EDIT: This post is no longer up to date, to see the latest guides, visit our support portal.
Hello BeatBuddies!
We have some exciting news! As part of the process of the soon to be released new versions of the BeatBuddy Manager (for both Windows and Mac), we have composed an official BBM manual that explains in depth all the basics of using our software! This manual covers the current version of the software, as well as the new features in the upcoming release.
As always, we appreciate everyoneâs input and feedback. The file that is linked to this post contains the rough draft of the manual. This was completed today, and it will certainly require additional editing to make it more visually aesthetic. We did our best to cover all the basics in as clear and simple a fashion as possible; however if any of you have feedback or criticism for the manual, we would love to hear it!
We will read all the feedback, and based upon that, we will see what other changes need to be made to the manual before we officially release it (we intend to release it at the same time we release the upcoming BBM for Mac and Windows).
Let us know what you think, and stay tuned for upcoming updates!
Notes:
This was written for the Windows version of the software. Once we finalize the manual, we will create a manual for the Mac version transposed from the Windows version of the manual. (For the Mac users here, all the steps detailed in the manual are identical to the steps that need to be taken in the Mac version as well. The core differences would be the filepaths and keyboard shortcuts)
In the second section of the manual there are âmissionsâ. The new features that will be available in version 1.4 of the software that arenât available in the current version of the BeatBuddy Manager are covered primarily in mission 2 (starting from the subsection titled âModifying Song Tracksâ until the end of that mission).
Should help with novice computer user questions on how to make a song. Looking forward to more stable Mac version with drag/drop and midi pattern export from sng. To avoid novice confusion, the word track shouldnât be used when referring to song midi pattern segments, recommend change references to .mid files as patterns. Exporting a single midi pattern from a .sng is a lot different than exporting an entire track from a multi-track project like when saving drum tracks from Guitar Pro to be cut up and used as midi patterns or segments (.mid) to build songs (.sng) when going the other way around.
Itâs finally making sense, although some of the processes still seem overly complicated everything should be mouse driven and any option should be selectable by right clicking e.g right clicking a song part and selecting âexport as midiâ. Being able to copy whole BBsongs to a folder instead of having to use âimport/exportâ. I would also like to be able to have the option of duplicating a whole BBsong section from any BBsong for a quick and easy way to arrange a specific BBsong or to create a new one from existing BB songs. These are more feature requests that would make the BB Manager more intuitive.
How are BB drum sounds mapped? For example A0 which is âHi-Hat foot closedâ in Logic, after editing in Logic is played in BB Manager and BB as the metronome percussion sound. Is there a Hi-Hat foot close (ideally foot open as well) as i need some hi-hat beats?
For others: I solved my problem: G#1 is also Hi-Hat Foot Close, to which BB is mapped.
Iâd greatly appreciate a small chart of the BB drum sound map in the manual.
Another wish-list suggestion will come from being able to midi edit inside BBM; as BB drum sounds play differently in other midi editors. The work flow for creating beats and incorporating into songs is made tedious by this chopping between programs.
But itâs certainly doing the job now for which many thanks!
This is still on the to-do list however With the latest firmware you can now trigger the samples in the BB using midi - the BB is then a little drum sound module making the process easier.
I am really excited to say I have finally found some time to implement this. Yes, now you can right click a song part file and export it to MIDI directly! No more dragging a song part file to somewhere in your Windows Explorer (or Mac Finder) only to get BBT track file, and then having to use an obscured âConvert Track to Midiâ menu option!
Expect this in the upcoming BBManager version! âŠtogether with some major QoL changes.
Ok, Ive made it to step 2 in the first mission in the manual and have no idea what to do. It says âExport each individual song that youâd like to have in that folderâ I have no idea what this means. Ive started a new folder and named it Gig 1 as specified in the manual. What am I exporting?
âExportâ means you have something inside (the BBManager in this case), and you spew it out.
âImportâ means exactly the opposite - you append ̶s̶h̶ data to the BBManager.
The link came up several times but is now buried somewhere in this thread.
As far as I know, newer versions of the BBManager will be gradually simplifying the update process. I am not sure if I should post the link as an announcement, though. Yet as many people, especially the ones who contribute songs (and huge thanks to them for doing that!), use this newer beta version AND the BBManager has that stupid code that fails version check on import (despite nothing in the file structure was even changed, and it can still be perfectly loaded!) I will notify support with a request to make that link public.
What I can assist the whole situation with is to fix the ugly fail version check on importing the song.
After all, I am not the one making announcements, I prefer doing the backend work by far
