BeatBuddy and Maestro & Changing Song Parts

Midi Maestro MIDI Maestro Reviews and Feedback
1

Hey There,
I sent this query off to SS help, but I’ve found the forum to be pretty helpful, so I thought I’d post it here:

I’m just playing around with my BB, MM, and Aeros combo, and I’m hitting a snag:

I’m testing things with a 3 part, 3 track per part 6x6 song. I have the MM going into the BB, BB set to MIDI THRU, and the Aeros at the end of the chain.

The song I’m playing has 3 parts (verse, prechorus, chorus), but I’ve programmed a 2-part custom beatbuddy beat to go along with the song. I need the beat to stay the same for the verse and pre-chorus, but change for the chorus.

First issue

I have my Aeros set to change parts at the end of the loop, however when I press “play part two” on the MM, the beatbuddy changes beats immediately, but the Aeros doesn’t change until the end of the loop.

This is also an issue when I want to play a song and change parts with the MM without playing the beat buddy. If I select “play part 2” on the MM, the next part will queue up and play automatically, but the BB also starts playing as soon as I hit the button. I love the idea of a two-button part switch, but I don’t love the sound of drums coming into a loop unexpectedly and out of time.

Second issue

I can’t seem to select a part on the Aeros, then use the beatbuddy to change parts by holding my footswitch+ — before I had the MM hooked up, I could select a song part on the Aeros, then have it change at the end of a loop, but ALSO, the part would change immediately if triggered the change with the footswitch.

At the end of the day, what I’d really like is the functionality of the BB/Aeros combo and the ability to use my MM to do these things along with what I’m used to doing:

  1. solo a track (I’ve heard this is being worked on)
  2. mute and unmute tracks quickly in lieu of a solo button
  3. select a part with the MM, then transition to it with the BB. I was hoping to not have to use the footswitch and Aeros buttons much.

I suspect that what I actually want is going to be best accomplished in a DAW in terms of dropping things in and out and switch song parts on the fly (I’m a music streamer, and 90% of my performances are played at home with my DAW right there, ready to loop) but I wanted the Singular hardware because I want to be able to do this stuff on a stage—haha, also my computer isn’t a laptop, so it’s not as easy to lug around as the singular hardware.

2

I just ran into the same problem. Selecting a different song part with MM and the beat switches right away while the aeros is still playing out the loop.
Is there a way to fix it?

3

Nah, but you’ll get used to it, is what they’ll tell you. You can try changing the loop settings in the Aeros (immediate, EOL, EOM) and maybe that will suit you more. You’ll have to still select and trigger song parts from the Aeros (not MM) if you want the beat to stay the same when changing parts. Frankly, after plugging in the MM. and discovering this for myself, this (and the lack of a solo track feature) was the straw that broke the camels back for me — returned the maestro, might sell the Aeros, but I love the beatbuddy, despite the software.

I had all the SS gear, including the footswitch, which means even with 13 buttons (Aeros 4, MM 6, BB 1, footswitch 2) it was still really difficult to do what I wanted to do and less intuitive than other looping setups. And really not fun to try to customize. So, I got a Pacer and am looping in my DAW. Figured if I was gonna have to deal with 10+ buttons at my feet, I might as well get something that’s easier to customize and use a loop system where elaborate arrangements are easier to build and control. Can’t do it hands free, tho. Haha, well, I suppose I technically could, but I don’t have to—and that’s a selling point for me.

I also do 90% of my live performances online, sitting at my production setup, and sometimes use guitars as a main instrument, but other times it’s piano, so I don’t need to be totally hands free all the time, which I know is a big selling point of the Aeros and the SS fleet of products.

4

Thanks for the reply.

I did figure out a way that seems to have worked. Went to settings, main pedal, midi settings, midi in, control change and disable. That fixed the problem but then i had no control of the beat buddy with the MM, (picking songs) went back into control change and just disable transition.

Just thought id write this for anyone else who is new with issue.

5

Never mind not working,
I coukda swore it was doing what i wanted but musta been i donno.
Frustrating very frustrating.

6

Yeah, In order for all the pieces to work together, you need to set up the BB, MM, and Aeros as described on the YouTube tutorials from Singular Sound. Basically, if you want the beat and Aeros part to change at the same time, you need to use the MM to change parts, but if you just want to Aeros to change parts while the beatbuddy keeps playing the same part, you need to select the part you want on the Aeros itself and then trigger that part change on the Aeros. Haha, I think. You might need to adjust other settings in the Aeros like I mentioned above.

7

If you haven’t emailed support, you might want to. Jay is really helpful and has always provided answers, even if sometimes they’re not the ones I wanna hear, haha.

8

Set the Aeros to end of measure may work.

9

Hello, I am struggling with a similar problem.
I use the MM to control the BB.
I created a custom page in the MM using the phone app that also displays the following commands on the screens.

First button start (if possible with double click, due to accidental operation)
Second button Part1
Third button part 2
Fourth button part 3
Fifth button part 4
Sixth button part 5

I don’t know what else I have to do to ensure that the commands are executed on the BB.

I know there is this option in MM, but I have to switch to another page after starting it and I would like to get around that with a custom page.

Is my project feasible, can anyone help?
Kind regards Johann