Is it possible to have the beatbuddy ‘play’ an external midi device at the same time as drums on the beatbuddy? I’d like to create a midi files for a song and load it into the beatbuddy, have the beatbuddy play the drums for the song as well as send midi commands (note on/off, cc’s etc.) to an extenal device like a sound canvas or volca. I’m aware there are drumkits which include bass, but they seem to be a bit limited in capability. I am familiar with midi editing, beat buddy manager, and have all the midi cables, as well as a midi maestro. Thanks!
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BB sends note commands from midi out, so should be possible. But depending on features some limitations might leak into the midi commands 
I wonder if this has been tried, I imagine it would make a good live backing track combo, especially if I could assign various song parts (verse, chorus, bridge) etc. that could be called up on demand from my setlist (playlist).
You can absolutely have the beatbuddy “play” an external device, but there are a few caveats. The midi implementation stored in the parts of songs is very basic and limited. There is basically just a stream of notes with the note id, the velocity, and the time offset. It used to be able to change tempo, but i don’t think any other type of commands are stored. You don’t even have the option of using separate channels… It’d be cool if you could play drum notes on ch10 and bass notes on ch2 for example, but none of that is stored, so it can’t be replayed. The original midi implementation didn’t have note-offs as well, since most percussion sounds in the original kits were pretty short. Without note offs, any note played might play forever until the sample fades. In light of this lack of note offs, there was a parameter call release time that determined how long a choked note would hold… adjust that if you hear your samples clipped short.
I hooked mine to my electronic drum (SPD-30), and was able to go both ways with it. I could play the SPD-30, and have the midi “play” the kit inside the beatbuddy. Also, configured slightly differently, I could have the beatbuddy “play” my spd-30. Tons of fun! :-D.
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Thanks, for the info. I’m not having much success, as you can imagine. I took an opb (ring of fire) and edited it in reaper midi editor, left all the drum notes on channel 10 and moved all the horns to channel 1. I was hoping that the beatbuddy would continue to play the drums and send out the channel 1 horn notes to my external general midi device (miniEngine Pro), but I cant get it to work. It still plays the drums and the horns in the beatbuddy (with some note off problems as you describe). If I leave my general midi device on channel 10, it will indeed play the drums from the midi stream from the beatbuddy. (Though obviously not as good sounding as the beatbuddy. ) I’m also using midi ox to monitor everything. I’ll keep experimenting. My main aim is to separate the drums from the instruments so that I can mix the volumes separately, and also ultimately get better sound for the instruments. I’d like to do it all in hardware, with no laptops or tablets for live gigging.
unfortunately, the channel info isn’t stored in the beatbuddy’s midi, so even if you set it, it won’t save. all of the midi from the port will go out of the channel specified in the Settings (“MIDI Channel Number”)… default is to send to all channels.
I’m sure there are MIDI routers out there that could decode it, or one could be written, but that’s an extra piece of software in the way 
Maybe I’ll have to think about another device, or maybe a tablet or laptop that will play the midi file then route it out to the beatbuddy and my midi sound engine.
If you are only after the sounds and you are willing to use PC then you might want to check the BB VST plugin 