My beat buddy is maybe 5-6 years old. Firmware is 4.1.2. I didn’t use it during Covid and took it out a couple of months ago, no problems. It worked just fine as expected.
In the meantime, I bought a new MacBook Pro, apple silicon, running 15.3.1 (latest).
I installed BBM, version 1.6.4.1 and it read all my backup files just fine.
Got a new band and we wanted some new drum tracks. I pulled the (working) SD card (SanDisk 32, 100 MBPS) from the BB and BBM read it just fine. BBM worked as expected. I updated several tunes then exported to card ==> INVALID SD
Dug out the original SD card that came with it==> INVALID SD
Wipe the card, reformat fat 32 and export again==> INVALID SD
Download latest firmware (4.1.6) to root level of that card–Beatbuddy has black screen for 5 minutes (never said “LOADING”), restart BB without card==> NO SD CARD, still shows 4.1.2 Tried to update with 4.1.4—unsuccessful
Went to the older iMac where this all worked just fine in the past. Wiped the card then export the project that I had saved there. Beatbuddy ==> INVALID SD
Downloaded latest content, used a different Fat 32 formatted SD card. Same thing.
Turn your pedal off and leave it alone for a few hours and then try again.
Insert your card in you Mac slot reader. Delete the contents from your card (delete, not erase), empty your card’s Trash. Copy the firmware files to you AD card. Eject the card and insert it in your pedal. Use the power adapter that came with your pedal and plug it in.
If it still doesn’t work, you can try following the steps for a bricked pedal for the Mac at this link: Pedal does not power on
If it works, check the firmware version on the pedal under the About settings. Then place the card back in your Mac and use the BBM to Export - Project to SD card. Eject and with the power off to your pedal, insert card and plug in the PSU.
I’ve done some more trouble shooting and am able to recreate an INVALID SD CARD.
If you can still see INVALID SD CARD on your pedal, it means your pedal is working and that there’s most likely something wrong with the content that’s being transferred to your card.
Are you using your MacBook Pro internal slot reader, an external media reader or are you connecting your BeatBuddy (BB) pedal via USB cable? If you are using the USB cable connection method to transfer data and you don’t have a built-in slot reader in your MBP, it’s well worth the money to buy an external media reader. I’m using a UGreen with USB-C. Inexpensive but reliable. Using your pedal as an external SD card reader has been a problem for some users but not all.
I got it working again by doing the following:
Verifying that my SD card was unlocked;
Deleting the contents of my SD card; emptying the Trash;
Opening the BeatBuddy Default Content 2.1 - Project folder on my desktop; selecting all of the files within the folder and pasting (or dragging) them to my SD card
Ejecting the card and testing the card in the pedal;
This is a screen shot of my card and yours should look the same
Try it again and see if this helped. If it does, download a fresh copy of the firmware 4.1.6, unzip to your desktop and paste the contents of the folder to your card. Eject the card put it into your pedal and then plug in the PSU. Don’t interrupt the UPDATING process. When done, check that your firmware updated to 4.1.6
If this is all successful, you’ll probably want to take a look at the content of your project folder in either your bbworkspace folder or on your desktop. If it has any non-BeatBuddy files and the content does not appear similar to that of my screen shot, that might be a possible problem.
Anywho, let us know when and how you get your pedal working again.
Can anyone point me to a copy of the disk image referenced above, the EMPTY_PRODUCTION_SD.iso.zip image for Mac OS? THere’s n empty link behind the one that’s referenced. Singular support has contacted me but they weren’t helpful and I continue to get the INVALID SD error no matter what I try. Thanks–DN. Also, is it possible to update the BB firmware via a USB connection? I doubt it but had to ask.
If your pedal displays INVALID SD, it’s a likely indicator that your pedal is fine and the bricked pedal repair is unlikely to resolve the issue.
Most Windows users don’t seem to have an issue updating firmware using the USB cable. However several macOS users over the years (me included) have reported data transfer over USB with problems. That’s why I advocate using an external media reader. YMMV so carry on….
