BB Manager Song structure

ruairiau · October 13, 2015, 12:34am

I’ve just got my BB a few days now and I’m quite impressed. I found the BB Manager quite easy to use and intuitive. However, I’d like to make some suggestions:

* Export All Midi for a Song:
Right now you can click on a part and export the midi to file. I’d like to do this for an entire song. Sometimes I’ll work on a song and want to quickly edit it in Reaper.

* Drag Midi out of BB Manager
Currently when you drag a part from BB Manager, it is a custom file format (BBF I think). If this could be changed to Midi when the drop target is an external program then it would make it super easy to drag and drop parts from BB Manager to your DAW to edit.

* Accent Transition
Play the accent at the end of the transition.

* Transitions, Alternate Transitions and transition destinations :
Create an alternate transition beside the current transition in BB Manager. Create a dropdown of song parts for each of these transitions to where the song will go after the transition. E.g.

Transition destinations can be:
Next, Previous or a Part Number. By default the transition will be Next and the Alt transition will be Previous.

This fixes a bunch of issues like:
Navigating back on a complicated song with multiple parts if you accidentally transition.
Creating a simple bridge part
Pausing a song, then coming back in on a different part (e.g. chorus)

* Share Songs / Online Song Library:
I’ve seen the community library http://www.beatbuddytools.com. But I’d much prefer something official and a one-button click from BB Manager.

* Adjust Velocity of Part notes from the pedal
I’ve been building up a library of drum patterns for songs we play only to find out that the hi-hats are too loud or the bass drum is to soft for a loop, fill or transition. Right now I have to fix the part up in Reaper, record it to EZ Drummer, then drag it to BB Manager, then sync it. The process is horrible.
I’d like to select a song and edit it on the pedal, then be able to select a part and play it. The screen will show the midi notes that are played in this part and I can scroll through them with the cursor. I can then use the volume to adjust the note velocity for that part (linear across all events for that note on that part). Changes are then saved to the song.
So if I’m at a practice and we’re jamming through the chorus of a song and the ride symbol is just too loud, I can select that part, find the offending note and adjust it on the fly.

* Midi Song Selection
Bending down to change songs or tapping just does not work. I use OnSong, so it makes sense to select a song in OnSong and it to send a Midi control message to the beat buddy to select the correct song.

* Fading Outro
Define a measure count for the outro to fade out over.

* Allow the BB to be used while the USB is connected
When I’m writing song parts, I need to quickly test them out and see how it works with the Beat Buddy. Right now the BB is disabled when the USB is connected; so I have to connect the cable, save the changes to a song, press synchronise, then safely disconnect the USB (or it corrupts).
It would be much better if the USB cable could remain connected, then just disable the pedal momentarily while the sync happens.

fingerstylepicker · October 15, 2015, 2:36am

Just to let you know, you can already export a whole song to anywhere you want it to go. You can also import it back in to BB Manager after editing. The accent, of course, can be played anywhere in the song by tapping the external footswitch if it is programmed to do that. You can also put a midi based accent hit at the end of a transition simply by adding it at the end of a transition measure with a midi editor. The rest of what you suggest would be reviewed by the support team. Hope this helps.
Fingerstylepicker.

ruairiau · October 15, 2015, 3:05am

“Just to let you know, you can already export a whole song to anywhere you want it to go. You can also import it back in to BB Manager after editing.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is a propriety SNG format. How can I get the MIDI files from this so I can edit it? I know I can export the MIDI files one at a time, I’d just like an easy way to get all the MIDI files for a song at once.

“The accent, of course, can be played anywhere in the song by tapping the external footswitch if it is programmed to do that.”
I find this feature more of a novelty than actually something that’s practical. I play bass and backing vocals (and now drums I suppose) in a 2 man acoustic band, so I want to limit the footwork I need to do.

“You can also put a midi based accent hit at the end of a transition simply by adding it at the end of a transition measure with a midi editor.”
I tried this in Reaper, but it doesn’t let me put a MIDI event at the end of of a MIDI clip. No doubt this is just a limitation of the Reaper editor, but good to know the BB will still work with notes at the end of a clip.

fingerstylepicker · October 15, 2015, 3:19am

OK, now I understand what you’re wanting to do. Do you have "Beat Builder installed in your P C yet?
You can separate the song there. You can take individual midi sections and move them in and out of BB Manager, so you should be able to move them elsewhere as well. Sometimes I will build a whole song out of midi segments from all over the place. You should be able to do this in reverse also. I hope I’m on the right track at trying to answer your idea. Just trying to help.
Sincerely, Fingerstylepicker.

ruairiau · October 15, 2015, 3:26am

“You can take individual midi sections and move them in and out of BB Manager, so you should be able to move them elsewhere as well.”
Yeah I have it installed. I already know that I can export the MIDI files one at a time. I’d just like to do it for an entire song with one click - a simple export all song MIDI that will create intro.mid, Loop1.mid, Loop2.mid, Loop1Fill1.mid, Loop1Transition.mid etc.

Appreciate your help, but I’m looking to do stuff a little more advanced.

fingerstylepicker · October 15, 2015, 3:29am

The “Alternate Transition” is a good idea. I would submit that to the support team and see what they think of it. They’re right here in the Forum all the time and I think they have a “Member Slot” here somplace. Let me know if you can make contact with them.
Sincerely, Fingerstylepicker. P.S, Let me know if you’re interested in antennuating the output signal of the Beat Buddy, which is much too strong. I built a Volume/Tone Control Box just for this. I can down-
load the schematic and picture if you are interested.

fingerstylepicker · October 15, 2015, 3:30am

Gotcha! Fingerstylepicker.