BBFF: BeatBuddy Friends Forever - Benefits?

@andrew13 This is for you but please anyone using BBFF please chip in with your experiences about using BBFF.

I’m comfortable with adding BB songs and copying/moving in the standard BB Manager software. It’s a faff fiddling with the SD card in my laptop but not a deal breaker.

I’m unlikely to be creating beats from scratch.

I’m keen to make good use of MIDI: IPad, OnSong, BB, Midi Maestro and Aeros. I just need to get MIDI done and avoid hours of dead ends.

Given the above, why is a BBFF annual subscription a good investment for me?

That‘s a great question.

I think it’s a good investment because the editor not only makes it super easy to manage your library but also to duplicate songs and make minor tweaks. From that, you may find you’ll bring in a part from one song and a part from another song with some fills or transitions as needed. And then, when you see how easy it is, you may find you’ll actually start creating a beat or two from scratch :wink:

Another reason is to invest in a project that is current and committed to moving things forward now. I promise great support.

I’d love to hear others’ answers.

Great question…for me its a game changer:

  1. No software to install…you get the updates automatically also…so nice!
  2. Easy to quickly edit songlists and add songs
  3. Super easy for the kind of easy MIDI editing I do (quick removal of bits etc)
  4. Drumset functionality now available!

Many more reasons…and cant beat the cost for sure! Andrew has done a great job and it keeps improving on user feedback…he is actually listening and responding!

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@rayhtm
First, be sure to distinguish between BBFF (the App Store app, one payment), and BBFF Editor (web app, subscription). Since you talk about subscription, I believe you are referring to the Editor, and I believe @andrew13 answered his opinion as the developer. I am also going to give my 2 cents for the Editor, in no particular order.

I’ve been using, maybe more accurate, playing with, the BBFF Editor, going back and forth from BBManager to BBFF Editor, just to be really conscious of what I am doing and what are the changes going on with the Editor. I am impressed with what has been accomplished here.

First, let me say that I am not a fan of web apps, specially when I need to do something and find out that my internet is gone or I am having a power outage. I like traditional apps, they are faster, and maybe someday this Editor can become one, but my issues with internet and power are not the Editor’s fault. So, I have been able to use the Editor 99% of the time I have intended to use it. And after expressing some concerns about speed to @andrew13 , he quickly corrected the issues and I am happy to report that the Editor feels snappy and responsive while working with it.

I never quite understood BBM editor “3-D bubbly” feel and look, and the inability to interact with it while playing back a song, mainly to check for errors and issues. The Editor plays as a regular DAW and I am able to interact as I wish, concentrate on the lower or higher parts of the midi number spectrum with ease, helping me to catch errors more easily.

I usually convert MIDI files to BeatBuddy structure depending on drumset in Logic Pro, and it has been a breeze and a pleasure that, when I find a small issue with the file, I have been able to solve the issue right there in the BBFF Editor. Once I committed a big blooper, and the ease of use of the editor helped me correct the issue in 1.5 hours, it would have meant like 3 or 4 hours in Logic (because I would’ve had to start over from scratch, don’t ask, hehe) and it would have been impossible in BBManager. It literally saved my day (last Friday, by the way).

I would love a manual (maybe the last guy on Earth that reads them), even for quick reference, but the video on YouTube is pretty complete and helpful about the main usage and keyboard shortcuts.

Now that you are beginning to work with MIDI, OnSong and BB (I also do that) I think you will find invaluable the MIDI commands for OnSong that @andrew13 has incorporated to the Editor. It is a great tool for me.

If your are using the Editor constantly, like I have been using it, be sure to log out and log back in from time to time. Since the updates are done automatically in the web app, sometimes you missed them until you log out and back, in order to refresh the app.

I’ve been going back and forth between the BBM and BBFF Editor seamlessly. If that is important to you, please be assured that your Project works seamlessly between the two, no issues at all.

The newly incorporated drum editor is great!! I’ve done quite a few new drumsets to conform to some very specific songs, and it is a great addition to everything the editor can do.

Leaving the best for last: @andrew13 . He’s been great and very responsive. He listens, AND responds. In the couple of weeks I’ve been using the Editor, he has squashed bugs, make the app more responsive for people like me that use OPB and its variants, immediately fixed an issue with playback volume I was having, added-- in record time-- the drumset editor, answered every question I’ve thrown at him (here, in Facebook group and via e-mail). Even though my interaction with him is limited to this endeavor, I think he is just a great person, cares about his product and the users.

Do I love subscriptions? No. Do I recognize this is the new software reality and there is no going back? Yes. Do I think BBFF Editor is a good investment? I think it is a great investment. And even if I believed it was a so-so product, I would have invested anyway, because of the audacity of undertaking a project that was seemingly dead and restoring our faith and joy of creating for the BB. It would have been an act of hope and faith, but it didn’t needed to be, because right now the BBFF Editor is delivering, and I really believe it would get better.

Hope this helps. From a fellow OnSong, WIDI Thru-6 and BB user.

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Well, I made the jump and purchased the web app version (I didn’t realise they were different things).

Instant time savings on finding MIDI commands. No guesswork. So that probably worth the £18 in time saved over the upcoming year.

Of course, I quickly realised that I still have to faff with the SD card to make changes, Obvious now I think of it. But it occurred to me that if I keep a copy of the current SD card content on my laptop I can use BBFF to grab midi values from that.

Less good fortune in duplicating a stock beat to use for a named song with a different tempo. When the SD card is back in the BB the song name is there but its empty. Will contact support for the correct duplicating an moving process to workout what’s wrong.

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Seems like Singular Sound should contract andrew13 for future projects that they do not seem to have the resources or man-power (or don’t care!) to get done.

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It’s hard to determine SS’s capabilities.

Do they have an in-house dev team, is devt out sourced?
Is there paralysis owing to the risk of getting it wrong with a large first and second market customer base?
Is there a conscious decision to sweat the asset and spend as little as possible?
How big is the team (when the CEO does YouTube explainers)?
Let’s hope they care… :wink:

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There was a bug. Now squashed.

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Both BBM and BBFF Editor are using the Project saved in my computer, I do not work directly over the SD (I wouldn’t even know if it is possible, hehe). Any changes I make in BBM or BBFF Editor are saved immediately on my hard drive and eventually I sync to the SD. That way, if I messed up editing, my SD is still functional and available to copy back to my computer. And I have a backup SD, just in case.

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Yes, I’m rapidly realising a workflow like that has benefits.

Yeah. I always have one SD card in my BB and one in my PC (and a spare BB in my gig bag). Just swaps the cards.

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Right now I am feeling pretty frustrated with BFF. I am having trouble synchronizing. What’s on my HD card to BFF on my iPad. I have used the BB rocks upload and it always says upload complete. Everything‘s wonderful. It just refuses to allow me to see any of the folders on my iPad for buddy

Hi Neil

Sorry that you’re batting with the app.
Here’s a video that goes through project sync in detail - https://youtu.be/T_awrgJAbGQ
If you’re still battling after that, please email me at andrew@bbff.rocks and I’ll work through everything with you to make sure you get it working

—Andrew