Hey guys, we have come to a crossroads on this feature for our upcoming Autopilot update, so we wanted to make a poll and see what was most useful to you.
In case you haven’t heard yet, the next BeatBuddy feature update will have a highly requested feature: Autopilot mode.
In essence, this mode allows you to pre-program the BeatBuddy using the BeatBuddy Manager to playback a song exactly how you need it to without having to tap more than once. Basically, any song in your Project file can be turned into a one-press song! Automate, fills, transitions, and the outro. This mode can also be enabled/disabled on the BeatBuddy menu, and will only affect songs that have been made to work with Autopilot.
A pause/unpause will start the song part from the beginning
A manual transition will end the current song part and move you to the next song part (as it already does)
A manual fill can be used to both play a fill and extend the part to play from the beginning again.
The feature in question is the manual tap to play a fill/extend the song part. This is to allow manual repetition of the current part while on autopilot. Fills should normally be pre-programmed, and so it would be unlikely you would need to play any fills manually other than to start a repetition.
The choices are:
The BeatBuddy will start the repeat of the main loop at the next measure.
For example, if on measure 5 of 8 and you tap the main footswitch, the main loop starts over on measure 1 on the next measure.
The BeatBuddy will start the main loop again once the main loop elapses once fully.
For example, if on measure 5 of 8 and you tap the main footswitch, the main loop starts over after it plays through measure 8.
Vote below!
Tap to replay the main loop at the next measure
Tap to repeat main loop at the end of main loop length
I voted for option 1 firstly because then you can get option 2 by tapping the switch at measure 8. The other way around, you can’t get option 1 out of option 2 mode.
Secondly, it’s more like the existing behaviour… A fill always restarts the part’s sequence.
I’m not a performing musician, so I can’t speak to the “I haven’t finished my solo yet” point, but that is a legitimate argument. But I voted for Option 1 because I agree with kingofthejaffacakes in that Option 1 would seem to give you more control where you wanted that repeat to occur, and that could occur technically at the end of the next measure or the end of the loop if you timed it right.
Try stepping “at the right time” while playing Donna Lee’s bridge at 200 BPM.
Anyway, who in this universe wants to play weird-formed structures when repeating a part if you didn’t timed it right enough?
What if/when you step it by accident? It would be much more useful a Repeat/Cancel toggle feature, also in case you’ve changed your mind before the current part ends.
Yep, you and Phil have made a good case…I’m going to change my vote. (haha if I can)
Simply because when you are in the middle of something, it can be really tricky to get the timing right, so all you need do is tap the control and no having to look at the display to get the tap JUST right to jump to beat one of the repeating part.
Fair enough. Like I said, I’m not a performing musician so I have not experienced having to make the changes you referred to in a live environment. Sounds like making it a toggle (between Option 1 and Option 2) would be a workable solution, but if not, I would probably defer to the performers’ rationale. I’m just here for the enjoyment.
To be clear, repeating a fill over and over, a “vamp”, works fine, but a single measure is not necessarily going to be appropriate for a vamp. Plus, we are dealing with “autopilot” here. Thus, that’s my reasoning for preferring the full part. But, I’m sure there are applications for the single measure thing. It just feels out of place in the context of autopilot.
Not sure I agree with the premise that the song needs to have all the fills locked in with no way to spontaneously add them.
I’m sure that works if you are looking for verbatim playback. It may makes sense if you are trying to duplicate an exact recording. That’s starting to approach the level of a pre-recorded backing track.
Somewhat scary to have the meaning of the footswitches change based upon (autopilot) mode. Seems complicated and hard to remember.
I don’t see an easy solution other than using external footswitches/midi which is a cheat.
Tap for Fill and Tap Hold for repeat loop … and have a setting to choose repeat at EOM or EOL. Is there an issue making the repeat timing be an option?
Is there is some technical limitation as to why the unpause can’t be made to resume playing at the point when the pause was pressed? If left as stated, unpause is not unpause but should be renamed to start over
Boiled down to its essence, the BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) and the BeatBuddy (BB) are MIDI players and MIDI players can do a temporary stop (pause) and then resume (unpause). This provides BB users the ability to pause a song during rehearsal and then resume without having to start the song (loop) from the beginning. Here’s a short video of MidiKit (a MIDI file player) with a stop (pause) and resume. For giggles and grins, I tossed in a screen shot of QuickTime Player’s controls that include FF and RW. Pause and resume.mov.zip (993.0 KB)
Rather than hear that it “can’t be done,” I’m proposing that Singular Sound figure out “how” it can be done. So as to make it less complicated, perhaps a true pause and resume could be made to only work on the main drum loops.
@BrennanSingularSound One question to #2:
Will the fill be played when I press the pedal and go on to the end of the loop and repeat? If it does like this, can I put in more than just one fill? Or is the fill automatically placed at the end of the loop?
Btw I clearly prefer the #2. I can‘t imagine what #1 could be used for while a performance.
Just my two cents, and I think its what you mean by #2, but I’d like it to replace the measure I’m in with a fill and continue the part. So if you hit the pedal at 5, then 5 fills, and measure 6 is the next measure. I do this all the time when sometimes its just nice to add a quick fill in a spot to add some emotion without restarting the whole part. This wouldn’t change the length of the entire song.
Why couldn’t this just be an option, like it is for various other existing functions? It’s split down the middle what makes most sense and depends on situation. For some songs now, I want fills to start at next beat or next measure, etc. and that’s an option BB gives me.
Seems like the questions should really be about the the statement before the question: “Fills should normally be pre-programmed, and so it would be unlikely you would need to play any fills manually other than to start a repetition.” Says who? I might want an option to forget about extending the song but giving me control over adding fills during a song.
