    • click on the play button in the BeatBuddy plugin’s mixer to check if you hear sound at all.

Let us know!

Is your mac intel based or ARM?

If Intel, try Sonoma Intel.
If M1, M2, etc try Sonoma M1

Thanks for all the feedback and questions!