BB2 Autopilot Feature Requests

BeatBuddy 2 Feature Requests
1

Hi,

This is a duplicate of feature request I made in the main thread.

Things I think autopilot should be able to do or control:

  1. All the things you can do with MIDI.
    1. Transition to a specific part at any time
    2. Fill at any time, not just the whole bar
    3. Pause the beat, but continue with the song
    4. control intro, outro, stop without outro
    5. Change tempo during a song
    6. Change time signature
    7. Accents
    8. Volume
    9. Basically, all the BB controlling functionality that MIDI currently provides
  2. Custom Labels for parts, Color selection for parts
  3. A timeline where we can just click what above action we want, and where.
  4. Export just the autopilot info, instead of the entire song to avoid running into any licensing issues with a song.
  5. Trigger outbound MIDI to a channel for controlling external devices though autopilot.
  6. EDIT: Hitting “Fill” shouldn’t restart a part and BB2 should be able to maintain the defined length of a song. If the song is 80 bars long, then it should remain 80 bars long, even if a fill or transition is hit.

My current workflow to make autopilot work in a DAW does the above exactly. I just send BB MIDI to the BB and I can play an entire song without a problem. I have a timeline where I just trigger the MIDI where I want and everything works great. With the promise of AutoPilot in the BB, I’d hope we’d be able to do the same thing and avoid having to bring a computer everywhere to use the BB.

As I mentioned in the other thread, the BB has a MIDI engine capable of sending and receiving MIDI that can already do everything autopilot needs. Seems like you just need a mechanism to schedule and fire off MIDI in time. EDIT: Something like this would also ensure that the song length remains consistent since the actions are happening at a defined “time” vs just running parts. This allows for “fills” and other part changes to happen without changing the length of a song.

Thanks

1 Like
BB2 Autopilot review
2

Hi there,

we do not allow batch requests on the forum, all requests must be made on separate posts and must be concise in the request

Please post your feature request according to the guidelines.

Thank you for your feedback!

3

AutoPilot Command: Loop Current Part Until Told to Continue

Consider a live performance. Song has a Bridge. Depending on the situation we might want the bridge to be a tight 8 measures, or a 3 minute jam.

Another possible title for this would be AutoPilot Suspend / Resume

4

You can set the part to loop continuously for 999 measures in the BeatBuddy Manager Online. To transition to the next part, just hold down the main button on the BB2.

5

Thanks for suggesting the work-around.

To be clear though, the request is specifically about not having to do a) make preparations-in-advance, or b) be limited by preparations-in-advance.

With AutoPilot Suspend / Resume we would be able to choose on-the-fly to dwell in any section of the song for as long as desired, and then return to structured playback on-the-fly to complete the form.

6

You can do this by turning autopilot off for the song part in the BBMO, this will make it loop until you choose to transition

I would not suggest setting a high number, the point of turning off autopilot per song part is to achieve what you’re describing

When you transition to the next part, autopilot will resume as intended

1 Like
7

I appreciate the point you are making. Thanks for the work-around.

This approach, of course, still requires a) configuration in advance, b) always being ready to deal with the consequences of that configuration in advance.

What I’m suggesting and advocating for is literally a true autopilot - just like in an aircraft, you turn it on whenever you want to be relieved of the necessity of manual control, you turn it off whenever you want to resume manual control.

Honestly, I’m surprised this wasn’t specified as the design goal to begin with.

Of course, it’s always possible to improve from here. That’s what firmware updates are for.