Hello all of you BB Wizards!
I just got my BeatBuddy and I’d like to split the MIDI clock output to sync with both my Pigtronix Infinity Looper and my Visual Sound Dual Tap Delay so that both are kept in time with whichever beat is playing without tap dancing all over the floor to get the delay right. Does anyone have any suggestions of how I might accomplish this?
Thanks y’all!
-Steven
Don’t know if they’re still around but you used to be able to get hardware midi thru boxes with say 1 midi input & 3 or 4 midi outs (Philip Rees, Kenton etc.). Or, if either of your 2 units have a midi thru you can use that.
I saw those on Sweetwater.com, but I wasn’t sure if that was the best option. Tomorrow, my buddy is coming over and we’re going to be setting up our signal paths so that everything can be mixed live from stage during a performance. He seems to have some idea of a solution to this issue. I’ll be sure to update y’all. I’ll probably end up going with the 1 Input - 4 Output MIDI splitter. Thank you for your input!
As far as I know,the DTDelay has no Midi input…(?),but has an extl. Tap or click input. So you will have to use something like that : http://www.moltenvoltage.com/products/CONTROL_SYNC_by_PedalSync_Classic_Effect_MIDI_Clock_Synchronizer_by_Molten_Voltage.html
This Synchronizes your Midi out (coming from BB ) with up to two Tap Tempo or Click inputs… Only downside, since it has no Midi Through(or Out) and your Pig Looper (Infinity) also has only Midi in,you will also need the Midi Through/Splitter device mentioned above…
Splitter- or Through- boxes are several out there, so Ebay could be a cheaper solution… The “Clock translator” is the only one I found, but you may find also other ones,since you now know what you are looking for…
Okay guys… It turns out there are dozens of ways that this can be accomplished, depending on what you’re running in your signal chain and how you’re doing it. We’re a two piece act, each playing multiple instruments. Sparing you all of the details, basically every instrument (including the BeatBuddy and a MIDI controller through laptop to mixer) has a direct in to our mixing board which then goes into the looper to MIDI sync that. Since the mixer is in the middle, we are able to mix separate output mixes (1 for PA system, 1 each for our headphone amps). The headphone mixes include the click track from the laptop to sync everything as either a MIDI sync or Click sync, which is also sent to whichever Tap Tempo-equipped pedals we’re using.
It’s a long way around, but we’re setting up all of our gear for live busking setups and we’ve got the equipment. When I come up with a simpler way, I’ll update again.
Did you find a solution for this? I am trying to figure out a way to be able to mount the beat buddy up so I can see the tempo screen while playing keys but yet still have a pedal to use the function of the Beat Buddy.
Hey, is anyone out here doing this? Like using the BB as a a master clock and sending to multiple loopers? I don’t have a BB yet but I’m keen to try it with some friends and incorporate some loopers e.g… VL3, VLT2, and ableton. Ive midi synced different hardware and software but have never used a splitter and Im not sure if the signal messages get weaker through a splitter like Quadra Thru mentioned above. TIA!
Try the iConnectivity product line. I have their MioXM, which has 4 Midi in/out and 4 USB plus a USB “to host” port plus an RJ45 for RTP Midi.
It’s fast and reliable. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Send the midi out from BB to the first looper/DAW, then the out from that to the next looper/DAW, then the out from that to the next looper/DAW, etc.
Thanks DovJ and Bluesky…I haven’t seen that MioXM but it sounds like a good hub. Though I am sceptical about the clock staying consistently solid while being sent wirelessly and having minimal latency. Am I wrong? Or do you have great performance and solid midi communication with multiple devices simultaneously?
I do know about sending midi out and thru from one looper to another but not all the loopers involved that Im using have midi in and out (just in), hence the splitter. Also, in my experience and depending on the machines or software being used…not all things sync equally. In theory, yes, but in practice it usually involves some sort of frustration or learning curve to the idiosyncrasies of a particular bit of kit. That little bit of drift can just ruin the fun sometimes…
The key with MioXM is that it is a very fast wired hardware MIDI router.
It seems to have no problem feeding clock signals to many devices simultaneously.
With this kind of router (which is in some ways more akin to a network “switch” than a “router” because its transport logic is built into the firmware), you’re avoiding daisy-chaining through your gear’s MIDI ports. You’re wiring everything directly into the MioXM and it acts a super-fast hub.
I’ve configured my MioXM to filter certain messages to specific ports, and limited the routing so only what I need to send is sent. This way each device is seeing only what it needs to see. This kind of optimization is pretty much impossible when you use device-chaining.
I’m about to add a BomeBox to this network to provide even finer hardware-based mapping and control over MIDI. I’ll be happy to report on what it does, but the idea is to enable my KMI Softstep pedal to control my BeatBuddy more effectively. I’ll be able to use short-press, long-press and multiple-tap toggle on the Softstep keys to command BeatBuddy start, stop, fill and next part, along with similar control over my other midi devices.
I use a MIDI Solutions Quadra Thru to send MIDI Clock and other MIDI instructions from or thru’ my Beatbuddy to my Voicelive 3 and Roland GR-55. No problem at all, about US$50.
That sounds super useful and I could definitely see that being handy in a number of different workflows. Thanks for the info!
Great, thats exactly what I wanted to hear. Seems I’ll be jumping on the BB train. Cheers!
