BeatBuddy Manager -- Mac Beta

Announcements Announcements
1

Hi Guys,

@Daefecator has worked really hard to create a working Mac beta! We could really use your help testing this, if you are Mac inclined… please post all of your findings, comments, suggestions, etc. below.

Important Notes [please read!]:

  1. This is not an ‘official’ version. It is currently being reviewed by our software team, who will release an official version with some bug fixes and additional functions soon. Daef has created this in his own free time because he loves all of you Mac users so much :wink: it is his New Year gift to you!

  2. This has been tested on OS X 10.10 Yosemite and OS X 10.9 Mavericks (it may work on other OS versions, but has not been tested).

  3. This version does not include an installer. It will not install a program on your computer. To launch the software, you just double click the .app folder.

  4. In order to connect your BeatBuddy content to your Mac, you will need to insert the SD card directly into your computer.

Directions:

  1. Download: A complete archive (BBManager.app + Workspace with content) (363 Mb).

or you can download them separately:

Workspace with fixed user content (340 Mb) - this won’t be changed too often.
BBManager Mac OS X application (24 Mb) - this will probably get changed pretty often.

  1. Unpack the downloaded files, and you get 2 items - BBManager and BBWorkspace.

  2. Make sure BBManager and BBWorkspace reside next to each other (in the same folder or both on the desktop)

  3. Double click the BBManager to launch the software. It starts with empty project.

  4. Select File > Open Project. The default directory that usually comes up is the one with the prepared project called SD_CARD. Navigate inside this folder and double click the BBP file in there.
    Note: If you cannot find SD_CARD folder, the full path is BBWorkspace/user_lib/projects/SD_CARD

NEW FEATURES:

(and Mac exclusive content now!):

  • Drag’n’Drop (please note dragging songs between folders isn’t working yet)

  • Copy/Paste

  • Color song part borders indicating copy/paste state.

  • You can Paste to Add File buttons (they are highlighted in green background when pasting is available).

  • Content is fixed to the point where ALL the song parts have solid paths to the corresponding source (MID/WAV) files. Drag’n’Drop and Copy/Paste will by default not work only for those songs for which a user doesn’t have source files (like user content that was downloaded from the forum)

  • New enhanced tooltips for song parts: now show the source file name (pressing ANY modifier before hovering will also show the full file path as well!) together with allowed copy/paste actions.

  • Content auto-fix feature. Holding Ctrl modifier while clicking on the song part will attempt to silently fix the song part in automatic mode. It uses the file short name together with the path of the last opened directory. So, let’s say you have an unfixed song you’ve downloaded from the forum (with red borders), and now you have got a directory with all the source MIDI files. What you have to do is click only one song part and select the corresponding MIDI file from that folder (to set the directory path), and then simply Ctrl+Click all the other song parts (no open file dialog will ever be shown, but the song parts will be fixed)!

Current issues:

  • Dragging a song to another folder is not recommended. It causes the song to disappear after restart.

Possible issues:

  • (very unlikely) Possible crash when chaotically mouse clicking on song parts when suddenly you click a little round Play button. Note, this is not exclusive to Mac, it is also possible in the Windows version.

    Minor issues:
  • Project icon is a default one, not our cool one. This will be fixed.
  • There is a small issue with copy dragging. Only replacing logic works now. This can be worked around by pressing Ctrl+C while mouse is hovering the necessary song part, then pressing Ctrl+V while hovering the Add file button.
  • Note: Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V are actually Cmd+C and Cmd+V on Mac. Tooltips clearly show the hardcoded Windows’ shortcuts, but they should be Cmd+C and Cmd+V. This will be fixed.- Pressing Ctrl while clicking the song part will probably look like nothing has happened - no open file dialog comes up and…
  • Song part borders update only once on mouse enter. This will be fixed as well to improve the overall app style.
2

Now, I think I should explain a little how my version should actually work.

First and foremost. (Content for this version is already fixed!) As you probably already know, currently BBManager stores full paths to the original MIDI files used when creating a song in songs themselves. This path is necessary to open a correct folder when you click a song part to replace it. Current shipped content contains errors in these paths. This is explained by the fact the original content was modified using several different computers before a solution of using a unified %WORKSPACE% placeholder was implemented.

So to say, for example, Blues Song 1 has the following path set for its intro: E:/Audio-more/Clients/Beat Buddy/Main Content Beats/MIDI LOOPS- ALL CONTENT/BLUES/Blues Song 1/BLUES- fill 21 full kit w ghost notes.mid
At the same time, here is the path for fill 1/3 of part 1/2: C:/Users/David/Documents/Beat Buddy/Goran/complete content v1.2/MIDI loops - content 1.2/BLUES/Blues Song 2/BLUES- fill 5 half bar classic.mid

These file paths are invalid for everyone out there - there is no such file on the local disk on just about any computer except David’s one! There are multiple fixes in the code that allow for correct file opening when selecting these song parts. But here is how both of these paths should properly look like after being fixed:
%WORKSPACE%/default_lib/midi_sources/BLUES/Blues Song 1/BLUES- fill 21 full kit w ghost notes.mid, and
%WORKSPACE%/default_lib/midi_sources/BLUES/Blues Song 2/BLUES- fill 5 half bar classic.mid
Please note, that fixed file paths are now valid (but you may need to define an environment variable %WORKSPACE% for your computer to be able to open the paths in Window Explorer).

Without further ado, I have simplified the process of “fixing” the content. All you need is to simply reselect the song part source MIDI file! In the case with shipped content this is further simplified due to workarounds with opening file folders - you simply click a song part (the MIDI file will be selected for you already), and hit Enter once again!
Second, let’s talk about song parts copy/paste. The state of copy/pasting process is visualized with song parts frame borders. The tooltips also help with providing info about what can be done.
1. White border. The song part is ready to be copied to the clipboard, while there is nothing in the clipboard to paste from. Press Ctrl+C to copy it.
2. Cyan border. This very song part is in the clipboard currently.
3. Yellow border. The song part is ready to be copied to the clipboard, and there is already a song part in the clipboard that you can paste (via Ctrl+V). Doing such will replace the current song part with the copied one.
4. Gray border. The song part is ready to be copied to the clipboard, but the clipboard contains an incompatible file (as in you cannot paste MIDI file from a song part to the Accent Hit and vice versa).
5. Red border. The song part must be fixed before it can be copied to the clipboard, while there is nothing suitable in the clipboard to paste from.
6. Orange border. The song part must be fixed before it can be copied to the clipboard, but the clipboard already contains a compatible file that can be pasted to replace this song part (Ctrl+V) instead of fixing it.
7. Green border. When you have a suitable file copied

Third, the copy/paste functionality works natively with Windows Explorer! If you open a folder with your MIDI files, and copy the MIDI/WAV file there (Ctrl+C), you will be able to switch to BBManager and actually see the border colors changed to show you it is ready to be pasted there!
Fourth, what about drag’n’drop? It should be noted, that the song part must be fixed for it to be able to be dragged. The overall process is being visualized via background color. There are two modes for drag’n’drop:

  • move (default), and
  • copy (hold Alt or Ctrl when dragging into the song part).
    The color scheme:
    1. Red background (drag). This song part is being dragged (move). It will be deleted once it is dropped somewhere.
    2. Cyan background (drag). This song part is being dragged (copy). It will not be deleted.
    3. Yellow background (drop). This song part will be replaced with what is being dropped. If the source is moved (red), both song part content will be swapped instead!
    4. Green background (drop). You can drag song part to the “Add new song part” buttons. The dragged file will be either moved (red) or copied (cyan).

Fifth, it is worth noting, that both dragging from and dropping to both work with the Windows Explorer natively! But it is also worth noting that dropping from the BBManager to the Windows Explorer may be dangerous! Unless you hold Ctrl or Alt explicitly (to copy file instead of move), you will actually move the source file to where you drop it to! This means that you may remove the file from the installed BB library!
This behavior is actually the most appropriate for user content that’s why I left it that way now, but this is up to discussing and might get changed in the future.
Sixth, let’s move to other features I’ve made. The BBManager now properly saves its window size, position and maximized state!!! This was a super major breakdown for me in the current BBManager, so I’ve fixed it.
Seventh, BBManager now doesn’t allow to ever drop the song selection. This specifically was causing the crash when deleting a song, and it is now fixed. Thanks to Mike Wilson for noticing that, again.
Eigthth, http://mybeatbuddy.com/forum/index.php?threads/sng-export-title-auto-fill.1505/ Wish granted! I also went further - now Export Song, Export Folder, Save Project As, Export Single File Project and Save Drumset As - all come with an appropriate default file name! Note, that in order to obey Windows file naming rules all prohibited symbols (and spaces) are automatically replaced with an underscore!
Nineth, my version does not contain the most recent official suggested fix for distorted sound issue! :frowning: Merging my version with an official one will be pretty time consuming as well.

Well, there’s something wrong with control window sizes, I hoped this was only me :confused:

And looks like drag’n’drop for songs between folders is better not utilized until it’s fixed :slight_smile:

3

I can’t even describe how excited I am to test this!

First bug, tempo’s are cut off after 2 digits. 126 displays as 26.

Synchronise also doesn’t appear to work? Also, dragging and dropping from one genre to another appears to result in the song just disappearing after you save and reopen.

EDIT
Synchronise appears to work after exporting the entire project, but not after importing.

I successfully created a new song, sync’d to my card, and played it on my BeatBuddy. I uploaded the track Mississippi Mud to the country beats. If someone can grab it and verify that it work on the PC version that would be useful.

So far this version seems to work every bit as good as the windows version, with some VERY nice extra’s! LOVE the drag and drop! The bugs I’ve found are all minor and can be worked around. I would consider this fully functioning. I’m off to make songs!

Also, I haven’t tested any of the drum kit stuff. I’m perfectly happy with the default kits, but I will eventually play with it!

Drag and dropping within the Genre is wokring great for me, makes reorganizing SO MUCH FASTER!!!

In the meantime, moving songs between genre’s will be export import, oh well, at least I’m making songs!

4

There can be issues, yet I feel this is much much better having this instead of nothing.
Generally most functions should work :slight_smile:

5

I agree, I have found less issues than with the windows version so far. The issues that exist I can work around, and I don’t have to reboot, it is AMAZING!!!

6

I guess, native platform is far far better than a virtual machine. While I was preparing the version, I cursed VMWare many times :slight_smile:

7

Great stuff! unfortunately I don’t have a Mac, I have been tempted once or twice so I won’t be able to help testing this one - I’ll stick to making videos :wink:

8

Well, to be honest, I don’t own a Mac myself :slight_smile:
Windows ftw!

9

I’m keeping this beta forever and never booting windows again if I can help it :slight_smile: I have to deal with windows all day at work as a computer programmer. I spend half my life programming AROUND windows. When I come home, I want a computer that just works…

10

Yeah, I guess if you like your Mac, continue to do so. But for me it was so fucking awkward - press Ctrl+C to copy code block, Alt+Tab to VMWare, then press Win+V to paste, then Win+S to save… Using WIN modifier (wtf is ⌘? it should be WIN modifier!!!) instead of Ctrl is pure shit! It was driving me nuts every time…

You can ⌘ on Windows, but you can never WIN on Macintosh :slight_smile:

11

You would have to understand the history of macs. Historically, you haven’t even needed a mouse on a mac(hence the 1 button mouse that lasted an eternity), actually, I’m pretty sure you still don’t! There are WAY more shortcuts and modifiers on the mac. You can literally do everything with a shortcut. Because of this, there is cntrl, option, and apple(renamed to command at some point, but we all still just say apple), and combinations of all three, plus shift, function, and even caps lock lol :wink:

So, one very common shortcut I use a lot, is Apple+Shift+4, which allows you to take a screen shot, like the one attached :slight_smile:

Check this out :slight_smile:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

It is crazy haha

12

Well, yeah. After I initially spent like half an hour straight googling in order to simply open “My Computer”… Well, I still have no idea how to open that. I use a “conveninent” shortcut Shift+Win+C…
Also, holy hell, why do Home and End move the caret to the end of the FILE not the LINE? Using Win+Left and Win+Right for that is disgusting! It was the point where I completely disappointed in Mac. In Windows Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+End do exactly that.

By the way, isn’t it easier to simply press “Print Screen” for all-desktop screenshot, or “Alt+Print Screen” for screenshotting only active window than Win+Shift+4?

Sounds like Ctrl+Shift+Alt+F12 to me. Like super convenient! But most importantly - this should be pressed with one hand only! :slight_smile:

But while we are it - what is the magic key to open something like a Task Manager? So I could kill some processes. Stupid Finder hangs sometimes and doesn’t reanimate itself until I reboot the system.

13

Task Manager = option + apple + power button, probably not possible in vmware… Just click the mighty apple, it’s called forced quit :slight_smile:

Print screen is easier, but not as powerful. On mac, Apple + Shift + 1 is the same as print screen, Apple + Shift + 2 is the same as Alt + Print Screen, and windows has no functions for 3-5 :slight_smile: It is much more powerful. With power, comes complication. That is the ultimate struggle in development, features vs simplicity. Mac’s philosophy has always been less features with the mouse, things must “just work” with the mouse. But with that comes lack of features. All the features have always been shortcut driven, because it was ASSumed that someone that would want to screen grab a specific part of the screen would be tech savy and the shortcut would be no big deal lol.

Also, there is no “My Computer” on mac, mac is organized like Unix/BSD/Linux. So everything is based off of /(root). The closet you can get to my computer is looking at the root of the hard disk.

Also, end and home DO work like windows, that must be a vmware thing maybe?

14

Well, if only I could find something like an AutoHotKey for Mac, it would be so much simpler… But thanks anyway. Yeah, VMWare being much shittier than an original Mac is very likely :slight_smile:
Thanks for replying though. This was really insightful to read!

15

My preferences based largely on my prior experiences rather than objective analysis are totally superior to yours! Oh wait… :smiley:

So glad this is finally here. I haven’t had too much time to test it yet, but I did fire it up and the two-digit tempo is a must fix.

16

Ok, I just used this Beta all day, and did 10 new songs. SOOO nice not to have to reboot for each change! Made programming new songs almost a pleasure.

That being said, I did find a few bugs

  1. Clicking the play button on any loop after using the virtual machine to play through causes a crash.
  2. Can’t test external footswitch functions in the virtual machine, they just don’t appear to do anything at all

Plus the ones mentioned above of course. I will keep reporting bugs as I find them. But man am I glad to be in this Beta, I am more than half way done programming in my setlist now. Can’t wait to gig this thing!!!

17

I’ve got OSX 10.8.5 BB shows connected but no USB device in system info. Is an OSX driver on the way so that BBM can sync with BB instead of SD copies? What will minimum OSX version support be for official version?

18

I have download the app. I can open the manager but it cannot find any of the data that goes with it. The instructions say that there is no installer and that I have to double click the app folder… then what?

19

In the archive you’ve downloaded there should be two entities - BBManager (an app) and BBWorkspace (data). They should be next to each other (like both on desktop or any other same directory).

You double click an app (BBManager).
Choose File > Open Project.
If everything is correct, the folder will be opened that contains “SD_CARD” named folder.
Expand it, select BBP file inside.
Enjoy :slight_smile:

Your problem was actually already solved in the opening post - see steps 4 and 5.

20

that key is the same as the Windows key. I have a windows keyboard on my mac and thats what it does if you want you can remap the keys on a Mac to anything you want simply go to the preferences the equivalent to the control panel and its in there easy as